Something about this reminds me of school shooting stories: it’s meamt to discourage Everest trekkers, but it will probably end up encouraging them. Misconcepti

Something about this reminds me of school shooting stories: it’s meamt to discourage Everest trekkers, but it will probably end up encouraging them. Misconceptions abound. Some argue that people shouldn’t climb Everest because it’s not that impressive anymore. This is irrelevant: people aren’t dumb or arrogant enough to believe they’ll convince their friends they’re great mountaineers. They’re obviously not great mountaineers and they’re at least minimally self-aware. Some argue that people shouldn’t climb Everest because it’s crowded and not exclusive. But Mecca is crowded and the hajj rolls on. Explain. Still others argue that people shouldn’t climb Everest because it’s dangerous. This is the worst argument of all! Dangerous things are cool! Half the stories I tell at parties involve me almost dying. Or at least I try to make it sound that way. There is one single fact that makes people climb Everest: people don’t like to explain their accomplishments. Everyone knows what Mount Everest is. Everyone knows it’s dangerous to climb. What you gain is having done something everyone else can recognize. Stories like this only increase the notoriety of the peak. Nobody’s going to be impressed if you summit Kangchenjunga What’s that? Aconcagua? Never heard of it. Nanda Parbat? I think I had that at an Indian restaurant once. And so on. Every time someone tweets a news story about deaths on Everest, two more idiots decide to buy a trip. I guarantee it.