To want to climb the highest peak in the world they are also high achievers.

I am not surprised that they don’t take a lot of time for those floundering on ascent or descent. They are like athletes trained to jump over those who fail in the field of competition. Also, about a third of those who go to Everest do not make it to the summit.

I personally feel it takes a person of limited imagination to think that climbing Everest is the greatest challenge. I also think it is selfish, esp. with a 5% (or higher depending) risk of death.

Solve world hunger, attain peace in the Middle East…those things are huge and would benefit us all.

So I hope every single one of you who are making negative comments and talking like these people are terrible, are going out of your way to do a lot for those who are struggling near you. Of course, it’s far easier to criticize people– especially on the internet from you warm homes, sitting behind a keyboard– than to actually go out, yourself, and do something to lessen human suffering.

@ Chris– well said.

@ Bob– Interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

Sir Edmund Hillary was highly critical of the decision not to try to rescue Sharp, saying that leaving other climbers to die is unacceptable, and the desire to get to the summit has become all-important. He also said, “I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top. It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by”. He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today’s climbers. “They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die”, and that, “I think that their priority was to get to the top and the welfare of one of the … of a member of an expedition was very secondary.” [5]

When I first began climbing, the great goals were El Capitan in Yosemite and Mt. Everest. Over time, many climbers branched out to climb more exotic, more difficult mountains and faces around the world. But, for me, those two remained my personal goals.

One of the great things about climbing through years has been my friendships with my climbing partners. You get to know each other well sharing ledges, tents and hasty bivouacs. In all of that experience, you know that you would never leave your partner and your partner would never leave you. It’s the ultimate bond when you are so over-committed that the only way out is up and the only person you can believe in is at the other end of your rope willing to stop you if you fall.

In the popularization of Mt. Everest as a metaphor for Type-A achievers, there are a number of people who attempt the mountain who aren’t climbers and haven’t spent enough time sharing epics to learn the brother/sisterhood of the rope. A number of the folks you read about are successful business people who have turned to mountaineering as another way to test themselves, but not their empathy or loyalty to their partners.

I selected the outfitter and team that I climbed with based on that fact that they were highly experienced and the climbers that I would be sharing two months of my life with were, well, other climbers, not people working on a tick-list. Most of the people on my team had been on other 8000 meter peaks. My climbing partner had summited the Matterhorn when she was 14. I had summited Denali over 20 years previously.

We were all climbers. And we all spoke openly that we would take care of each other.

I don’t know how they count it, but the best estimate of caloric requirements for summit day is in the neighborhood of 15,000. If you’re like me, and are carrying an oxygen bottle, two liters of beverages, a camera, spare batteries, your pack nets out to about 45 pounds. The day ahead of you is roughly eight or so hours up, about three to four hours back to Camp 4 and 3,000 vertical feet in between. A good day even when climbing a 14-er in Colorado, let alone in the so called “Death Zone” above 26,000 feet.

Above 26,000 feet, the oxygen you carry basically keeps you warm. The biggest challenge of climbing at altitude is that your body can’t burn fat without oxygen. Instead, it burns protein – your muscle mass. By the time you’re making your summit push, your body is back using oxygen that makes you feel like you’re at only 23,000 feet instead of 26,000. In burning fat, you have the energy you missed and can stay a bit warmer. And you move a bit faster. Few things, however, can help when your brain begins swelling due to cerebral edema.

It’s the delightful combination of making the summit, combined with exhaustion, that lets you let down your guard. A slight bit of brain swelling makes you crave sitting down and resting. Most of the dead bodies – people – that I saw were within 500-800 vertical feet of Camp 4. At that point, one can only feel that they thought they were so close that they could sit down and take a rest. And in “resting” they allowed the slow, insidious swelling to take over their rational thought. At that point, so close to the safety of a tent and warm food, you can almost understand how other climbers could pass by thinking that surely someone else would easily help.

Personally, I would never forgive myself. No summit is worth the cost of anyone’s life.

In terms of using dead people as landmarks on the mountain, I’m calling bullshit. The Sherpa have a respect for life, and a fear of the dead that is respected among the top outfitters. My Sherpa climbing partner was in constant contact with our base camp and I never once heard a body used as a waypoint. On a mountain like Everest, there are plenty of historical geographical sources for waypoints – the Balcony, the South Summit, the Traverse, the Hillary Step – that there is no need to use a body.

Does it happen? Possibly. But let’s not run down a path that makes all Everest climbers a pack of self-serving shitheads.

In terms of pollution and oxygen bottles, every team pays a large deposit for clean up. Either you bring your garbage down, or you pay for someone else to do it. It’s pretty much the standard on most big mountains these days. The same is true for bodies. I filled out a form that established what I would want to have happen with my body if I died. The choices range from being placed in a crevassed, being cremated there and having your ashes spread there or sent home, or having your entire body shipped home. All represent a different cost covered by your rescue insurance.

For me, climbing Mt. Everest was one of the most spiritually moving and personal experiences I’ve ever had the chance to enjoy. Fortunately, I was able to share it with respectful, like-minded climbers, not self-centered over-achievers like we are painted to look like.

I say…..live…..and let live. People make their own choices.

Why do we behave the way we do? Because we choose to…because we ‘can’.

Just look around at world events. We are borderline ‘uncivilized’…we do not have the capacity to learn from our mistakes. History has proven that to be a fact.

“Everest climbers seek glory, recognition and challenge for themselves, but they lack honor and humanity, not to mention extremely coarse and selfish.”

How many Everest climbers do you know personally? Have you ever climbed even a mountain before? What’s wrong with seeking glory, recognition and challenge? How about Olympians, boxers, UFC fighters, soldiers, F1 racers, BMX contestants…… they must be all coarse and selfish in accomplishing their goals in your opinion ?

What a stupid question.

If I’m dead, what bloody choice do I have? More importantly, why would I care?

In Marin and Special Forces, the elite of the armed forces, they do NOT leave their wounded or dead soldiers behind and risk their lives to bring back their wounded or dead soldiers in the middle of firefight, more deadly situation.

I can understand the difficulty of bringing back dead bodies, but using them as signposts along a climbing route repeatedly over many years? I know sherpas organized clean up of Mt. Everest summit few times, but not climbers!

Can you imagine or empathize with how their families and friends feel? Perhaps empathy is a rare quality among Mt. Everest climbers? Is climbing Mt. Everest (glory, recognition, challenge) more important than human decency and honor?

Do you want your own dead body to be used as a signpost on a climbing route on Mt. Everest?

They would have wanted you to make it to work on time. (lol)