> I think you are making several incorrect and unfair generalizations. > Calling those climbers "rich idiots" is unnecessary, and hugely inaccurate. Nearly all

> I think you are making several incorrect and unfair generalizations. > Calling those climbers "rich idiots" is unnecessary, and hugely inaccurate. Nearly all guided Everest expeditions require previous high-peak mountaineering experience to join the expedition, in places such as Aconcagua and Denali [1][2][3]. Technical familiarity with crampons, ice-axe, etc' is a must, and a high level of fitness is required. I agree that it's a bit of an exaggeration and most expedition organizers are responsible and take preparations seriously and require their participants to be in good health and fine physical fitness. And then there are the organizers that aren't. In the Discovery documentary, there was one particular group of Chinese climbers who were practically pulled up the hill with ropes by their sherpas. Even the group who were followed in that documentary, from an organizer with a good reputation, led by a well known mountaineer had some members whose physical condition was a bit questionable. There was a motorcycle accident victim who could barely keep up with the climbers at the lower camps and in the end refused to turn back when told so by the expedition leader, putting himself and his sherpas at peril. But most of that group were fine climbers with proper preparations. I do understand that judgment doesn't quite work well at 8000+ meters, even with supplemental oxygen. I do not want to make moral judgments about the case above, but I do want to raise a discussion about the subject.