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Latest photo of base camp: 
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Apr 25, 2015 22:28
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Foam Monkey posted:Does anybody know what the highest camp reached so far was? I don't know if there have been any summit pushes or not yet, because I have no idea of time scales when it involves climbing mountains. I know camp 4 is in the death zone, but could they hole up in camp 3 until they could figure out a non-icefall route down? A bit early for anyone to have been making summit pushes, the first ascents for acclimation just started a few weeks ago. People at 1 and 2 should be okay to hole up, provided they have enough food and water. One of the ways those camps are stocked is by people lugging up and stashing equipment, food, and supplies at the camps with each successive acclimation climb. It is unlikely they have supplies to last for more than a few days on hand. That said, they are at a (relatively) low altitude that, barring serious injuries, they might not be in imminent danger. Anyone who is injured will likely be hurting badly and without adequate treatment. Helicopter rescue is dicy. The hospital I work at in the US will ground a hospital due to visibility from low cloud ceilings, even without significant wind, depending on the skill level and flight time of the pilot. This is in a city with fairly good weather. Out there, they take considerably more risks flying, but the weather is considerably more extreme. Factors contributing against helicopter rescues right now include the fact that helicopters may be more useful in Kathmandu itself, that helicopters could cause more avalanches, that the helicopters can't land on unstable snow (and they aren't exactly military grade birds here, they're not all suitable for fast-roping), that winds can slam a chopper into the mountain before the pilot can respond, that visibility is low, and so on. It's pretty rare that they can fly, in fact, and usually they don't fly higher than base camp. If the climbers on the mountain right now are strong, technically skilled climbers, they might be able to downclimb even through the ice fall, but post-avalanche the ice fall is likely to be very unstable, and without ladders the feat of traversing many of the crevasses requires a lot of skill and effort, not only for the lead climber but even for the others following, as they would be having to cross hand over hand using prusiks or ascenders if they have them, and this requires a lot of athleticism. If they are not strong, I doubt they would be able to downclimb. The rescue resources are likely to be tied in up Kathmandu and the valley for the foreseeable future, I suspect Everest base camp is more or less on its own. I sincerely hope they can make it work with what they've got. It is very fortunate more people weren't higher on the mountain. With 80 or so missing, though, it will be interesting to see how many are even found, let alone confirmed dead. Human beings are super resilient, but these are not good circumstances, and it is difficult to tell what the final outcome will be. Won't be good, though. Regarding exploitation-talk, I think this is not a reasonable conversation to even bother having right now, as the people taking up for the Sherpas, who are of course exploited by Western interests, don't seem to represent the actual interests of Sherpas, either. For example, one of the major problems in Nepal is that the gigantic wages that Sherpas risk their lives to earn has significantly destabilized the economy there. It's easy for us from our position of white privilege to say "man they are working for $20 a day how barbarous" but then again the Prime Minister of Nepal earns $17 USD a day. That is huge amounts of money there. Trying to talk about "paying reasonable wages" by Western standards when discussing countries where the average American could retire after a year of work as a fairly affluent person is both unreasonable and imperialistic. Framing discussion of capitalist exploitation in terms of the incomes of the most affluent nation on Earth is completely absurd. Climbing Sherpas are compensated extremely well by Nepali standards. It is not okay that they risk their lives so much and so on, but it is understood by them and they are consenting (most Sherpas are not climbing Sherpas, after all). Basically, there can be no reasonable, informed discussion of the exploitation of Nepalis without understanding Nepali interests. Claiming that it is problematic that climbing Sherpas work under such abhorrent conditions for such bad pay while the bulk of the community are subsistence farmers and the average cost to own a 900 sqft apartment in Kathmandu is USD 55600 is completely insane. Unless you know a thing about the economy of Nepal, the conversation basically has to start and end with "Nepalis are obviously exploited by richer people" because any discussion beyond that is just one imperialist in a position of privilege trying to tell another privileged imperialist that it's too bad the poor exploited people of Nepal don't have the opportunity to enjoy a Western affluent lifestyle, as if they would even want to. It is a core, basic assumption (the Western capitalist lifestyle is obviously the one everyone wants) that itself speaks of imperialism and makes all this "poor Nepalis are exploited" talk completely meaningless. Similarly, my saying that also makes me an imperialist trying to make excuses for Nepalis, so basically if you're not a Nepali climbing Sherpa it's probably best to let them be their own nation and have their own voices and stop making GBS threads up the thread with your bullshit so we can talk about the tragedy and not about how we lust for rich white death.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:29
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^^^^^ Edit: great post! MorgaineDax posted:http://himalayanexperience.com/newsletters/earthquake/the-daily-moraine-2015-earthquake-2#sthash.h2QRafsR.dpbs Seriously who is Russell Brice in cahoots with? Himex keep their record clean once again. Amazing. Rondette fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Apr 25, 2015 |
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Apr 25, 2015 22:29
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Paramemetic posted:A bit early for anyone to have been making summit pushes, the first ascents for acclimation just started a few weeks ago. People at 1 and 2 should be okay to hole up, provided they have enough food and water. One of the ways those camps are stocked is by people lugging up and stashing equipment, food, and supplies at the camps with each successive acclimation climb. It is unlikely they have supplies to last for more than a few days on hand. That said, they are at a (relatively) low altitude that, barring serious injuries, they might not be in imminent danger. Anyone who is injured will likely be hurting badly and without adequate treatment. The people pitching tents on Everset, the mountain that literalized the saying "pride before a fall", might as well be shifting the deck chairs around on the Titanic.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:32
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hey all you instagrammers out there, it's me, the guy sipping a caramel macchitao over a crevasse
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Apr 25, 2015 22:38
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Minrad posted:Also, lots of reports that there's an expected aftershock that will rival or dwarf the first 7.8 earthquake. Nepali TV is warning it could be as high as 9.0+ on the Richter scale, so Nepal and Everest aren't out of the woods yet. When there are quakes in California this information is easy to find, but I can find no hard data with a quick google search on Nepal. In any case, the odds that a major quake is really a "pre-shock" to a much larger quake drops exponentially (I think) over a period of 72 hours.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:39
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Based on that photo from above, there ain't no helicopters coming out to base camp any time soon. Remember that base camp is also a small almost permanent settlement now with almost permanent residents, and a lot of people live there or travel there for trade to sell to both climbers and tourists alike, many of whom have nothing to do with the actual expedition/tourism industry besides being there to sell baubles, food, or alcohol to tourists, or other services, and so on. Base camp becomes a kind of thriving trade hub during the climbing season, and this kind of an event punishes a lot more than just climbing Sherpas, climbers, tourists, or the agencies that sponsor them. This is a bad thing and while the usual model of "white climbers going for bragging rights  " applies pretty well in this thread with the usual Marxist interpretation, it gets a lot fuzzier getting into base camp and its surrounding industry. While a lot of us are disdainful of climbers (in truth, the only two kinds of people who climb Everest in 2015 are rich tourists trying to bucket list or build a resume, or actually skilled climbers trying to check it off their ascent list since you can't claim the 7 summits or the 14 8000'ers without it), going to base camp is actually a pretty mundane, normal and cool thing and it's possible a lot of poor trekkers, not to mention Nepalis, have been hosed by that kind of devastation of base camp, let alone the rest of the country. So seriously, Everest, Nepal, #rekt and all that, but let's not get goofy about either extreme here and just watch with interest, and let's mainly stop making GBS threads up the thread so we can actually do what the thread is here for, which is discussion on the Everest
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Apr 25, 2015 22:40
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so after the volcano and the earthquake, if the natural disasters keep going until the apocalypse, does the 7 billion guy win the pool
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Apr 25, 2015 22:41
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 It's hard to find a lot of good sources and citations on these figures, but the lowest I've seen is 10 dead, up to 18 dead, with anywhere from 50 to 100 missing.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:43
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It's been posted a few times but this is probably the most useful twitter feed for up to date information from base camp. https://twitter.com/NorthmenPK Some good news, from Annapurna quote:Northmen PK @NorthmenPK · 2h 2 hours ago
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Apr 25, 2015 22:45
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Has anyone ever been so far as to climb this year? No. Everest 2015
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Apr 25, 2015 22:46
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I hope Alan Arnette's okay. I think he was acclimatizing between Camp 1 and Camp 2 right about now, preparing for Lhotse in a few weeks. His blog is always the best annual reading on the Everest season and he had a nice Alzheimer's fundraiser going this year.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:47
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Kathmandu is so hosed up, I cant see them sparing many people to try and rescue expeditions trapped past the icefall for some time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32467986 bbc posted:Kathmandu has been very badly affected by the earthquake. Some areas are completely destroyed. I would imagine even in normal conditions carrying out a rescue would tie up a lot of resources and man power, given that the new route though the Khumbu Icefall has been wiped away I think the people in camps 1 and 2 might be poo poo out of luck.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:51
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:I hope Alan Arnette's okay. I think he was acclimatizing between Camp 1 and Camp 2 right about now, preparing for Lhotse in a few weeks. His blog is always the best annual reading on the Everest season and he had a nice Alzheimer's fundraiser going this year. He did a really garbled audio recording after the earthquake and tweets have reported his team in particular is okay.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:51
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smoobles posted:Stupid rich people who think they can just "survive an avalanche" because their white lol the snow is whiter, that was their mistake
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Apr 25, 2015 22:54
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Avalanche burial is probably one of the most maddening ways to die. About the only good thing to say about it is that you lose consciousness after a few minutes. The thought of being stuck, unable to move just really creeps me out.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:57
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:I hope Alan Arnette's okay. I think he was acclimatizing between Camp 1 and Camp 2 right about now, preparing for Lhotse in a few weeks. His blog is always the best annual reading on the Everest season and he had a nice Alzheimer's fundraiser going this year. Per his blog, he is okay, but stranded at Camp 2 as of 11 hours ago. He didn't give any indication as to whether they wanted to downclimb, or what their plan was. However, he was giving instructions such as to contact guide companies if you're worried about other climbers, so his priorities were still, as of 11 hours ago, focused on his followers and others, and not self-centric, indicating he's probably okay unless he's run into problems downclimbing or whatever his decision was. Still wondering about Allex Ferreira, the bitcoiner photographer who was supposed to be planting a bitcoin flag at basecamp and had posted a lot of pictures from Nepal lately, who has not posted anything since just before the earthquake. As a photographer, I'd expect him to be doing his thing, but it's likely that wifi and so on is not available at basecamp, if he survived.
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Apr 25, 2015 22:58
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Confirmation of that Google lad. Google are donating $1,000,000 to help with aid. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/nepal/11563804/First-Everest-avalanche-victim-named.html
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Apr 25, 2015 23:04
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https://www.facebook.com/elia.saikaly.adventurer This dude is with Himex, Russel Brice's operation. He's alive, but he posted this yesterday, before the quake: quote:To be quite honest, I'm very concerned about this season on Mt. Everest. There are major line ups in the Khumbu Icefall, the deadliest obstacle in our path, which will likely translate into line ups higher up. Word on the hill is that there are many inexperienced Sherpas and Westerners here. It's almost May and we haven't even stepped foot on the mountain. I have no idea when we are leaving or what's going to happen next... So I wonder how accurate the rumor is that there's a surplus of inexperienced climbers up on the mountain. Especially if they're all trapped up past the icefall.
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Apr 25, 2015 23:04
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Stay safe, green boots
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Apr 25, 2015 23:07
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@NorthmenPK: #Everest all members of IMG team are safe in high camps. http://www.mountainguides.com/everest-south15.shtml … #NepalQuake @LauraBrinck: but they can't get down... @NorthmenPK: They are sorting out a plan, Heli evacuation will start in the morning. @LauraBrinck: can they get heli up to C1&2? my cousin is at C2 @NorthmenPK: yes..!! 6 helicopters on stand in Lukla. Seems that they think they'll be able to evacuate C1 & C2 tomorrow.
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Apr 25, 2015 23:07
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I wonder if anybody in the high camps is trying to convince their team to keep climbing in true everest spirit
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Apr 25, 2015 23:11
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Using helicopter resources to help expedite a few people getting off everest in Nepal today is absurd.
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Apr 25, 2015 23:12
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http://qz.com/391389/everest-filmmaker-david-breashears-is-back-on-the-mountain-and-confirmed-alive-by-his-colleagues/ David Breashears confirmed alive, in camp 1
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Apr 25, 2015 23:16
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Rondette posted:http://qz.com/391389/everest-filmmaker-david-breashears-is-back-on-the-mountain-and-confirmed-alive-by-his-colleagues/ Can't wait for this on Netflix.
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Apr 25, 2015 23:25
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Bip Roberts posted:Using helicopter resources to help expedite a few people getting off everest in Nepal today is absurd. Helicopter fuel is expensive. The well-funded expeditions can afford to foot the bill. Most nepalese can't afford the fuel to hire the helicopter, and likely the airports can't afford to just donate it to the cause. 
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Apr 25, 2015 23:40
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Rondette posted:Confirmation of that Google lad. Google are donating $1,000,000 to help with aid. Basecamp is not looking good. 
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Apr 25, 2015 23:42
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Roger_Mudd posted:I blame Bruce Jenner for all of this. ALL OF THIS. Get it guys? I don't think anyone got it. See last night he declared himself a women and today 1000's died. So.... Get it?
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Apr 25, 2015 23:44
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What happened to base camp?
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Apr 25, 2015 23:53
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MOVIE MAJICK posted:What happened to base camp? Yeti attack.
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Apr 25, 2015 23:54
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No. 6 posted:Who the hell is wishing for it? Me. I am. 7 billion+ idiot monkeys swarming all over the planet, destroying and loving up everything they get their hands on. We are an intrinsically flawed evolutionary dead end and our idiocy is bringing about the 6th mass extinction event. There are no innocents. Less monkeys is always a good thing.
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Apr 25, 2015 23:59
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Rondette posted:Confirmation of that Google lad. Google are donating $1,000,000 to help with aid. Looking at the pics I'm fairly certain the head injury occurred long before the avalanche.
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Apr 26, 2015 00:01
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Roger_Mudd posted:Get it guys? I don't think anyone got it. Women kill a lot of people sometimes.
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Apr 26, 2015 00:02
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MOVIE MAJICK posted:What happened to base camp? A bunch of things fell off the mountain, destroyed the khumbu icefall, and the rest of the avalanche sweept across the most forward base camp
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Apr 26, 2015 00:17
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Minrad posted:so after the volcano and the earthquake, if the natural disasters keep going until the apocalypse, does the 7 billion guy win the pool Not if there's someone still left to administer the pool 
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Apr 26, 2015 00:25
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Disregard, I misread a headline which is unfortunate.
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Apr 26, 2015 00:30
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If I died I would have been so pissed off lol
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Apr 26, 2015 00:34
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Decrepus posted:If I died I would have been so pissed off lol if I died, I would be dead
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Apr 26, 2015 00:40
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splifyphus posted:Me. I am. 7 billion+ idiot monkeys swarming all over the planet, destroying and loving up everything they get their hands on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-q5BfMIE6M
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Apr 26, 2015 00:41
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 19:41 |
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Paramemetic posted:bitcoiner Hahahah just when I thought the schadenfreude couldn't get any better.
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Apr 26, 2015 00:42
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