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Is there perhaps a resource where there are "stories" of failed attempts? I'm planning for 2021 and very humbly want to walk in the footsteps of others.

tim333 9y ago
I'm not sure there's an organised one but a lot of people blog and the majority of people who are not professional mountain types don't actually make the summit.
kerkeslager 9y ago
Do you think you could be persuaded to do a different mountain? Summitting Everest as most people do it now simply isn't that impressive--anyone with a mediocre level of fitness and a deep enough wallet can do it. It's more of a status symbol than an achievement. And in the process you'll end up supporting and industry that pays sherpas a fraction of the profits to risk their lives doing all the difficult and dangerous parts of Everest climbing for you. Sure, an Everest summit photo will impress your dentist and your mom, but people who climb are just going to laugh at you. There are more difficult faces on every continent, and you can climb an equivalently difficult climb near where you live for a fraction of the cost. People in the know will be much more impressed if you tell them you climbed Rainier than Everest.
- briandear 9y ago
  Have you submitted Everest? Regurgitating Outside Magazine dismissals of Everest tells me you've never touched that mountain. Guided or not, it's a incredible feat. It isn't Annapurna or K2, but it's still very, very difficult. No guide in the world can climb for you. People "in the know" see Rainier as a training climb. A nice accomplishment, but in the world of high altitude mountaineering, Rainier is the equivalent of swimming with dolphins in Mexico by comparison. Those "in the know" would be impressed by climbing Makalu long before Rainier would be even on the radar. Rainier is a three day climb at most, while operating over 7000m for weeks at a time is an entirely different universe. Sorry for the rant but that condescending tone some people take when they imply that Everest is just a walk-up has gotten pretty old. When you summit Everest, then perhaps you can belittle those that dream of doing it. To your point about "more difficult faces on every continent" -- I beg to differ, Killamanjaro is an easy walk up and unless you're doing the north faces in the Alps, they still barely compare with the mental difficulty of Everest. South America has a few nice mountains, but it's an entirely different world above 8000m. I've done a dozen 4000m peaks in the Alps and they don't even compare for a second the difficulty of just walking around at 7000+ meters. Real climbers (who have summited Everest) don't laugh at anyone who has summited Everest. They might not buy you beers in Kathmandu, but they certainly respect the accomplishment. Everest is really really hard -- guided or not.
  - dsacco 9y ago
    Thanks for your perspective; there should be a word for people who talk condescendingly about things they've never done themselves. Have you personally summited Everest? I'm interested in hearing you talk about your experiences and what it's like to operate at over 7000 meters.
    - hammock 9y ago
      >there should be a word for people who talk condescendingly about things they've never done themselves. Poser?
    - briandear 9y ago
      I haven't been to Everest yet, most of my time is in the Alps, but I have been above 7k and for me, it's like walking around continually out of breath-- you have to do things really, really slowly. I had a stupid incident on a 4K peak in Mexico -- I was doing a one-day climb and O was feeling great then like an idiot I started speed climbing to the summit. No problems until the decent, then I got a severe headache and could barely get down the mountain. I went from sea level to 4K in just a few hours and didn't pay attention to the altitude and without warning, I was almost on my knees. Even popular mountains like Mont Blanc (4810 meters) require a few days of acclimation, yet because Nevado de Colima is an "easy" mountain I didn't take the 4200 meters seriously. Almost a disasterous mistake. My point is that above 4K, it pretty much sucks in terms of cardiovascular efficiency. Even Everest base camp is over 5k meters -- taller than anything in the Alps. Dehydration, snow blindness, feeling permanent exahausted.. it's a feat to hang out that high for very long. It isn't too hard to suffer above 4K for short stints (such as Mont Blanc for a day or two, but for weeks at a time, it takes a toll, even with acclimation. I have nothing for respect for "beginners" that tip out on Everest or any Himalayan peak. The mental fortitude required is extraordinary. Just a point of contention with the comment calling Everest a "beginner" mountain -- with a proper guide, even Eiger or the Matterhorn can be ascended by a beginner. A guide could drag a beginner up K2 (as insane as that might be,) the technical skills aren't the limiting factor on the big mountains, it's the endurance and mental toughness to survive in that environment. Perhaps K2 is a bit extreme, but technical skills are easily taught, what can't be taught quickly is how to read the mountain -- on Mont Blanc for example (and also Paradiso in Italy,) crevasses are often hidden under snowbridges, so you have to learn how to "read" the terrain. Interestingly, Mont Blanc is one of the deadliest mountains because people don't respect it -- they take a 3 day trip to Chamonix and think they're Ueli Steck and fall off the mountain or get hit by a Volkswagen sized rock crossing the Grand Couloir. Pretty much any mountain can be climbed by a beginner with the right guide, but that doesn't make them any less impressive. By the way, I am not a "good" climber or an expert, I just love being up there and have immense respect for the people that make it look easy. It's anything but! Don't know if that answered your question, but that's as good as I got!
- tdicola 9y ago
  Rainier is awesome and a worthy endeavor for anyone but it's 14k feet vs. 28k feet and a whole other ballgame. To put it in perspective base camp for Everest is at 17k feet--well above the whole summit of Rainier. Or another way to think of it, when you get to the summit of Rainier imagine that as just the halfway point for an Everest climb.
  - kerkeslager 9y ago
    Yeah, but you can do Rainier with your own gear and your own plan, as opposed to having a bunch of sherpas do all the work. Sure, you can do the same for Everest, but then you're actually in a class of elite alpinists. That's not really what we're discussing here. Complete beginners climb Everest as their first and often last major summit. No argument about altitude can prove that it's not a beginner climb if hundred of beginners are doing it every year.
- at-fates-hands 9y ago
  I will always refer to Casey Neistats telling of how him and his buddy tried to climb Aconcagua and nearly died: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYCODMuoHNI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYCODMuoHNI It's basically a warning to people who think they have the ability to do something, only to find out when the rubber hits the road, they were completely unprepared for what happened. FYI: Aconcagua - elevation: 22,841 Everest - elevation: 29,029 Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Thus, it is the highest mounting in the Western and Southern hemisphere.
tdicola 9y ago
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, although maybe you don't want to read it until after the attempt. :)
webtechgal 9y ago
Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge by Sir Chris Bonington and Charles Clarke [1] - then story of an individual failed attempt. Very enlightening and a great read imo. [1] http://www.amazon.in/Everest-The-Unclimbed-Ridge/dp/039301875X http://www.amazon.in/Everest-The-Unclimbed-Ridge/dp/03930187...

tim333 9y ago

I'm not sure there's an organised one but a lot of people blog and the majority of people who are not professional mountain types don't actually make the summit.

kerkeslager 9y ago

Do you think you could be persuaded to do a different mountain? Summitting Everest as most people do it now simply isn't that impressive--anyone with a mediocre level of fitness and a deep enough wallet can do it. It's more of a status symbol than an achievement. And in the process you'll end up supporting and industry that pays sherpas a fraction of the profits to risk their lives doing all the difficult and dangerous parts of Everest climbing for you. Sure, an Everest summit photo will impress your dentist and your mom, but people who climb are just going to laugh at you. There are more difficult faces on every continent, and you can climb an equivalently difficult climb near where you live for a fraction of the cost. People in the know will be much more impressed if you tell them you climbed Rainier than Everest.

briandear 9y ago
Have you submitted Everest? Regurgitating Outside Magazine dismissals of Everest tells me you've never touched that mountain. Guided or not, it's a incredible feat. It isn't Annapurna or K2, but it's still very, very difficult. No guide in the world can climb for you. People "in the know" see Rainier as a training climb. A nice accomplishment, but in the world of high altitude mountaineering, Rainier is the equivalent of swimming with dolphins in Mexico by comparison. Those "in the know" would be impressed by climbing Makalu long before Rainier would be even on the radar. Rainier is a three day climb at most, while operating over 7000m for weeks at a time is an entirely different universe. Sorry for the rant but that condescending tone some people take when they imply that Everest is just a walk-up has gotten pretty old. When you summit Everest, then perhaps you can belittle those that dream of doing it. To your point about "more difficult faces on every continent" -- I beg to differ, Killamanjaro is an easy walk up and unless you're doing the north faces in the Alps, they still barely compare with the mental difficulty of Everest. South America has a few nice mountains, but it's an entirely different world above 8000m. I've done a dozen 4000m peaks in the Alps and they don't even compare for a second the difficulty of just walking around at 7000+ meters. Real climbers (who have summited Everest) don't laugh at anyone who has summited Everest. They might not buy you beers in Kathmandu, but they certainly respect the accomplishment. Everest is really really hard -- guided or not.
- dsacco 9y ago
  Thanks for your perspective; there should be a word for people who talk condescendingly about things they've never done themselves. Have you personally summited Everest? I'm interested in hearing you talk about your experiences and what it's like to operate at over 7000 meters.
  - hammock 9y ago
    >there should be a word for people who talk condescendingly about things they've never done themselves. Poser?
  - briandear 9y ago
    I haven't been to Everest yet, most of my time is in the Alps, but I have been above 7k and for me, it's like walking around continually out of breath-- you have to do things really, really slowly. I had a stupid incident on a 4K peak in Mexico -- I was doing a one-day climb and O was feeling great then like an idiot I started speed climbing to the summit. No problems until the decent, then I got a severe headache and could barely get down the mountain. I went from sea level to 4K in just a few hours and didn't pay attention to the altitude and without warning, I was almost on my knees. Even popular mountains like Mont Blanc (4810 meters) require a few days of acclimation, yet because Nevado de Colima is an "easy" mountain I didn't take the 4200 meters seriously. Almost a disasterous mistake. My point is that above 4K, it pretty much sucks in terms of cardiovascular efficiency. Even Everest base camp is over 5k meters -- taller than anything in the Alps. Dehydration, snow blindness, feeling permanent exahausted.. it's a feat to hang out that high for very long. It isn't too hard to suffer above 4K for short stints (such as Mont Blanc for a day or two, but for weeks at a time, it takes a toll, even with acclimation. I have nothing for respect for "beginners" that tip out on Everest or any Himalayan peak. The mental fortitude required is extraordinary. Just a point of contention with the comment calling Everest a "beginner" mountain -- with a proper guide, even Eiger or the Matterhorn can be ascended by a beginner. A guide could drag a beginner up K2 (as insane as that might be,) the technical skills aren't the limiting factor on the big mountains, it's the endurance and mental toughness to survive in that environment. Perhaps K2 is a bit extreme, but technical skills are easily taught, what can't be taught quickly is how to read the mountain -- on Mont Blanc for example (and also Paradiso in Italy,) crevasses are often hidden under snowbridges, so you have to learn how to "read" the terrain. Interestingly, Mont Blanc is one of the deadliest mountains because people don't respect it -- they take a 3 day trip to Chamonix and think they're Ueli Steck and fall off the mountain or get hit by a Volkswagen sized rock crossing the Grand Couloir. Pretty much any mountain can be climbed by a beginner with the right guide, but that doesn't make them any less impressive. By the way, I am not a "good" climber or an expert, I just love being up there and have immense respect for the people that make it look easy. It's anything but! Don't know if that answered your question, but that's as good as I got!
tdicola 9y ago
Rainier is awesome and a worthy endeavor for anyone but it's 14k feet vs. 28k feet and a whole other ballgame. To put it in perspective base camp for Everest is at 17k feet--well above the whole summit of Rainier. Or another way to think of it, when you get to the summit of Rainier imagine that as just the halfway point for an Everest climb.
- kerkeslager 9y ago
  Yeah, but you can do Rainier with your own gear and your own plan, as opposed to having a bunch of sherpas do all the work. Sure, you can do the same for Everest, but then you're actually in a class of elite alpinists. That's not really what we're discussing here. Complete beginners climb Everest as their first and often last major summit. No argument about altitude can prove that it's not a beginner climb if hundred of beginners are doing it every year.
at-fates-hands 9y ago
I will always refer to Casey Neistats telling of how him and his buddy tried to climb Aconcagua and nearly died: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYCODMuoHNI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYCODMuoHNI It's basically a warning to people who think they have the ability to do something, only to find out when the rubber hits the road, they were completely unprepared for what happened. FYI: Aconcagua - elevation: 22,841 Everest - elevation: 29,029 Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Thus, it is the highest mounting in the Western and Southern hemisphere.

tdicola 9y ago

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, although maybe you don't want to read it until after the attempt. :)

webtechgal 9y ago

Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge by Sir Chris Bonington and Charles Clarke [1] - then story of an individual failed attempt. Very enlightening and a great read imo. [1] http://www.amazon.in/Everest-The-Unclimbed-Ridge/dp/039301875X http://www.amazon.in/Everest-The-Unclimbed-Ridge/dp/03930187...