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I like that guy a lot, humble overachiever, he was described by other elite mountaineers as calm at practically every situation. Not huge ego like many in that

I like that guy a lot, humble overachiever, he was described by other elite mountaineers as calm at practically every situation. Not huge ego like many in that business. That being said, there is survivorship bias with guys like him or Messner - they risked so many times and came out alive that they are by no means representative, rather an exception. Many folks like them lie frozen up there in some crevasse, just because of tiny mistake that you don't even realize you're doing, or simply unlucky with being at bad place at bad time.

082349872349872 6y ago
Shorter "American Alpine Journal" (circa 1970s): we were tired, hungry, cold, low on oxygen, and that's when we made this stupid mistake and ${colleague} died. I don't know what current standards may be; around the turn of the century there was a proposal that a team should include someone at base camp radioing simple math questions "6 times 9" and timing the response. If the response time increased significantly, they'd say it was time to turn back. (Viesturs on how to train to climb without supplemental oxygen: he doesn't think he trained to do it, he's just lucky to be a freak)
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > "6 times 9" Half the people I know in SF couldn't do that at sea level.
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  42. Easy.
  - MontagFTB 6y ago
    This is the right answer. I read it in a book once.
jmull 6y ago
Not sure it's fair to bring up survivorship bias here. Ed Viesturs has been a high-profile mountaineer and guide known for his careful/conservative approach, for decades.