Everest

jasper100

tuxy wrote: »

Aparently China has more regulation on the Tibet/China side, if you wish to summit on that side and you are a Chinese National you must have previous experience at 8000m+

Introducing a pre 8000m+ requirement on all attempts would certainly help the situation and weed out a lot of the weaker tourists

gozunda

kissthesky wrote: »

God be with the days when I left Tipp Town at 4am in a hailstorm to cross the Galtees with a donkey to fetch turf from the bog in Kerry. Used to break off a slate of granite on the way and do my homework on it as myself and Neddy trotted along. We laughed as we joked that it was like working from home....little did we know that the internet was going to be invented 59 years later. Anyway, back over the Galtees barefoot and chewing on the remains of a dried pigeon to keep us going, Neddy happy out with the turf to get back home to boil the kettle for my cup of tay and an oul sack ful of oats for himself. Sure I could go on.......

Did you arise from the bog and the lonesome cry of the crested curlew just to visit us kissthesky? No one hereabouts has seen sight nor sound of ye for years until tonight. Twas indeed unfortunate that the search party we sent out got hopelessly lost in the Glen of Aherlow and were last seen in a well known watering establishment there. Theres been rumours of course ...

BowSideChamp

BowSideChamp wrote: »

Putting 9 lives in danger with a very real chance of another fatality. Madness.



Speaking of which - another death on Everest today http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2019/05/22/everest-2019-american-dead-on-everest/

Actually, that's 3 dead now from Seven Summit Treks. The outfit that Mr Lawless went with to climb Everest and who are now leading the recovery operation.

gozunda

BowSideChamp wrote: »

Actually, that's 3 dead now from Seven Summit Treks. The outfit that Mr Lawless went with to climb Everest and who are now leading the recovery operation.

A review up to the 19th of May. Sober reading
...

http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2019/05/19/everest-2019-weekend-update-may-19/

DEFTLEFTHAND

Wasn't there some sort of scandal in 2006 with a dodgy tour company.

They were offering a chance to climb it for 7000 USD. For that they got you a permit, basic equipment and transportion to the base camp.


The only hitch was no guide and no radio support after a certain altitude. A good few clients of theirs died that yr, including David Sharp of Beyond the Limit fame.

kissthesky

Well after tying Neddy up for the day, I'd head for the local and have 15 pints of porter. I'd go down then to the river and fight off a few grizzly bears, catch 2 salmon barehanded and back to the pub. Cook the salmon on a navvy shovel on the open fire and have em with a few slices of brown bread. Have a few more pints and head home to change the shirt. Maureen would have the breakfast ready, a big fry. I'd head back to the pub for another 30 pints. Go home then in the afternoon and check on Ned and do it all over again the following morning.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Muahahaha wrote: »

I've 'climbed' Mera Peak nearby to Everest and can confirm it is a trekking peak, it is known as the highest place in the world you can get to just by walking up with no technical climbing ability required. You wear crampons and are trained in using your ice axe to arrest a fall but the trail to the top is relatively wide with little to no chance of falling off the side. Neighbouring Island Peak (6,139m) is the same bar needing to be roped for the last 200m or so. Neither of them are technical climbs and both are very popular with trekkers who want to summit a big mountain without too much risk.

Anyway I once had lofty ambitions of giving Everest a go myself but gave those up after going up Mera Peak. It wasnt the hike up that bothered me but the thinness of the air. The top is 6,476m and up there you only have about 50% oxygen available to your lungs, so every breath is like half a breath which tires you out very quickly. I can only imagine what it would be like at the top of Everest at 8,848m where you have only 30% available to you.

As mentioned further up the thread Seamus 'climbed' both Island Peak and Mera Peak as training for Everest. He also summited Denali in Alaska (6,190m) which is a more technical climb than Island or Mera but still not all that high in relation to Everest. The reason why they say you should always climb an 8,000m mountain in practice for Everest is so you can see how your body handles the altitude at 8,000m. If you feel good then Everest is a possibility for you, if you don't feel good at 8,000m then getting to the 8,848m of Everest is going to be a very risky proposition.

There are 14 peaks of 8,000m+ in the world with nine of them being in Nepal. Typically someone who wants to summit Everest needs to summit one of these first so they can find out what they are like at truly high altitudes. The 'easier' ones that are circa 8,100m are Cho Oyo and Manslu which is where the guiding companies bring clients to see if they would be able for Everest. Seamus skipped this step and instead went from 6,000m+ mountains to trying for the highest mountain in the world. This was not good planning on his behalf imo and a part of me feels he put way too much currency in his ambition to not only to summit Everest but also to do it by the age of 40, with his 40th birthday falling due in July of this year. He put himself under time pressure and mountaineering does not work like that. He probably had visions of his 40th birthday party and the craic telling his mates about his tales from Everest and just decided to go for it despite being relatively inexperienced and a complete novice in the 8000m+ death zone.

It seems to me he put an unnecessary time constraint on himself and as a result he never truly tested himself out by climbing a different 8,000m+mountain, many of which are just a few kilometers from Everest. Had he taken an extra year and done that expedition he might have realised that Everest wasn't for him at all. I know I realised that after Mera Peak but he went straight from Mera to Everest. It was a step too far and he was in too much of a rush imo.

Thank you for this really illuminating post, Muahahaha.

kissthesky

Best post in the thread. It starts to make sense now after reading that.

pc7

Is there any word on the recovery attempt?

sonar44

pc7 wrote: »

Is there any word on the recovery attempt?

Surprisingly quiet in the news...

pc7

sonar44 wrote: »

Surprisingly quiet in the news...

Really hope all is ok, see another climber died on the way down yday, brings it to 13. https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/indian-climber-anjali-kulkarni-dies-on-mt-everest/

tuxy

The vast majority of fatalities seems to be people on the way down from the summit. Not surprising at that point they have been above 8000m for many hours and have gone a day or two without any sleep.

Probably won't hear an update until they get back to camp 2 which could take a long time if there are still long queues.

josip

The weather window for summitting normally closes before the end of May

http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/05/24/everest-2018-season-summary-record-weather-record-summits/

Although at a lower altitude, I doubt if any rescue operation would hang around long beyond that window either as all the other teams pack up and depart.

Fotish

kissthesky wrote: »

Well after tying Neddy up for the day, I'd head for the local and have 15 pints of porter. I'd go down then to the river and fight off a few grizzly bears, catch 2 salmon barehanded and back to the pub. Cook the salmon on a navvy shovel on the open fire and have em with a few slices of brown bread. Have a few more pints and head home to change the shirt. Maureen would have the breakfast ready, a big fry. I'd head back to the pub for another 30 pints. Go home then in the afternoon and check on Ned and do it all over again the following morning.

Be careful with that brown bread, known to be hard on the colon.

Yurt2

josip wrote: »

The weather window for summitting normally closes before the end of May

http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/05/24/everest-2018-season-summary-record-weather-record-summits/

Although at a lower altitude, I doubt if any rescue operation would hang around long beyond that window either as all the other teams pack up and depart.

Interesting that the Nepali government are asking climbers not to talk about incedents on the mountain. Ultimately, this is their mountain, they control it and it's up to them to manage it. If there are traffic jams on the mountain, it puts even strong climbers at risk. The Chinese side appears to be better managed - in fact, I think it's closed to trekkers coming to basecamp this year. They also (sensibly) refused a permit for the 13 year old American that summited from the Nepal side a number of years ago.

sideswipe

https://twitter.com/EverestToday/status/1131133006620446725

Morons.
Surely there are better ways to get your kicks than to queue up to run out of air and rubberneck dead bodies.

tuxy

More history on Seven Summits Treks the budget Everest expedition company this time involving an Irish company promoting cryptocurrency.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2314246/cryptocurrency-stunt-everest-leads-sherpa-death

This is the company the Irish team used the expedition and are now using them for the recovery. This is the company getting some of the gofundme collection!

jasper100

Bam Bam Mickey wrote: »

Morons.
Surely there are better ways to get your kicks than to queue up to run out of air and rubberneck dead bodies.

Sooner or later there will be a calamity up there, and a whole load of these bellends will be caught out at the same time and die. Its entirely predictable that it will happen on a large scale sooner or later.

3DataModem

jasper100 wrote: »

Sooner or later there will be a calamity up there, and a whole load of these bellends will be caught out at the same time and die. Its entirely predictable that it will happen on a large scale sooner or later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster

redmgar

https://www.apasherpafoundation.org/donate/

For those with a genuine concern for the wellbeing of the Sherpas, this is a place to donate.

Road-Hog

pc7 wrote: »

Is there any word on the recovery attempt?

pc7 wrote: »

Is there any word on the recovery attempt?

Apart from the unfortunate death of mr lawless persuing one of his life time goals/dreams.....one of the most striking things this has brought to light is people financing their expeditions to Everest using charities. It’s estimated that it costs €80k to get there and back so the first €80k of any money raised goes to the individual and any surplus goes to the selected charity...something not quite right with this......

Hoboo

redmgar wrote: »

https://www.apasherpafoundation.org/donate/

For those with a genuine concern for the wellbeing of the Sherpas, this is a place to donate.

Foundation based in Utah US. Fair be warned.

harr

Starting to see the go fund me page being shared a lot more on social media the last few hours but what I am also noticing is any comments that question where the money is going and what for are being removed super quick. Also any comments questioning the rescue or the safety of the rescue are also removed sharpish.

tuxy

Hoboo wrote: »

Foundation based in Utah US. Fair be warned.

Salt Lake City, it has to be the mormons :eek:

jasper100

Road-Hog wrote: »

Apart from the unfortunate death of mr lawless persuing one of his life time goals/dreams.....one of the most striking things this has brought to light is people financing their expeditions to Everest using charities. It’s estimated that it costs €80k to get there and back so the first €80k of any money raised goes to the individual and any surplus goes to the selected charity...something not quite right with this......

From what I have seen, he has raised about 2K for charity.

The taxpayer is also apparently part funding his holiday, by how much is unclear at this point.

wrestlemaniac

Bam Bam Mickey wrote: »

Morons.
Surely there are better ways to get your kicks than to queue up to run out of air and rubberneck dead bodies.

Why are they morons? They made a free choice to go up, each to their own.

pc7

It must be terrifying to be so close to the summit and to be standing in the death zone queuing to get up and down safely.

SusieBlue

pc7 wrote: »

It must be terrifying to be so close to the summit and to be standing in the death zone queuing to get up and down safely.

That looks terrifying, you couldn't pay me enough to do something like that.

It would make you wonder why anyone would take it on unless they had done dedicated training over a number of years in similar climates & conditions.

Joe Soap should not be allowed up there, neither should hobby climbers. It should be for elite athletes only, but it seems money is more important than safety if that long line anything to go by.

tuxy

If you were doing it for the experience then you would think one of the other 8000m+ (excluding the incredibly difficult k2) would be more enjoyable.