4 ms·
I remember hearing a talk by Ed Viesturs who was the first American to climb all 14 eight-thousanders He emphasized that his rule was that going up was optiona
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
I remember hearing a talk by Ed Viesturs who was the first American to climb all 14 eight-thousanders
He emphasized that his rule was that going up was optional, coming down wasn’t and told a story of this one mountain climb where they spent weeks getting ready to the point where they were ready to summit. I don’t remember the details, but for some reason they were not able to get the start they wanted and it would be close to being dark by the time they got back from the summit. Instead of risking it, he aborted and came back the next year.
Sometimes knowing when to abort an endeavor is one of the most important skills.
- dopeboy 7y agoI dive (albeit new) and knowing when to abort is taught over and over again. In general, from both theory and practice, the threshold is pretty low. Any kind of physical and mental stress means you surface. I guess what makes Everest so different are the costs involved. I imagine the sunk cost fallacy is magnified.
- maxxxxx 7y agoYeah. With diving an abort is not a big deal. Just do it again tomorrow. With Everest you have already put in a lot of effort and money and you may never get the opportunity to do it again. Also, when you do stupid things there is often a good chance to get away with it. I have done things I shouldn’t have done but I have fond memories of overcoming the hardship.
- nradov 7y agoAborting a shallow sport dive is no big deal. But some of my acquaintances go on major expeditions doing deep, complex technical dives on shipwrecks and in caves. Just getting to the dive site can be a major logistical undertaking, and there's often a large group of surface crew and support divers just to assist the push team. Sometimes permits to access a particular site are time limited, or there's only a narrow window of good weather. So those exploration divers are subject to the same mental pressures to go ahead and dive even when it's risky.
- CPLX 7y agoI have a pilots license. Same concept, our version is “taking off is always optional, landing never is.”
- briandear 7y agoEd is especially awesome because he did all 14 without bottled oxygen.
- marius_k 7y agoHere is his talk. I watched it several times already. Really inspiring story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqTcD9Amfq4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqTcD9Amfq4