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PostNouveau posted:This thread is often like "Well the inexperienced climbers are idiots, but the guys who know what they're doing are super cool heroes" It feels like something to do for people who in the olden days would have gone off to fight as front-line mercenaries in wars they had no part in. You need to place fairly limited value on human life, and yours in particular, but you're at least going to come back with some great stories and you might actually feel alive for a few fleeting moments before some anabaptist pours a bucket of boiling tar on your head. Now imagine becoming a mercenary, except now you're only doing it to prove something to all the kids who threw turnips at you. And all you end up doing is marching around aimlessly and catching dysentery. And also it costs $100,000 for some reason.
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Dec 21, 2020 18:58
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yeah I assume mercenaries got paid and weren't just bored rich morons it's more like the British nobility signing up to be officers and charging into machine gun trenches
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Dec 21, 2020 19:00
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I like the idea that oxygen is "cheating." Are synthetic fibers cheating? How about polarized lenses? How about using a radio? At exactly what technological line does it stop being cheating, and start being properly hardcore?
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Dec 21, 2020 21:46
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Is there some kind of steroid or blood doping routine or something you can do for Everest? Im surprised we've never heard of anyone trying that yet.
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Dec 21, 2020 22:31
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epo is basically a medical way of pretending to your blood that youre a sherpa also some dudes died from fuckin up dexamathasone couplea times iirc
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Dec 21, 2020 22:35
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bob dobbs is dead posted:epo is basically a medical way of pretending to your blood that youre a sherpa Here's an account of how Everest is stupid/dex fucks you up https://www.outsideonline.com/1914501/climbings-little-helper
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Dec 21, 2020 22:44
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bob dobbs is dead posted:epo is basically a medical way of pretending to your blood that youre a sherpa Not just that but as far as I can tell Sherpas aren't automatically immune to altitude sickness, but they believe that myth themselves, sometimes to their detriment.
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Dec 21, 2020 22:47
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Tbh putting practically no value on your life is kinda metal and I respect it
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Dec 21, 2020 22:55
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Colonel Cancer posted:Tbh putting practically no value on your life is kinda metal and I respect it Yeah, honestly if noone else is in danger, you don't have kids or dependants and you don't expect body recovery I say go for it. Leperflesh posted:I like the idea that oxygen is "cheating." Are synthetic fibers cheating? How about polarized lenses? How about using a radio? At exactly what technological line does it stop being cheating, and start being properly hardcore? BRB, gonna be the first person to summit Everest equipped with their own gear. Starting off buck rear end naked in Africa, knap a knife from some flint, hunt down an animal for food and skins and take it from there. Projected summit in 2032. E: this cut on my foot looks kinda swollen
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Dec 21, 2020 23:13
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Outrail posted:E: this cut on my foot looks kinda swollen Poultices are cheating
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Dec 21, 2020 23:30
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Climbing but make it paleo
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Dec 22, 2020 00:11
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Outrail posted:E: this cut on my foot looks kinda swollen Just rinse that poo poo off bro it's fine
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Dec 22, 2020 00:29
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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Outrail posted:Yeah, honestly if noone else is in danger, you don't have kids or dependants and you don't expect body recovery I say go for it. This is pretty much how Maurice Wilson got his start- after a lot of drama, he showed up at a monastery in the area and the last mountaineer that had been there left equipment so I say trust in God to provide.
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Dec 22, 2020 00:38
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Outrail posted:E: this cut on my foot looks kinda swollen You just have to whizz on your feet like an ultra-marathon runner, duh.
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Dec 22, 2020 02:38
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Maurice Wilson's story is wild from start to finish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Wilson
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Dec 22, 2020 02:56
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Aegis Bear posted:Man if they want to die that bad, there’s a million cheaper ways to accomplish it. I’m glad it’s going to be undertaken by actual climbers and not some dumbass tourists being hauled up a mountain by weary Sherpas but still, K2? Without oxygen?! Carla Perez and Adrian Ballinger (without oxygen) did it in 2019 after summiting Everest (with oxygen) that year as part of their day jobs as guides. That's right, they decided it would be great fun to climb K2 at the worst time of year after the Everest summit season and after they had expended significant physical effort on that mountain. These guys are smart. Oh, almost forgot, they had to walk about 90km into the base camp as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvFt2Xcuois Although, as the film notes, they wisely have no plans to ever climb K2 ever again. This is another irritating movie where they show nothing of the climb back down which is the most dangerous part of the whole thing. But it is one of a very few movies that takes time to document some of the acclimatization process, presumably because somehow the director thought this was more gripping viewing than a climb down, so there's that. ewe2 fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Dec 22, 2020 |
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Dec 22, 2020 03:49
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Outrail posted:BRB, gonna be the first person to summit Everest equipped with their own gear. The book No Picnic In Mount Kenya is a great story of this kind of thing. It's the true story of a group of Italian POWs in WW2 in a prisoner camp, captured by the British in Africa early in the war. They look at Mount Kenya from the camp and think it looks rad. They construct their own climbing equipment in the POW camp, break out, hike to the mountain, climb to the lower second summit which is as far as they can get, go back to the prison camp, break back in, and turn themselves in. Mount Kenya is a decently legit mountain, so it's a pretty impressive feat: 
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Dec 22, 2020 05:09
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If you want to get really cross, there is this documentary I watched the other night which focuses on the dirt poor Pakistani guys who lug all the poo poo to base camp. Tbh I don't think anyone really comes out of it looking so great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Lgf8CJnpI A lot of the porters have to live in underground hovel-holes for half the year with their 14 children. (No condoms allowed you see) They can only subsist on the terrible wages they get from portering because there are no other jobs, and all those children get no education so they end up falling into the same portering jobs. An endless cycle. The thought occurred to me, why aren't the Westerners or First World people paying them more, or just giving them some actual decent shoes?? They are walking around in knackered flip-flops with minimum 25kg strapped to their backs over rocky terrain, sleeping under plastic sheets and eating gruel. But then... if they treated them humanely then  they might want better wages or access to some basic human rights and then it would cost more to climb. They want to keep them as human cattle. It's gross.There is some lip service paid where an Italian climber trained some of them up to summit K2, but how about getting the kids some educational tools and helping them get a better life....? Oh. No, that would cost us more to climb. Maybe my mind is in a negative place but it gave me a lot of conflicting feelings about both the porters and the climbers and the people filming it (who make it very clear they don't want to be there) I'd be interested to read some other opinions. On the plus side, it is beautifully shot. I guess that is something. ETA- actually some of the editing has a really odd cadence to it, it's cut a little too fast but I think they were going for an oppressive, heart-beating kind of effect. Rondette fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Dec 22, 2020 |
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Dec 22, 2020 15:57
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Tibetans have a genetic difference that helps with high altitude functioning: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/07/tibetans-inherited-high-altitude-gene-ancient-human
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Dec 22, 2020 19:08
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Rondette posted:If you want to get really cross, there is this documentary I watched the other night which focuses on the dirt poor Pakistani guys who lug all the poo poo to base camp. Tbh I don't think anyone really comes out of it looking so great. I watched this last night and it was depressing. It's basically slave labour the porters literally have nothing and nowhere to go and the climbers come off as complete assholes. Like the one person going, "wow the porters are so helpful they're already carrying 50kg and I'm tired so they help me carry my weight lol" while the porter is emaciated wearing rags and awful footwear.
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Dec 23, 2020 19:27
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I haven't watched the film yet but I recognize some of the climber names, and that might be the expedition that featured a porter strike when people (other than the named climbers) refused to tip the porters 
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Dec 23, 2020 20:04
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Empty Sandwich posted:Tibetans have a genetic difference that helps with high altitude functioning: Economic desperation isn't hereditary. Oh, wait.
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Dec 23, 2020 20:41
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PittTheElder posted:I haven't watched the film yet but I recognize some of the climber names, and that might be the expedition that featured a porter strike when people (other than the named climbers) refused to tip the porters Is that the one where one of the climbers says "can we speak to their owner?" 
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Dec 24, 2020 00:56
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The reason there's so many tech bros is so they can put it on their resume to show what a hard charging alpha dog they are, having climbed the worlds highest mountain. Also that they have no prob paying employees slave wages to risk their lives carrying their luggage up the worlds highest mountain then taking the credit. It's big bragging rights among the psychopath CEO culture. For something completely opposite, here's the gutsy Polish guy story from one of the earlier threads. Unfortunately I've forgotten who wrote it. quote:In 2005, this middle aged Polish guy arrived at Base Camp without a permit to climb on Everest, but fully intended to try anyway, going unnoticed. He had very little money and basic equipment, but felt stong and capable enough to take on the mountain and at one point made it all the way through the Icefall and up to Camp I. Some of the larger guide services made note of his presence but he spoke little English, wasn't very friendly, and seemed to be able to take care of himself. So they left him alone and only saw him on the periphery while they looked after their clients. As we have seen from our limited time here, the Nepalis take their high dollar Everest climbing permits VERY seriously. But, we have also seen that if you were to go incognito enough, there is a good chance that you could go unnoticed. That is, unless a dramatic or tragic event changed your anonymous status quickly. Syd Midnight fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Dec 24, 2020 |
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Dec 24, 2020 09:20
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Syd Midnight posted:Also ps. to mods, you'll notice a couple of people who really, really hate Everest threads but cannot help reading them and will report them regularly like shocked Concerned Mothers. I'm well aware, saw it doom/strangle multiple Everest threads in the past. Report them and they'll be punished, this thread is too cool to die.
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Dec 24, 2020 09:50
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Joke’s on you, the Polish Guy is now the psychopathic CEO of PlumbCo, the largest multinational plumbing conglomerate.
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Dec 24, 2020 10:40
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Polish guy summited while noone was watching and got hit by the avalanche on his way down. You can't convince me otherwise.
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Dec 24, 2020 16:39
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Outrail posted:Polish guy summited while noone was watching and got hit by the avalanche on his way down. You can't convince me otherwise. Print the legend.
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Dec 24, 2020 21:38
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Assistant Manager Devil posted:Yeah, I can see the attraction in getting to base camp and hiking around to see astounding scenery, but actually attempting summitting just seems like weird masochism and a pointless gamble for your life & safety. And that's besides all the weird implications about pollution and exploitation. The world is a massive place, there is stunning scenery literally everywhere
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Dec 25, 2020 04:40
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Aegis Bear how long have you been a mod? I feel like you may not have been one when we were posting together in the DB Super thread? Either way gratz
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Dec 25, 2020 04:42
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Buttcoin purse posted:Is that the one where one of the climbers says "can we speak to their owner?" That was Sherpa, where the guy running the main camp and expedition Russel Brice was complaining that it was only a few troublemaker Sherpas leading the boycott and they were riling the others up into "mob rule" and it was difficult to stop, and that's when this American guy pipes up and uses "employers" and "owners" interchangeably when asking whether they can just contact their employers and just sack them and get rid of them. Brice repeatedly called them "irrational" and seemed to think that was the only explanation, which is the irrational response of a businessman who just wants his cheap labor to keep on trudging up a dangerous icefall all night so his important clients can have a cup of tea at camp two. Not one of them was interested in fixing the problems they had caused for the sherpas, namely that Everest is such big business they were having to start doing portage in the early morning just to keep up with demand which was going to lead to this kind of accident sooner or later, they were not paying them fairly and were under no compulsion by the government to do so. They preferred to blame the government for not sharing their take of the money (of course, why would they share theirs?  ), and were highly miffed when government attempts to calm the Sherpas only made them angrier. But then Brice has to deal with the Sherpas he has that do want to keep climbing potentially being called out for breaking the boycott and being attacked and makes a big deal about this instead and tells the clients it's all off.And it's then that our same American tells us that these Sherpas are the new definition of 'terrorist': someone who makes demands and threatens violence because they won't lug his gear up the mountain for him and literally links them to 9/11. Well they never threatened him with violence and they didn't make demands of him, but of the people who are underpaying them for a very dangerous job that should be made safer by not climbing in the morning, but Americans seem to be simple people who get mad when their toys are taken away. Merry Christmas.
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Dec 25, 2020 14:31
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 nooooooooo
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Dec 25, 2020 16:45
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I’d like to talk to the owner of that unlucky Sherpa
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Dec 25, 2020 16:52
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ewe2 posted:Carla Perez and Adrian Ballinger (without oxygen) did it in 2019 after summiting Everest (with oxygen) that year as part of their day jobs as guides. That's right, they decided it would be great fun to climb K2 at the worst time of year after the Everest summit season and after they had expended significant physical effort on that mountain. These guys are smart. Oh, almost forgot, they had to walk about 90km into the base camp as well. Thanks for posting that. You're right, the acclimatization was interesting, as was the process of driving there. There are some remarkable drone shots that really give a much better feel for the places they are in than I've ever seen before. BUT, there's no credits or any information about the drone photography or about the camera gear used. They seemed to show a tiny camera at one point that looked like a hand-held E.T. doll or something, an item I've never seen before. I would also think that there has to be an altitude limit for drone use, and that base camp might be near it, but nothing in the video. Also, this was an Eddie Bauer sponsored and branded expedition, using lots of Eddie Bauer gear, but I can't find anything about that gear on the Eddie Bauer website. Not that I want to dress like my favorite climber(s), but it would be interesting to know what kinds of stuff meets the needs of a place like that. Any ideas about any of that? Regardless, it was interesting to see how the five of them interacted and acted goofy together in what must have been an incredibly stressful and uncertain situation. Hmmm, I see in the Cinematography credits at the end there were actually six of them. Action photographer Ming Poon, originally from Beijing and now from Lake Tahoe, was there, too. Maybe he ran the drone? Regardless, the video was wonderful and informative. Thanks again. EDIT: Ming Poon links (SFW despite the name): https://fstopgear.com/team/ambassadors/ming-poon https://www.mingpoonphotography.com/?_ga=2.233379678.1537836139.1608929579-2013325069.1608929579 Guineapig fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Dec 25, 2020 |
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Dec 25, 2020 22:00
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I would respect someone who stripped down to nothing and let their corpse freeze so as to recreate, "Pompeii Jerking It" guy. Preferably at the summit bottleneck where removal is impossible.
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Dec 26, 2020 01:08
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Blistex posted:I would respect someone who stripped down to nothing and let their corpse freeze so as to recreate, "Pompeii Jerking It" guy. Preferably at the summit bottleneck where removal is impossible. On the opposite end of spectrum, here's the other quote I saved from one of the previous threads. The context was "the worst possible way to die on Everest", and I believe this was the winner... Leperflesh posted:20. You get to the one really scary part of the climb, this ladder that you have to go up by yourself. You are way too scared and you just stop there while you burn through oxygen tanks and the sherpas first try nicely to coax you to proceed and then start yelling at you. A huge line builds behind you and you know that by not going forward not only are you making it unlikely you can summit but you're also preventing fifty other climbers from summiting, every one of which has paid $40k to $80k to be here today. The pressure mounts but you're just too scared, sweaty palms, your breath is too short, you just know you can't do it and finally you decide you have to turn back, it's just too haaard. As you turn around and start trying to get past all the furious climbers that were waiting for your loving rear end, inching along, every one of them has unkind words for you. One of them spits in your face, another makes a point of sticking his pole between your feet to trip you up a little and you land on your face in the icy snow. You struggle to get to your feet and realize your sherpas have abandoned you because they are too busy helping all the ordinary people, women and children and old men and even a guy with no legs who are all braver than you and willing to climb up a scary ladder and the shame and disappointment is all just completely overwhelming. Your body heaves and you vomit, the steaming liquid pouring down your chin and into your parka, spattering your clothes and you piss yourself in fear as you realize you are probably going to die. Finally as you try to rise from your knees you realize everyone has passed you by, and you are finally alone. The sky is darkening, snow flurries are whipping about, and you feel disoriented and lost and your terror overwhelms you. You take a wrong step and feel a sudden sharp agony as the bones in your ankle twist and snap. You faint, sprawling in the snow, sliding a few yards where you become wedged head-down in the ice, your ice pick lost. You briefly come to, managing to just turn yourself face up, but as the blackness overcomes you once again you know that you are going to die here. Over the next two days, you swim in and out of consciousness, feeling each time the burning agony of your broken leg, your eyes and mouth dry and cracked from exposure and lack of moisture, without any oxygen left you pant laboriously without ever getting enough air to even attempt to get to your knees and crawl back to camp four. Finally you die, alone and detested. Unbeknownst to you, but beknownst to everyone else involved with Everest for the next century, because of your cowardice seventeen other climbers died that day on Everest, including several sherpas and other climbers who heroically attempted to come to the rescue of the climbers who were held up by your unconscionable behavior. Your body remains where it lies, becoming dessicated and mummified, recognisable by the trail of vomit and you are forevermore known as "Barf rear end in a top hat," the person whose actions led to the worst disaster on Everest in history.
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Dec 26, 2020 01:43
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Pour one out for the sherpas but everyone else deserves what they get imo
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Dec 26, 2020 02:17
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Jan 4, 2021 03:27
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I really want to see a documentary or mockumentary from the Sherpa pov. Just full on behind the scenes commentary and inner dialogue about their clients.
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Jan 4, 2021 06:51
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Outrail posted:I really want to see a documentary or mockumentary from the Sherpa pov. Just full on behind the scenes commentary and inner dialogue about their clients. It would have to be fake or completely anonymized. Even then, some rich rear end in a top hat would sue because they think it's about them being stupid.
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Jan 4, 2021 06:52
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