Bad day on Mt. Everest

[LawBeefaroni]

A line? If that's not enough reason to avoid the risks of the summit, I don't know what is. Just wait until they put in a gondola.

[em2nought]

I'm now thinking that sailing into a hurricane is a more pleasant way to go, don't want to wait in line to die someday.

[hepcat]

Well, I don't know why people say it's so hard to climb. The video made it obvious how simple the route is. Just ignore the cold, falling rocks, and lack of oxygen. Easy peasy.

Seriously. The whole thing took me like 2 minutes.

I mean, I did the whole climb buck naked just now, and the only adversity I faced was office security.

[em2nought]

I wonder why they don't offer a speed pass like major theme parks do?

[Jaymon]

split it up, half the tickets go lottery style, half the tickets go to highest bidder, if rich assholes are going to climb, make sure to get their money first.

[Isgrimnur]

CBS News

With at least 11 people losing their lives, this has been the deadliest climbing season on Mount Everest since 2015. But Nepal's government is not yet even considering tightening up the rules for climbers -- including how many are permitted to take on the world's highest mountain at a time.

A senior Nepali official denied news reports that rule changes are already being considered.

"We are currently finding the actual cause of the deaths, and whether or not changes to the rules will be made will be discussed later," Mira Acharya, director of Nepal's Department of Tourism, told CBS News on Thursday.
...
This climbing season say Nepal issue 381 permits -- the highest number ever -- which has contributed to the chaos on the mountain on days when the weather is optimal for climbing.

The Nepali government does not assess the health condition of climbers, nor does it evaluate their mountaineering skills; anyone who pays the $11,000 cost is eligible for a permit to climb the Mount Everest in Nepal. Additional costs of equipment and other expenses make it an estimated $45,000 venture per climber.
...
At least 18 climbers were killed in 2015 when a massive avalanche hit Everest's base camp. This year's high death toll, however, cannot be blamed on bad weather.

[Isgrimnur]

A line? If that's not enough reason to avoid the risks of the summit, I don't know what is. Just wait until they put in a gondola.

Sorry, folks, mountain's closed. The corpse out front should have told you.

A few years ago, Kami Rita Sherpa, a veteran climber and guide, met with a gruesome sight at Mount Everest Base Camp. Human bones poked from the ground, smooth and ice-crusted.

It was not a fluke. Subsequent seasons yielded more remains — a skull, fingers, parts of legs. Guides increasingly believe that their findings fit into a broader development on the world’s highest mountain: A hotter climate has been unearthing climbers who never made it home.

“Snow is melting and bodies are surfacing,” said Mr. Sherpa, who has summited Everest 24 times, a world record. “Finding bones has become the new normal for us.”

In the last few seasons, climbers say they have seen more bodies lying on the icy slopes of Everest than ever before. Both the climbers and the Nepalese government believe this is a grim result of global warming, which is rapidly melting the mountain’s glaciers and in the process exposing bones, old boots and full corpses from doomed missions decades ago.

[em2nought]

A Sherpa named Sherpa, well that's easy.

[Scuzz]

split it up, half the tickets go lottery style, half the tickets go to highest bidder, if rich assholes are going to climb, make sure to get their money first.

It doesn't cost much more to join an Everest expidition that it does to buy a new Ford or Chevy pickup with the bells and whistles. I guess those people are assholes too.

[Jeff V]

A line? If that's not enough reason to avoid the risks of the summit, I don't know what is. Just wait until they put in a gondola.

Sorry, folks, mountain's closed. The corpse out front should have told you.

A few years ago, Kami Rita Sherpa, a veteran climber and guide, met with a gruesome sight at Mount Everest Base Camp. Human bones poked from the ground, smooth and ice-crusted.

It was not a fluke. Subsequent seasons yielded more remains — a skull, fingers, parts of legs. Guides increasingly believe that their findings fit into a broader development on the world’s highest mountain: A hotter climate has been unearthing climbers who never made it home.

“Snow is melting and bodies are surfacing,” said Mr. Sherpa, who has summited Everest 24 times, a world record. “Finding bones has become the new normal for us.”

In the last few seasons, climbers say they have seen more bodies lying on the icy slopes of Everest than ever before. Both the climbers and the Nepalese government believe this is a grim result of global warming, which is rapidly melting the mountain’s glaciers and in the process exposing bones, old boots and full corpses from doomed missions decades ago.

Sounds like the Murderhorn on the Simpsons.

In other mountain death news, you don't have to go all the way to Nepal to have a mountain kill you.

[Scuzz]

Didn't Mt. Ranier (or maybe it was Mt. Hood in Oregon) have several people die a couple years ago during a storm?

How about the crazies who free climb in Yosemite and die every year?

[stimpy]

So easy even a ex-pop star can do it.

[Jeff V]

I seem to recall a group falling into a crevasse on Rainier about that long ago. But it could be dementia playing tricks.

When it comes to mountain climbing, I'm rather easily discouraged. I tried hiking a trail on Mt Hood about a dozen years ago and was thwarted by the proverbial slippery slope. Packed snow and ice from previous trail walkers and above-freezing temps created a slip-n-slide of a trail, and after a few backslides I took my soaking-wet ass back to the car and found a decent brewery to dry out in.

[stessier]

So easy even a ex-pop star can do it.

Fwiw, she only went to the Base Camp.

[Scuzz]

My brother has done Mt. Whitney and Mt. Shasta. He married into a family that did that kind of stuff.

[Isgrimnur]

India Today

Nepali climbers have retrieved four bodies and collected some 11 tonnes of decades-old garbage from Mount Everest and its approach below the base camp as part of a drive to clean up the world's highest mountain, the government said on Wednesday.

Climbers returning from the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) mountain say its slopes are littered with human excrement, used oxygen bottles, torn tents, ropes, broken ladders, cans and plastic wrappers left behind by climbers, an embarrassment for a country that earns valuable revenue from Everest expeditions.

The garbage, along with the bodies of some of the 300 people who have died over the years on Everest's slopes, are buried under the snow during winter, but become visible when the snow melts in summer.

A clean-up team of 20 sherpa climbers collected five tonnes of litter in April and May from different camps sites above the base camp and another six tonnes from the areas below, said Dandu Raj Ghimire, director general of the Department of Tourism.
...
Cleaning campaign coordinator Nim Dorjee Sherpa, head of the village where Mount Everest is located, told Reuters two bodies were collected from the treacherous Khumbu Icefall and two from camp three site at the Western Cwm. "They were exposed from the snow when the sherpas picked up and brought them down," he said.

None of the four bodies have been identified and it was not known when they died.

[Smoove_B]

If ever there was to be an indictment of modern humans, there you go. Arguably one of the most beautiful and magnificent places on earth and it's been befouled (literally) by our shit.

[Archinerd]

Not as impressive as filling the ocean with plastic, but covering the world's tallest mountain in waste is still a pretty big achievement.

[Scuzz]

If ever there was to be an indictment of modern humans, there you go. Arguably one of the most beautiful and magnificent places on earth and it's been befouled (literally) by our shit.

I think you have to lay that at the feet of the Nepalese government. This has been going on for years there. The climbers (more especially the teams they pay big money to) should be responsible for hauling out all their own waste. I know here in California you can no longer climb Mt. Whitney without hauling out all your own waste, and that includes your shit. But that rule has only been in effect probably less than 15 years or so.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, maybe. All I know is that as a Boy Scout we were always told to take only pictures, leave only footprints. The idea that I'd go camping/climbing/recreating in the wild and just leave tents, food wrappers or oxygen tanks (because it's too tough to carry out) is unconscionable. Clearly the bar has been lowered too much for access to the mountain if people are bringing what amounts to disposable gear with them.

[LawBeefaroni]

When you conquer it, why clean up? It's the mentality that nature is meant to be defeated.

And when all it takes to defeat it is a week's salary or so, of course you can leave your shit behind. It's just another adventure vacation and photo op.

[The Meal]

https://www.thetopofmounteverest.com

[LawBeefaroni]

[em2nought]

Hmm, it might be worth it if I could paraglide off the top.

[Isgrimnur]

Guardian

Experts say this is likely to be one of the deadliest years on record on Mount Everest, with variable weather caused by climate change being blamed as one of the main reasons for the deaths of up to 17 people.

A total of 12 people have now been confirmed dead during Everest expeditions this season and another five are missing, presumed dead, as no contact has been made for at least five days in all cases, according to the Himalayan Database, which tracks mountain fatalities.
...
It would make this year one of the worst on record for deaths on Everest, matched only by the events of 2014 when 17 died, most of whom were local sherpas killed in an avalanche. On average, between five and 10 people die on Everest every year but recent years have seen a spike.

[em2nought]

Great movie remake idea: "The Four Feathers" Four climbers plan to climb Everest, but one decides to get married instead. His buddies and girl(or boyfriend), who dumps him, all give him feathers so he goes undercover as a Sherpa to make sure his buddies get up and back down the mountain.

Is Green Boots still there? My plan was to be the next green boots, but if they keep bringing bodies back down off the mountain I don't think I'll be able to get high enough. Seems a shame to deny future archeologists their finds.

Final thought: I wonder if those crevasse ladders are from Harbor Freight?