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Thanks for the writeup! And I'd add, from a philosophical prospective, if you're doing this Xenon protocol, if Sherpas are carrying everything, etc., at what po

Thanks for the writeup! And I'd add, from a philosophical prospective, if you're doing this Xenon protocol, if Sherpas are carrying everything, etc., at what point is it like not that big a deal anymore? Don't people climb Mt. Everest in the first place because it's an ultimate challenge?

manoweb 2y ago
Maybe they just want to go on top of Everest, that once was just for the professional mountaineer. People looking for challenges still have the K2 and others
- hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
  Sure, I get that, I guess my point is more that there are things like helicopter tours to the top of Mt. Everest if you really just want to go to the top and see it. I get the "bragging rights" to be able to say I "climbed" Mt. Everest, but again I think it's pretty suspect if you didn't even bother to acclimate your body before the climb.
  - NikkiA 2y ago
    > there are things like helicopter tours to the top of Mt. Everest if you really just want to go to the top and see it There are not, getting a helicopter to the top of everest is a major achievement in its own right, to the point that airbus brag about the models of their helicopters that have achieved it. There are regular helicopter tours to the base camp, but to the summit? no, that's still a rare special event, and usually only done by a solo pilot since you're way out of the helicopter's maximum ceiling with load. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle
kerkeslager 2y ago
Climbing Everest hasn't been a big deal or the ultimate challenge for decades. Climbing it with your own skills, it would take years of training, and you'd likely want to work up to it by summitting numerous smaller mountains. But every year, hundreds of "mountaineers" who have never climbed a single mountain before, i.e. complete beginners, get to the top of Everest because the sherpas do all the work. If you've never climbed a mountain before, you're a beginner mountaineer. If a mountain is climbed by hundreds of beginner mountaineers each year, it's a beginner mountain. These people don't have fitness or skills, they just have money.
vunderba 2y ago
For the same reason that people visit North Korea or Pripyat, they encountered it in popular or social media and added it to their bucket list. There will always be dedicated mountaineers who view it (or K2) as the ultimate personal achievement but that number is joined more and more by the "wealthy instagram crowd". https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/12/16/everest-by-the-numbers-2025-edition https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/12/16/everest-by-the-n...

manoweb 2y ago

Maybe they just want to go on top of Everest, that once was just for the professional mountaineer. People looking for challenges still have the K2 and others

hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
Sure, I get that, I guess my point is more that there are things like helicopter tours to the top of Mt. Everest if you really just want to go to the top and see it. I get the "bragging rights" to be able to say I "climbed" Mt. Everest, but again I think it's pretty suspect if you didn't even bother to acclimate your body before the climb.
- NikkiA 2y ago
  > there are things like helicopter tours to the top of Mt. Everest if you really just want to go to the top and see it There are not, getting a helicopter to the top of everest is a major achievement in its own right, to the point that airbus brag about the models of their helicopters that have achieved it. There are regular helicopter tours to the base camp, but to the summit? no, that's still a rare special event, and usually only done by a solo pilot since you're way out of the helicopter's maximum ceiling with load. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle

kerkeslager 2y ago

Climbing Everest hasn't been a big deal or the ultimate challenge for decades. Climbing it with your own skills, it would take years of training, and you'd likely want to work up to it by summitting numerous smaller mountains. But every year, hundreds of "mountaineers" who have never climbed a single mountain before, i.e. complete beginners, get to the top of Everest because the sherpas do all the work. If you've never climbed a mountain before, you're a beginner mountaineer. If a mountain is climbed by hundreds of beginner mountaineers each year, it's a beginner mountain. These people don't have fitness or skills, they just have money.

vunderba 2y ago

For the same reason that people visit North Korea or Pripyat, they encountered it in popular or social media and added it to their bucket list. There will always be dedicated mountaineers who view it (or K2) as the ultimate personal achievement but that number is joined more and more by the "wealthy instagram crowd". https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/12/16/everest-by-the-numbers-2025-edition https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/12/16/everest-by-the-n...