[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Dead bodies on Mt. Everest. (Page 2 of 8)
I know shit about mountain climbing but couldn't you in an emergency situation get like a snow board and one of those baby "pull parachutes" and have it pull you down real quick? It might be a rough ride but better than dying right?? 
In case anyone doesn't know what i'm talking about –––––––––– it's called kite surfing ––- This video has a snowboarder doing it at the 40 second mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR60bmbi6M8 |
| I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. |
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Quoted: I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph?  |
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I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph?
Highest helicopters can JUST reach base camp, at 18,000 feet, if I recall. There's still two more MILES of climbing left from there. 
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Creepy stuff. IDK, if I could live w/ myself if I passed a dying person and did not try to help. To me, the stupid mountain can wait. You misunderstand. There is NOTHING that can be done for someone that is dying up there. All those climbers are Human. I have no doubt they wanted to help, but knew it to be futile, and possibly the cause of their untimely death as well. You'd likely be a corpse if you wasted your energy trying to help them. Most people don't understand the limitations. Many take only 1 step per minute the last couple hundred feet, because that is all they are capable of doing. One slip and fall and sometimes they don't have the strength to simply stand up again. |
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I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph?
I just now read about that. I knew it must be hard to get a chopper up there. But at 60,000$ a pop, it wouldn't take too many people to start being able to fund a project like that. But on a serious note. I think it's kind of selfish to attempt this. These have got to be pretty intelligent people who could have actually contributed to society. They had to have family that loved them, and would much rather have them at home instead of their dead body being stepped over by strangers. |
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I really dont think it'd be that hard. Sherpas go up every year and put up new ropes. Its not like your forging a new path up the mountain, you climb up the same path already set up for you. Thousands of people climb it every year, its just the cost 60K and who wants to do it? Your assessment is full of  .
To say "I really don't think it'd be that hard" is a bit asinine. Those Sherpas are accustomed to the environment and and they make the trek hundreds of times in their lives. And just because you are going up an established route doesn't mean there is a sidewalk with lemonade stands every few blocks. The team that leaves last may not encounter the same path as the team that left first. People train for years so their bodies can handle the extreme nature of climbing damn near 6 miles into the heavens. And I don't know about the "thousands of people that climb it every year", sure thousands (probably more like hundreds) try but not everyone succeeds. Plus best I've been able to Google is that only about 1500 people have successfully scaled the mountain. The constantly changing weather conditions can go from bad to extreme in no time –– 200mph winds, blinding snow, sub-zero temperatures, lack of adequate oxygen, low atmospheric pressures and so many other things. So no, it's not just a case of who has the money and who wants to do it. |
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I guess with what amounts to a mini space suit any extra weight has got to kill. I've always wondered how come no one had developed a suit yet. Something that can keep you warm, provide adequate pressure and oxygen, and an exoskeleton to keep you upright and able to carry the bulk. Then again, that would take the "fun" out of the game now wouldn't it? There's a whole argument on the use of bottled oxygen, couldn't imagine what they would think a suit would do to it. Kinda cheapens it I guess... |
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Quoted: Quoted: I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph? this , its been done here but some don't make base camp here , its not for me  |
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A pretty good book about high altitude climbing without oxygen is called "No shortcut to the top" iirc. I can't remember the guys name but he was from Seattle area and he had summitted every peak in the world over 20,000 feet without the benefit of O2. Pretty crazy stuff.
As others have said, if you want to climb Everest dying and staying there is part of the risk. Bringing a body down from that altitude is a suicide mission. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Crazy stuff. Thanks for the link. Everest has been a fascination of mine ever since Krakauer's book came out. I love that book. The book about Chris McCandless was good too. That movie they made about him was a turd. "Into Thin Air" was a good read. "Into the Wild" was a story about an idiot hellbent on self-destruction. I didn't even finish it. On second thought, any story about climbing Everest may be about people hellbent on self-destruction. They all seem to come back with less digits than they went with and the odds are against survival. |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=3HckQcNNoJc
Chopper that can make it to the top. |
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Thankfully, the "I conquered it" gene in me has no interest in walking past dead bodies to climb an icy, brutal, painful mountain. If near-impossible feats were more in my DNA, I would devote myself to fucking Olivia Wilde with the same fervor. The payoff is absolutely better than sitting up there in the freezing cold with some rich adventurers knowing we have to walk back down again. |
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I'm glad Everest is not here in the US. The government would be forced to retrieve them by the relatives. They would cry in front of the press until the remains are brought back even if that means that the rescuers are killed in the process.
Every time some prepared/un-prepared asshole gets lost or hurt on the local mountains the state has to search for them and either rescue or recover their carcasses. I'm getting sick and tired of paying more money for a fishing/hunting license to pay for this crap. The state is afraid to collect for all the work involved even though its the law. |
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I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph?
I just now read about that. I knew it must be hard to get a chopper up there. But at 60,000$ a pop, it wouldn't take too many people to start being able to fund a project like that. But on a serious note. I think it's kind of selfish to attempt this. These have got to be pretty intelligent people who could have actually contributed to society. They had to have family that loved them, and would much rather have them at home instead of their dead body being stepped over by strangers. Do you have any idea the sorry state humanity would be in were it not for those who seek achievement at any cost? Columbus? The minutemen? Orville and WIlbur Wright? |
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I'd walk up the first thousand feet or so and then come back down just to say "Yeah, I climbed Everest." How many people are gonna ask "Did you make it all the way to the top?" Heck, I might even be willing to go to 15,000 feet so I could "round up." That's like simply joining the Navy and wearing a trident. |
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Climb 14'ers right here in the CONUS, then decide whether you realy have to climb Everest. Absolutely. I've hiked up a couple 14'ers in Colorado. Being from Ohio and near sea level and hiking them a day from flight, I wasn't prepared and got wrecked. It's an odd experience when your body simply won't do what you want it to and you get sleepy and sluggish. And that's nothing compared to Everest on any level. With that said, it's still very addicting and I want to go back and do more
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This subject has always interested me. I read (or saw) somewhere that there is literally tons of garbage at the base camps and all the way up and down the mountain. Lots of expended oxy bottles that people didn't have the will/strength to carry back down. At one time the gov't wanted to clean the place up, bodies included. I don't know how much progress they have made. Seems a shame to trash such magnificent desolation (to steal a phrase).
Southside of the Sky |
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I'd walk up the first thousand feet or so and then come back down just to say "Yeah, I climbed Everest." How many people are gonna ask "Did you make it all the way to the top?" Heck, I might even be willing to go to 15,000 feet so I could "round up." That's like simply joining the Navy and wearing a trident. No. No it isn't. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Creepy stuff. IDK, if I could live w/ myself if I passed a dying person and did not try to help. To me, the stupid mountain can wait. You misunderstand. There is NOTHING that can be done for someone that is dying up there. All those climbers are Human. I have no doubt they wanted to help, but knew it to be futile, and possibly the cause of their untimely death as well. You'd likely be a corpse if you wasted your energy trying to help them. Yup. Lack of oxygen not oly makes you feel like crap, but it also causes your body to stop digesting food and delivering it to your muscles when it does. Weak, Tired, Sick, in pain constantly..... People talking about dying as heroes is stupid. . |
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Quoted: Quoted: Climb 14'ers right here in the CONUS, then decide whether you realy have to climb Everest. This. Mt. Shasta is only 14,100. It is a fun climb but really tough. Screw Everest. Hell, I did a 14,000 ft mountain and it was easy - but I drove up it I don't hold anything against those that try Everest (or any other risky ass thing), but don't expect me to shed tears when Darwin comes to collect. |
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Crazy stuff. Thanks for the link. Everest has been a fascination of mine ever since Krakauer's book came out. I love that book. The book about Chris McCandless was good too. That movie they made about him was a turd. That's because it was directed by Sean Penn. Into the Wild had a bit of greenie spin to it, plus McCandless was a tard and got his reward for playing stupid games. I hate how many people idolized that character. I either didn't know or had forgotten that. That does explain a lot. I've read that Krakauer's other books have a very liberal spin to them. I've only read Into Thin Air and Into The Wild and it seemed that they were more focused on the subject matter and had little if any social commentary. |
| Reading the comments from the original link makes me laugh. Everyone knows the risks when they go up, now they may not understand the risks because they have never been exposed to the harsh realities that Everest represents but its life and death and most people have never been placed in such a situation. If you stop to help this person or remove his body you will die whats so hard to understand? |
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Crazy stuff. Thanks for the link. Everest has been a fascination of mine ever since Krakauer's book came out. I love that book. The book about Chris McCandless was good too. That movie they made about him was a turd. "Into Thin Air" was a good read. "Into the Wild" was a story about an idiot hellbent on self-destruction. I didn't even finish it. On second thought, any story about climbing Everest may be about people hellbent on self-destruction. They all seem to come back with less digits than they went with and the odds are against survival. agree. after seeing those pictures it sounds like your chances are about as good as playing russian roulette in a vietcong prison camp if you as me. |
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Climb 14'ers right here in the CONUS, then decide whether you realy have to climb Everest. This. Mt. Shasta is only 14,100. It is a fun climb but really tough. Screw Everest. Hell, I did a 14,000 ft mountain and it was easy - but I drove up it
I don't hold anything against those that try Everest (or any other risky ass thing), but don't expect me to shed tears when Darwin comes to collect. You are really only climbing 6000 ft when going up Shasta. And driving would be way easier. But vehicles don't do great on the glaciers.
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I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph?
I just now read about that. I knew it must be hard to get a chopper up there. But at 60,000$ a pop, it wouldn't take too many people to start being able to fund a project like that. But on a serious note. I think it's kind of selfish to attempt this. These have got to be pretty intelligent people who could have actually contributed to society. They had to have family that loved them, and would much rather have them at home instead of their dead body being stepped over by strangers. Do you have any idea the sorry state humanity would be in were it not for those who seek achievement at any cost? Columbus? The minutemen? Orville and WIlbur Wright? Yeah but they were the first ones to try. Or the first ones to succeed. Everest has been done by what? Thousands now? After a while the rarity of it sort of declines. The bodies lying around don't bother me so much, I've seen pictures and talked with people who have been there. Besides the raw natural beauty, they always speak of the trash laying around. It's tough to get in, it's tough to get out, parties of climbers have a habit of just leaving all sorts of stuff laying about because it is difficult to get out. I had one person tell me it was totally disgusting, especially at the lower levels. |
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I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. Possible? Yes, as of 2005. Probable? I say not likely. Did you read the part about the top of Everest being in the Jet Stream, with wind gusts of up to 200mph?
I just now read about that. I knew it must be hard to get a chopper up there. But at 60,000$ a pop, it wouldn't take too many people to start being able to fund a project like that. But on a serious note. I think it's kind of selfish to attempt this. These have got to be pretty intelligent people who could have actually contributed to society. They had to have family that loved them, and would much rather have them at home instead of their dead body being stepped over by strangers. Do you have any idea the sorry state humanity would be in were it not for those who seek achievement at any cost? Columbus? The minutemen? Orville and WIlbur Wright? Kinda like the sorry state we're in now...... 
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I know this completely defeats the whole point of the journey, but is it not possible to fly in a chopper to the top and climb down a ladder long enough to yell "I'm at the top of everest!" then get the hell outta there. Either way, in reality the end point would be the exact same. Your at the top. One article said that if you flew someone to the peak, from sea level, they would die in under 10 minutes. The Everest series, Beyond the Limit?, said the Japanese sent a 20 man team to recover a famous dead climber, they moved him 100 yards and gave up. I have no desire to climb any mountain, partly from helping carry my brother down a mountain many years ago, broke arm, leg plus over 200 stitches. |
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Two climbers found a woman alone and dying yelling, "please don't leave me" but were forced to continue on and let her die as they had no means to help her and staying would risk their own lives.
I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Yes, I know they retrieved the body later... |
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Climb 14'ers right here in the CONUS, then decide whether you realy have to climb Everest. This. Mt. Shasta is only 14,100. It is a fun climb but really tough. Screw Everest. Hell, I did a 14,000 ft mountain and it was easy - but I drove up it
I don't hold anything against those that try Everest (or any other risky ass thing), but don't expect me to shed tears when Darwin comes to collect. You are really only climbing 6000 ft when going up Shasta. And driving would be way easier. But vehicles don't do great on the glaciers. The point is not the change in elevation, it's the pressure altitude during the trip. Progress might not be one step per minute, but even 100 yards at a time with a stop to rest is slow, strenuous progress. What's really remarkable to me is the difference in difficulty going from about 12000 or 12500 feet to 14000 feet. |
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I know a guy- with a smoking hot Wife- who wants to do this "someday". iirc he has done Kilimanjaro. He didnt tell me this until after I was married. No doubt I would have double dog dared him had I been single.  Both of my Dads grew up in the mountains. One range a lot bigger than the other. If I ever see the top of Everest Im 100% sure my fat ass will be in an airplane. |
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Quoted: Climb 14'ers right here in the CONUS, then decide whether you really have to climb Everest. I'm not sure even that would give you an accurate idea of how good you are. O2 deprivation really doesn't hit until you get above 15,000 feet. A better example would be McKinley. If you can do that, then you've at least passed the first test. |
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Climb 14'ers right here in the CONUS, then decide whether you really have to climb Everest. I'm not sure even that would give you an accurate idea of how good you are. O2 deprivation really doesn't hit until you get above 15,000 feet. A better example would be McKinley. If you can do that, then you've at least passed the first test. +1 I've been over 19k overseas, and would not compare what I've done to what it would take to climb Everest. |