7 ms·

Everest is littered with dead, exposed bodies [2010]

55 points by swombat 13y ago

swombat 13y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 But I thought it could use a repost, 3 years later, as many ma not have seen it, and it was quite interesting.
dschiptsov 13y ago
There were several attempts to clean up the Everest since 2010 by Nepalese govt using some military personnel. Can't tell whether or not they were successful.
- csmithuk 13y ago
  I imagine it added to the problem!
  - dschiptsov 13y ago
    Bad joke. Those dead tourists are overconfident individuals, who tried to do it alone. On the other hand, Sherpas, who organize expeditions nowadays are very well trained and coordinated. There are many of them who have ascended more than 5 times as poters or guides, while there is one person who did it 14 times. It is just a job for Sherpas. According to official statements, around 500 people, including about 300 tourists ascended mt.Everest last year, in a short 15 April - 10 May window. Nowadays even local pop stars were managed to get to the top. Sherpas are doing great job and raised the safity livel to unimaginable heights.
rwmj 13y ago
What exactly is the point of climbing Everest? It adds nothing to the sum of human achievements. It's hardly a personal triumph. If you want to get very fit - a worthy goal - there are plenty of other ways to do that. It's also selfish, expensive and dangerous, for you and others.
- JonnieCache 13y ago
  Validating one's self image as "fearless", "driven", "exceptional" or whatever other adjective one feels necessary.
- VLM 13y ago
  Collectors. These folks are not non-climbers who finish their morning tea one day and decide to summit before evening. Most of them have climbed a zillion other mountains, by definition all shorter. Its a grind game for stats like MMORPGs, a real physical grind.
  - dalke 13y ago
    On what basis do you conclude that "most of them have climbed a zillion other mountains"? For example, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152659/I-strong-feeling-come--Fury-man-photographed-Everest-traffic-jam-emerges-climber-took-BIKE-mountain.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152659/I-strong-fee... lists 'overweight French journalist – a small woman weighing around 80kg, who had used her entire supply of oxygen before she'd reached any height at all, and an American of Turkish origin who was carrying his bicycle with him because it had always been his dream to take it to the summit and insisted on fulfilling that dream at whatever cost'. http://failuremag.com/feature/article/into_sin_air/ http://failuremag.com/feature/article/into_sin_air/ includes "Since we’ve decided to measure everything on the planet against Everest there’s a group of people that feel incomplete without having climbed it. Consequently the majority of the people that go there aren’t seasoned mountaineers. Many of them have no interest in climbing any mountain other than Everest." I can easily find other references if you wish. I don't believe there are good numbers for the amount of experience that people who climb Everest have, compared to (say) K-2 or Annapurna, both of which are more fatal than Everest, or Cho Oyu, considered the easiest of the 8,000+ meter mountains. But that suggests you might also not have a strong basis for your statement.
    - VLM 13y ago
      Neither of us have much of an argument because all you've got is anecdotal journalist linkbait, and all I have is experience on 2K footers not 30K footers and gossip from fellow (harder core) climbers. I'm more of a hiker than a climber but there is obviously huge overlap in the hobbies. Someday I'd like to do the 15 mile hike to basecamp but I'm not overly interested in the summit itself. On the other hand I do agree that you have a sound theoretical argument that a famous summit like Everest is going to attract proportionally more crackpots than Cho Oyu. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the Mail story and its implications. Here's a picture of about 100-200 climbers. Here's an explanation of why I think a whopping 2 of them don't belong there, although that's not very impressive. And here's a past glamour pic of two climbers who died but I very carefully avoid identifying the dead ones as being unqualified, which is bizarre because if they were unqualified it would certainly fit the predetermined conclusion of the article. So what the Mail implied was most of the climbers are noobs who die, but the facts of what it actually reported were very few climbers are unqualified or weirdos and deaths don't seem to correlate with qualification or lack thereof, so there really isn't much of a story. Just profiteering off tragedy. I don't think anything can be learned from infotainment. Actual stats from reputable sources would be informative. Linkbait, eh, not so much.
JonnieCache 13y ago
The full story of the 1996 everest disaster is very interesting/scary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster The book/film "into thin air" is supposedly good too. EDIT: the other good climbing disaster film to watch is "touching the void." powerful stuff.
- furyg3 13y ago
  Just adding to this, I really enjoyed the book (even though I'm not into mountaineering).
- dagurp 13y ago
  There's another film on the way about it. It comes out this year according to imdb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/
- swatkat 13y ago
  I recommend reading both the books - "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev, and "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climb_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climb_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Thin_Air http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Thin_Air
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
michaelt 13y ago
The article says bodies are left around for years and very hard to recover. But the photos on the article make it look like it's easy enough to get close for a photo. Does anyone know why they can't simply send people up with all the modern technology like bottled oxygen to remove the bodies?
- mikeash 13y ago
  Many of the people who died were using that technology. Even with lots of aids, it's still hard enough just to climb the mountain yourself. Carrying a body down with you vastly increases the difficulty. There's a substantial chance that anyone who goes up to remove a body will instead become a new body needing removal.
- jasonkester 13y ago
  Bear in mind the conditions around said body. It's not a nice place. It's hazardous enough that this particular mountaineer, with presumably a lot of skill and a long history of successful mountaineering, actually died just by trying to walk beyond that point. Now imagine that your rescuer, having successfully bettered Mr. Body's achievement by getting to his high point alive, now has to perform the strenuous physical labor of digging Mr. B. out of the solid packed ice, picking up his 200 pound corpse, and carrying it the entire way back down to base camp. What odds would you give our rescuer of surviving that task? 100%? Perhaps somewhat less than 100%? Less than 50%, much of which depends on factors outside anybody's control? Would you volunteer for that job?
- taude 13y ago
  Did you read the article? They give a lot of reason about the difficulty of navigating/surviving the death zone.
- na85 13y ago
  >But the photos on the article make it look like it's easy enough to get close for a photo. Some of these were taken with zoom lenses. The guy with the white skin exposed on his back is not accessible at all, IIRC.
- exDM69 13y ago
qwerta 13y ago
There is lot of 'garbage' on every high profile mountain, in Alps there is often poop right on trail. I personally prefer climbing without gear on less known places. 1 mile high in one day from sea level is enough exercise.
exDM69 13y ago
Climbing Everest has become more and more ridiculous year after year. What was once a frontier pushing expedition has turned into a sport for rich idiots who are practically being dragged up and down the mountain by their sherpas and expedition leaders. There may be an occasional experienced climber but mostly the mountain is filled with rich tourists who have hardly any climbing skills. This is well portrayed in the Discovery documentary Everest, which shows a group of people attempting to get to the summit. The mountain is so full of people that are queues of people waiting in line while inexperienced climbers ahead move slowly through the bottle necks (narrow ledges and ladders, etc). The documentary also portrays the death of climber David Sharp [1] who was left to die up in the mountain. In the documentary, it is shown that he was found during descent in a very bad condition. There is some controversy if this is true and whether he was actually found on the ascent instead. If he was found during the descent, leaving him might be considered acceptable since the party who found him would have been exhausted, low on oxygen and the daylight fading fast. But if the situation is (as some have suggested, and the Wikipedia article says) that he was actually found on ascent and left to die while going for the summit instead, it is very morally questionable thing to do. Going to the summit, which is essentially only a tourist attraction at this point, instead of attempting to save a man's life is something that I might never comprehend. Even if the chances of saving that man were slim, not attempting the rescue is questionable. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sharp_(mountaineer) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sharp_(mountaineer)
- chrisBob 13y ago
  The only point you miss is that the dead bodies are part of the attraction for the rich idiots. Walking past dead or dying people is something you don't get to do in the berbs too often, and not many of your friends have done that.
  - thinkpad20 13y ago
    Even being cynical, it's hard to imagine someone listing "getting to walk past dead people" as a reason for climbing Mount Everest.
- freerobby 13y ago
awjr 13y ago
I'm guessing the issues here are to do with the extreme danger you "choose" to put yourself into. You are 100% responsible for your well being and you don't expect or want other people to risk their lives for the situation you have put yourself into. Obviously you have the support of your 'team', but if you go off on your own, then it really is your responsibility and yours alone. This attitude also pervades "cave diving". Anything can and does happen and, as a diver, you understand the risks you are taking when exploring new cave systems and take full responsibility. It's an extremely risky "sport".
- kfk 13y ago
  Where do you do cave diving? Damn, I grew up with it and: 1) safety is king, always, we always have 2 nails for 1 rope and 3 if possible for example; 2) nobody dares to call this a sport; 3) in Italy we have a special team of volunteers that trains periodically to go saving people in caves. Nobody has ever been left to die and I have never heard of anybody taking stupid risks.
freerobby 13y ago
Lots of posts here questioning why someone would climb Everest. I've never done it but I have a bit of mountaineering under my belt, and there was a time when I would've loved the opportunity to attempt earth's largest. It's not just about danger. In addition to the element of challenge and personal achievement that a few have alluded to, mountaineering provides one of the most beautiful and serene experiences imaginable. Have you ever attempted a physical feat as awe-inspiring as this? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3/DSC_1455-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3... Have you ever appreciated the vastness of nature as much as standing beneath seracs as big as buildings? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-2QddZdv/1/X3/DSC_1557-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-2QddZdv/1/X3... Have you ever climbed alongside peaks so beautiful that they look surreal? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-ZbZFvzL/0/X3/DSC_1627-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-ZbZFvzL/0/X3... Have you ever walked on a receding glacier that has been there for millions of years? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-pStmFNs/0/X3/DSC_1633-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-pStmFNs/0/X3... Have you ever succeeded at a physical feat that looks less than possible? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-tQ5cg7v/1/X3/DSC_1815-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-tQ5cg7v/1/X3... Have you ever woken up in the morning, gone outside your tent, and looked down at the clouds? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-hgC65Lv/1/X3/DSC_1882-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-hgC65Lv/1/X3... I can only imagine how awesome these things would feel, how beautiful these scenes would be, on a mountain the size of Everest, especially when you consider the beauty of the Himalayan ranges around it. There are as many good reasons to climb mountains as there are bad ones. Most people have vices. Most people take risks. Mine have been extremely rewarding.
- RyanMcGreal 13y ago
  Those are some breathtaking (no pun intended) photos. Thank you for sharing.
- coldtea 13y ago
  >Have you ever attempted a physical feat as awe-inspiring as this? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3/DSC_1455-X3.jpg* http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3... I guess my "Coke and Krispy Kremes Futurama Marathon" doesn't qualify...
simonswords82 13y ago
R-r-r-r-repost...
ck2 13y ago
So do we have a reposting bot on HN now? Finds highly rated links that are a year old and reposts? I posted this like a year ago with the exact same title.
- ck2 13y ago
  Not sure why this was downvoted except maybe to try to hide it. I wrote that title, it is not from the article, it was before HN editors reverted titles. Found my original post from three years ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 So it is a direct copy of my post with verbatim title copied.
zamalek 13y ago
The author talks about the different accounts of the people who came across the not-yet-entirely-dead-corpse. Two acquaintances of mine (who are extremely good friends with each other) will be attempting to summit Everest in the next two years. Here's the crazy thing: They have promised each other that if one is injured or cannot continue and if they are past a point of no return, the other will not only leave the friend there to die - but also take his oxygen tank. In a very surreal, inexplicable and ironic way that's the beauty of human nature. I would not consider the risk viable myself but it amazes me how a person who is staring into the black abyss of the possibility of death would encourage their friend to let them die alone. Their perspective changed my attitude toward Everest climbers from "idiots" to people who have true character - certainly more than I do behind my little computer screen here.
- coldtea 13y ago
  >* I would not consider the risk viable myself but it amazes me how a person who is staring into the black abyss of the possibility of death would encourage their friend to let them die alone.* And you'd be surprised how one friend might die bitter and full of rage for the other actually going on with this, and the other might live to only be full of regret for the BS inspired-by-movies move he did.
  - Holynorth 13y ago
    He wouldn't die full of rage and bitter if he's dying past the point of no return. He more than likely will not have the mental capacity with the amount of oxygen he is receiving combined with his body shutting down to have anger at his friend. It will be more of a desperate plea than an angry begging.
- tluyben2 13y ago
  I consider this very strange and alien and I would really like to know what drives people to do this as I don't have this drive myself at all. I take risks, big risks, but not with my life or other their lives, just with money. I do hope they don't have children / spouses / parents they will leave behind in case of something bad happens, otherwise I definitely would call them idiots. No matter how 'your loved ones support you in your decision' ; that turns out to be mostly bullshit when they are dead and you are left behind (from experience in a few of these cases; not mountain climbing but other extreme sports). Very selfish indeed. Not really worth much or deserving of any respect. Why not do something worthwhile like help wounded in a warzone, at least then your risk makes some sense?
johnclass 13y ago
I suppose climbing Everest is only a little less selfish than having children.

55 points by swombat 13y ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 But I thought it could use a repost, 3 years later, as many ma not have seen it, and it was quite interesting.

dschiptsov 13y ago

There were several attempts to clean up the Everest since 2010 by Nepalese govt using some military personnel. Can't tell whether or not they were successful.

csmithuk 13y ago
I imagine it added to the problem!
- dschiptsov 13y ago
  Bad joke. Those dead tourists are overconfident individuals, who tried to do it alone. On the other hand, Sherpas, who organize expeditions nowadays are very well trained and coordinated. There are many of them who have ascended more than 5 times as poters or guides, while there is one person who did it 14 times. It is just a job for Sherpas. According to official statements, around 500 people, including about 300 tourists ascended mt.Everest last year, in a short 15 April - 10 May window. Nowadays even local pop stars were managed to get to the top. Sherpas are doing great job and raised the safity livel to unimaginable heights.

rwmj 13y ago

What exactly is the point of climbing Everest? It adds nothing to the sum of human achievements. It's hardly a personal triumph. If you want to get very fit - a worthy goal - there are plenty of other ways to do that. It's also selfish, expensive and dangerous, for you and others.

JonnieCache 13y ago
Validating one's self image as "fearless", "driven", "exceptional" or whatever other adjective one feels necessary.
VLM 13y ago
Collectors. These folks are not non-climbers who finish their morning tea one day and decide to summit before evening. Most of them have climbed a zillion other mountains, by definition all shorter. Its a grind game for stats like MMORPGs, a real physical grind.
- dalke 13y ago
  On what basis do you conclude that "most of them have climbed a zillion other mountains"? For example, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152659/I-strong-feeling-come--Fury-man-photographed-Everest-traffic-jam-emerges-climber-took-BIKE-mountain.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152659/I-strong-fee... lists 'overweight French journalist – a small woman weighing around 80kg, who had used her entire supply of oxygen before she'd reached any height at all, and an American of Turkish origin who was carrying his bicycle with him because it had always been his dream to take it to the summit and insisted on fulfilling that dream at whatever cost'. http://failuremag.com/feature/article/into_sin_air/ http://failuremag.com/feature/article/into_sin_air/ includes "Since we’ve decided to measure everything on the planet against Everest there’s a group of people that feel incomplete without having climbed it. Consequently the majority of the people that go there aren’t seasoned mountaineers. Many of them have no interest in climbing any mountain other than Everest." I can easily find other references if you wish. I don't believe there are good numbers for the amount of experience that people who climb Everest have, compared to (say) K-2 or Annapurna, both of which are more fatal than Everest, or Cho Oyu, considered the easiest of the 8,000+ meter mountains. But that suggests you might also not have a strong basis for your statement.
  - VLM 13y ago
    Neither of us have much of an argument because all you've got is anecdotal journalist linkbait, and all I have is experience on 2K footers not 30K footers and gossip from fellow (harder core) climbers. I'm more of a hiker than a climber but there is obviously huge overlap in the hobbies. Someday I'd like to do the 15 mile hike to basecamp but I'm not overly interested in the summit itself. On the other hand I do agree that you have a sound theoretical argument that a famous summit like Everest is going to attract proportionally more crackpots than Cho Oyu. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the Mail story and its implications. Here's a picture of about 100-200 climbers. Here's an explanation of why I think a whopping 2 of them don't belong there, although that's not very impressive. And here's a past glamour pic of two climbers who died but I very carefully avoid identifying the dead ones as being unqualified, which is bizarre because if they were unqualified it would certainly fit the predetermined conclusion of the article. So what the Mail implied was most of the climbers are noobs who die, but the facts of what it actually reported were very few climbers are unqualified or weirdos and deaths don't seem to correlate with qualification or lack thereof, so there really isn't much of a story. Just profiteering off tragedy. I don't think anything can be learned from infotainment. Actual stats from reputable sources would be informative. Linkbait, eh, not so much.

JonnieCache 13y ago

The full story of the 1996 everest disaster is very interesting/scary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster The book/film "into thin air" is supposedly good too. EDIT: the other good climbing disaster film to watch is "touching the void." powerful stuff.

furyg3 13y ago
Just adding to this, I really enjoyed the book (even though I'm not into mountaineering).
dagurp 13y ago
There's another film on the way about it. It comes out this year according to imdb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/
swatkat 13y ago
I recommend reading both the books - "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev, and "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climb_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climb_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Thin_Air http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Thin_Air
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

michaelt 13y ago

The article says bodies are left around for years and very hard to recover. But the photos on the article make it look like it's easy enough to get close for a photo. Does anyone know why they can't simply send people up with all the modern technology like bottled oxygen to remove the bodies?

mikeash 13y ago
Many of the people who died were using that technology. Even with lots of aids, it's still hard enough just to climb the mountain yourself. Carrying a body down with you vastly increases the difficulty. There's a substantial chance that anyone who goes up to remove a body will instead become a new body needing removal.
jasonkester 13y ago
Bear in mind the conditions around said body. It's not a nice place. It's hazardous enough that this particular mountaineer, with presumably a lot of skill and a long history of successful mountaineering, actually died just by trying to walk beyond that point. Now imagine that your rescuer, having successfully bettered Mr. Body's achievement by getting to his high point alive, now has to perform the strenuous physical labor of digging Mr. B. out of the solid packed ice, picking up his 200 pound corpse, and carrying it the entire way back down to base camp. What odds would you give our rescuer of surviving that task? 100%? Perhaps somewhat less than 100%? Less than 50%, much of which depends on factors outside anybody's control? Would you volunteer for that job?
taude 13y ago
Did you read the article? They give a lot of reason about the difficulty of navigating/surviving the death zone.
na85 13y ago
>But the photos on the article make it look like it's easy enough to get close for a photo. Some of these were taken with zoom lenses. The guy with the white skin exposed on his back is not accessible at all, IIRC.
exDM69 13y ago

qwerta 13y ago

There is lot of 'garbage' on every high profile mountain, in Alps there is often poop right on trail. I personally prefer climbing without gear on less known places. 1 mile high in one day from sea level is enough exercise.

exDM69 13y ago

Climbing Everest has become more and more ridiculous year after year. What was once a frontier pushing expedition has turned into a sport for rich idiots who are practically being dragged up and down the mountain by their sherpas and expedition leaders. There may be an occasional experienced climber but mostly the mountain is filled with rich tourists who have hardly any climbing skills. This is well portrayed in the Discovery documentary Everest, which shows a group of people attempting to get to the summit. The mountain is so full of people that are queues of people waiting in line while inexperienced climbers ahead move slowly through the bottle necks (narrow ledges and ladders, etc). The documentary also portrays the death of climber David Sharp [1] who was left to die up in the mountain. In the documentary, it is shown that he was found during descent in a very bad condition. There is some controversy if this is true and whether he was actually found on the ascent instead. If he was found during the descent, leaving him might be considered acceptable since the party who found him would have been exhausted, low on oxygen and the daylight fading fast. But if the situation is (as some have suggested, and the Wikipedia article says) that he was actually found on ascent and left to die while going for the summit instead, it is very morally questionable thing to do. Going to the summit, which is essentially only a tourist attraction at this point, instead of attempting to save a man's life is something that I might never comprehend. Even if the chances of saving that man were slim, not attempting the rescue is questionable. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sharp_(mountaineer) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sharp_(mountaineer)

chrisBob 13y ago
The only point you miss is that the dead bodies are part of the attraction for the rich idiots. Walking past dead or dying people is something you don't get to do in the berbs too often, and not many of your friends have done that.
- thinkpad20 13y ago
  Even being cynical, it's hard to imagine someone listing "getting to walk past dead people" as a reason for climbing Mount Everest.
freerobby 13y ago

awjr 13y ago

I'm guessing the issues here are to do with the extreme danger you "choose" to put yourself into. You are 100% responsible for your well being and you don't expect or want other people to risk their lives for the situation you have put yourself into. Obviously you have the support of your 'team', but if you go off on your own, then it really is your responsibility and yours alone. This attitude also pervades "cave diving". Anything can and does happen and, as a diver, you understand the risks you are taking when exploring new cave systems and take full responsibility. It's an extremely risky "sport".

kfk 13y ago
Where do you do cave diving? Damn, I grew up with it and: 1) safety is king, always, we always have 2 nails for 1 rope and 3 if possible for example; 2) nobody dares to call this a sport; 3) in Italy we have a special team of volunteers that trains periodically to go saving people in caves. Nobody has ever been left to die and I have never heard of anybody taking stupid risks.

freerobby 13y ago

Lots of posts here questioning why someone would climb Everest. I've never done it but I have a bit of mountaineering under my belt, and there was a time when I would've loved the opportunity to attempt earth's largest. It's not just about danger. In addition to the element of challenge and personal achievement that a few have alluded to, mountaineering provides one of the most beautiful and serene experiences imaginable. Have you ever attempted a physical feat as awe-inspiring as this? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3/DSC_1455-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3... Have you ever appreciated the vastness of nature as much as standing beneath seracs as big as buildings? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-2QddZdv/1/X3/DSC_1557-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-2QddZdv/1/X3... Have you ever climbed alongside peaks so beautiful that they look surreal? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-ZbZFvzL/0/X3/DSC_1627-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-ZbZFvzL/0/X3... Have you ever walked on a receding glacier that has been there for millions of years? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-pStmFNs/0/X3/DSC_1633-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-pStmFNs/0/X3... Have you ever succeeded at a physical feat that looks less than possible? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-tQ5cg7v/1/X3/DSC_1815-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-tQ5cg7v/1/X3... Have you ever woken up in the morning, gone outside your tent, and looked down at the clouds? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-hgC65Lv/1/X3/DSC_1882-X3.jpg http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-hgC65Lv/1/X3... I can only imagine how awesome these things would feel, how beautiful these scenes would be, on a mountain the size of Everest, especially when you consider the beauty of the Himalayan ranges around it. There are as many good reasons to climb mountains as there are bad ones. Most people have vices. Most people take risks. Mine have been extremely rewarding.

RyanMcGreal 13y ago
Those are some breathtaking (no pun intended) photos. Thank you for sharing.
coldtea 13y ago
>Have you ever attempted a physical feat as awe-inspiring as this? http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3/DSC_1455-X3.jpg* http://photos.freerobby.com/Adventures/Denali/i-XCFxjcs/0/X3... I guess my "Coke and Krispy Kremes Futurama Marathon" doesn't qualify...

simonswords82 13y ago

R-r-r-r-repost...

ck2 13y ago

So do we have a reposting bot on HN now? Finds highly rated links that are a year old and reposts? I posted this like a year ago with the exact same title.

ck2 13y ago
Not sure why this was downvoted except maybe to try to hide it. I wrote that title, it is not from the article, it was before HN editors reverted titles. Found my original post from three years ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295 So it is a direct copy of my post with verbatim title copied.

zamalek 13y ago

The author talks about the different accounts of the people who came across the not-yet-entirely-dead-corpse. Two acquaintances of mine (who are extremely good friends with each other) will be attempting to summit Everest in the next two years. Here's the crazy thing: They have promised each other that if one is injured or cannot continue and if they are past a point of no return, the other will not only leave the friend there to die - but also take his oxygen tank. In a very surreal, inexplicable and ironic way that's the beauty of human nature. I would not consider the risk viable myself but it amazes me how a person who is staring into the black abyss of the possibility of death would encourage their friend to let them die alone. Their perspective changed my attitude toward Everest climbers from "idiots" to people who have true character - certainly more than I do behind my little computer screen here.

coldtea 13y ago
>* I would not consider the risk viable myself but it amazes me how a person who is staring into the black abyss of the possibility of death would encourage their friend to let them die alone.* And you'd be surprised how one friend might die bitter and full of rage for the other actually going on with this, and the other might live to only be full of regret for the BS inspired-by-movies move he did.
- Holynorth 13y ago
  He wouldn't die full of rage and bitter if he's dying past the point of no return. He more than likely will not have the mental capacity with the amount of oxygen he is receiving combined with his body shutting down to have anger at his friend. It will be more of a desperate plea than an angry begging.
tluyben2 13y ago
I consider this very strange and alien and I would really like to know what drives people to do this as I don't have this drive myself at all. I take risks, big risks, but not with my life or other their lives, just with money. I do hope they don't have children / spouses / parents they will leave behind in case of something bad happens, otherwise I definitely would call them idiots. No matter how 'your loved ones support you in your decision' ; that turns out to be mostly bullshit when they are dead and you are left behind (from experience in a few of these cases; not mountain climbing but other extreme sports). Very selfish indeed. Not really worth much or deserving of any respect. Why not do something worthwhile like help wounded in a warzone, at least then your risk makes some sense?

johnclass 13y ago

I suppose climbing Everest is only a little less selfish than having children.