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Skeesix posted:Despite everything, she did actually summit. She just ran out of oxygen on the way down. Doesn't really count though if you never make it back down. Ed Viesturs - Mountaineering badass posted:It's a round trip. Getting to the summit is optional, getting down is mandatory.
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Jan 31, 2016 11:50
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Anyone who wants to know more about climbing K2, Alan Arnette wrote about it on his blog when he summited in 2014. Two entries in particular are well worth a read, A Summit of Unknowns:quote:Only an hour out of Camp 4 at 25,500 feet on K2, I was dying. and Descending is the Real Climb: quote:I pulled my knees against my chest and hugged them as I looked ahead. I could now see base camp, 6,000 feet below. I let my head rest against my knees. I was finished. I was done. It was over. gently caress if I am ever doing something like that.
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Jan 31, 2016 22:51
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Dead Precedents posted:Wait, what? Who was this? That might have been Francys Arsentiev who was trying to be the first American woman to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. Oh and her husband Sergei died on the same expedition going back up to the summit to try and rescue her. Poor kid lost both parents on the same day because they were dumb.
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Feb 1, 2016 11:29
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Robo Reagan posted:what Yeah I know. Not as bad as Shriya Shah–Klorfine who was going to be "the FIRST South Asian woman from Canada to make the attempt to raise the Canadian flag at the top of the Mt. Everest". She dead. Also this from the previous thread courtesy of Rondette: 
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Feb 3, 2016 09:24
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Yeah I think the route that goes up the mountain has a tonne of seracs and things that can just break off any time without much warning. It's the unpredictability of it that causes the deaths. Speaking of Annapurna, I'm going to be doing the circuit in October and I can't loving wait. Gonna see these bastards up close without having to die (unless I get stuck in a blizzard like what happened in 2014 that is).
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Feb 3, 2016 16:48
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Amgard posted:I thought K2 was too lightly traveled to have significant bottlenecks, and the main reason for its lethality was the steep inclines resulting in increased avalanche risk and greater exposure to high winds. If you want to know more about K2 and how dangerous it can be, I highly recommend watching the documentary The Summit. It's on Netflix (UK at least) and it's really good.
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Feb 3, 2016 19:32
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Rondette posted:
Ok yeah if he goes up again he's totally gonna die this time.
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Mar 18, 2016 15:10
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TIM MEDVITZ IS GOING UP AGAIN
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The French Army! posted:Has anyone died yet this year? I lust for the blood of adventure tourists. Not yet, summit attempts usually happen around April/May so a few weeks at least until the chomos get got.
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Mar 18, 2016 18:55
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webmeister posted:She did actually make the top though. So it'd have to be: To be fair most people agree that it's not really a successful summit if you don't make it back down afterwards.
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May 13, 2016 13:32
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We're gonna need 3 lists now. Rich Assholes Sherpas Vegans
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May 22, 2016 15:18
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Jizz all the way to the top then use the frozen cumslide to get back to basecamp
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May 25, 2016 09:49
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Seems like a climber (who's blind in one eye!) sacrificed his summit attempt on the 21st to save the life of another climber who was sliding down the fixed lines. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36437937 quote:He was approaching an area nicknamed "The Balcony" - where climbing teams store spare oxygen bottles - when he noticed a "commotion" ahead of him. A Good Person on Everest. Aphex- fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Jun 2, 2016 |
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Jun 2, 2016 20:31
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Microwaves Mom posted:There are no good people on everest. For all you know he just saved the next rich Hitler. ChrisHansen posted:
ok i'm dumb i take it back. definitely not a good person.
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Jun 2, 2016 22:09
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Microwaves Mom posted:Yeah odds are even that lady from India like beats and sodomizes her maids. She's gonna find it way easier to beat her maids now with those massive hands.
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Jun 3, 2016 09:15
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Tuxedo Gin posted:People have to get airlifted off of the Crib Goch approach to Snowdon (Wales' tiny 1085m mountain) all the time. The aretes are no joke, even in the summer. Scrambling along a ridge with 500ft+ drops on both sides is a challenge for even experienced hikers. That's why I recommended UK mountains as good "easy" ones. Babby's first mountaineering experience. Yeah this. Crib Goch ridge is pretty cool. All ridge climbs are great. Here's Crib Goch:  This one is Striding Edge, on Helvellyn in the Lake District.  And the mother of them all, the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen coe in Scotland.  Yes, that's a sheer drop on each side. The UK has some awesome walks, even if they're not at a huge altitude.
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Jun 13, 2016 15:18
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gohuskies posted:First death of the Karakoram summer season in Pakistan - https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1034599923289067&id=100002172082389&pnref=story he french fried when he should have pizza'd smh.
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Jun 16, 2016 08:02
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"Welcum 2 da DEF zone population u" With an animated clip art skeleton underneath.
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Jul 10, 2016 18:18
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I was torn between doing the Everest base camp trek or the Annapurna circuit. I eventually decided Annapurna and I'm off to do it in October also! Pumped as hell, just got to make sure I don't die in a freak blizzard like some other trekkers did a couple of years ago. I've also been reading K2: Life and death on the world's most dangerous mountain by Ed Viesturs. It's sort of like a history of the most interesting expeditions up the mountain. It's a really good read, definitely recommended. Ed Viesturs is pretty cool, one of the few people to summit all 14 8000ers without supplemental oxygen. He climbed K2 with Scott Fischer of 1996 Everest disaster fame. Viesturs was also on Everest that year with the IMAX team. He seems to be a kind of climbing machine.
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Aug 11, 2016 13:52
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Awesome! Did you do the whole circuit from Besisahar to Poon Hill? How long did the whole thing take you taking in account acclimatisation days? Was it fairly easy avoiding the road? I've read all about the alternative trails that avoid the road, but curious if they're easy to follow. Any general tips for the hike? I have read a poo poo load about it since deciding to go, but any more info is always good to have.
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Aug 11, 2016 18:53
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GTO posted:We started at the standard starting point, can't remember if that is Besisahar or somewhere else. We walked 7 days to get to Manang which is the biggest village on the way and the setting off point for the trek up to the Thorung La pass, which is the highest point of the walk. We stayed there a few days and did day hikes around there which was great, there is a cool ice lake you can trek up to and back in a day which was good for acclimatisation. None of us had any problems with the altitude as a result. The general advice we were given was to spend a few days at Manang; the people who don't are the ones more likely to get ill from the altitude. Yeah I've got 3 spares for my camera so hopefully that should be enough. Moridin920 posted:sometimes i feel like people should just appreciate where they are rather than worry about taking photos nonstop to 'remember forever' (more like to impress their friends at home) but then again im dumb I guess honk honk I don't worry about taking photos non stop. It's not hard to take a photo and also appreciate where you are, they're not mutually exclusive.
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Aug 14, 2016 00:11
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Glad the thread was saved. Gonna post so many pictures in here once I've done the Annapurna Circuit. If anyone is interested in more mountaineering books to read, I just finished The White Spider. It's a history of climbs of the north face of the Eiger written by one of the guys who was on the first successful ascent. It's pretty interesting to read about the progression of it all. It's no Everest but gently caress me does it look like a crazy climb. Lots of freezing to death, falling to your death, falling rocks bludgeoning you to death and other things, all within viewing distance of quaint little Swiss villages.
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Sep 22, 2016 09:48
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elwood posted:Everything is packed. I'm flying to Kathmandu tomorrow. If everything works according to plan, I'm in Lukla on friday, Namche Basar on saturday and Base Camp on november 2nd. Good luck! I'm on the Annapurna Circuit at the moment and it's pretty drat amazing. Especially since most teahouses have WiFi.
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Oct 19, 2016 02:16
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How high is EBC again? I'll be going over Thorung La pass in a few days in the Annapurna region and that's 5416 metres. Any requests on corpse position if I succumb to HACE or HAPE?
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Oct 24, 2016 09:03
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Cool I can do both.
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Oct 24, 2016 10:30
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Pics look amazing Elwood! I'm just finishing up the Annapurna Circuit now. I made it through Thorung La pass without dying but it was loving cold that's for sure. They won't be of Everest but I can post pictures of the Annapurna region here once I'm back home and have sorted through them if there is an interest for them? I can't recommend the circuit enough, it's just unbelievable all the way through.
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Oct 30, 2016 10:33
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elwood posted:I'd love to see them. That might be on my radar next year. Dude definitely do the Annapurna Circuit when you can, it's just unreal. I'm back in civilization now in Pokhara after the most gruelling 10 hours on a local bus. I'm back home at the end of the week and will post some highlights of the trip soon after that. It's cliche to say but pictures won't really do it justice but I'll do my best to get across just how un-loving-believeable the himalayas really are.
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Oct 31, 2016 15:46
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Picnic Princess posted:See that's one thing I don't think I'll ever get. If I don't carry all my own poo poo then I just don't get to go. I couldn't imagine hiring human beings to be my pack mules. If you're not self-sufficient then you should just stay the hell home. Yeah I took my own pack with me on the Annapurna Circuit and after a day I got used to the weight OK. Should have some pictures up of that in a few days! Also I had yak cheese a few times while I was there and it was awesome. Price of coke sounds crazy high on EBC, on the AC it got as high as 3 dollars for a 500ml bottle but I was happy to pay that because it tasted SO GOOD after a day's hiking.
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Nov 4, 2016 20:41
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This isn't Everest related but it's about the Himalayas, so for anyone interested in other long distance Himalayan hikes here's a little summary of the Annapurna Circuit which I just came back from hiking. This is the route and length that I took, it comes in at around 110 miles. You can continue it for longer but due to time constraints and work that's when I had to stop. I think the two best things about the trek (apart from the views of the Annapurnas) are the gradual change in climate and environments, and the culture and villages you pass on the way.  It starts in the town of Besisahar about 6/7 hours west of Kathmandu by road. The first few days of the trek are in subtropical rainforest type climates in which you sweat like nobody's business. Very dense and lush vegetation.   After a few days you find yourself in pine forests and cooler temperatures. The smell of the pine is just incredible and I could have honestly spent a long time just in this part exploring and hiking around.   There are some really cool Buddhist villages and structures all over the circuit like Gompas (Monasteries), Stupas and Mani Walls.    Coming out of the pine forests as you climb higher you get to the more alpine regions which give you the first real sights of the Annapurnas. This is Annapurna II.  Cheeky panorama of the Manang Valley.  There was this awesome trail through a landslide area with some amazing rock formations.   More mountains.  Ruins of the village of Upper Khangsar dwarfed by mountains.  Then we got to Thorung-La pass which is 5416 metres high. I didn't suffer any symptoms of AMS and when I got to the top I definitely felt like I could go higher. We had spent 5 days previous to this above 4000 metres which helped in acclimatisation. It's still loving hard work walking uphill at that altitude though.   Panorama of the Muktinath Valley on the other side of the pass. This is a holy site for both Hindus and Buddhists. It's a very cool place. The landscape really changes once you're in this valley as it's in the Monsoon's rain shadow, it's much more barren compared to the other side. That bigass mountain you can see in the background above Muktinath town is Dhaulagiri, the 7th highest mountain in the world. It's a beast.  This is a great little village called Kagbeni, very old and so much character.  And then this is the place where I finished, Marpha.  If you do go to Nepal and do a trek I HIGHLY recommend going to the lakeside town of Pokhara afterwards, it's the perfect place to relax for a few days.  Honestly doing the circuit is one of the best things I've ever done, I can't rate it highly enough. I will absolutely be going back to Nepal to do others, like EBC. I've taken lots more photos if anyone else wants to check them out, the whole album is here. Bonus doggy pic! 
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Nov 10, 2016 11:33
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Nocheez posted:Great photos, thanks for sharing. Depends where you're coming from for flights but I got return flights from London for just over £500. On the trek I was spending around £15-£20 a day because I liked to get a coke at lunch and a beer at dinner (apart from higher up) and sometimes other treats like snickers. So that's anywhere betweeen £300 and £450 for the trek itself depending on how long you spend there and how much other luxuries you like to buy on the way. A lot of places offer free board if you eat dinner and breakfast there. Then you've got to think about the stuff you bring with you like clothes and rucksacks and things but if you're on a budget you can get pretty much everything you need in Kathmandu or Pokhara for a third of the price (albeit a little worse quality). If you are so inclined you can also hire a porter to carry stuff or a guide to show you around but we didn't think they were needed for us. We heard a story of a group of Israelis who carried all their own stuff but hired a porter to carry a boombox for them and blasted music the whole way! There are also a couple of permits to pay for too but they came to like $40 in total. There are also a few days either side of the trek we had in Kat and Pok hanging around which add up a little too, with that and transport between the cities. I'd say all in for 16 days trekking with two days in Kat beforehand and two days in Pok afterwards, including flights and gear the whole thing came to about £1500. Nepal is really not an expensive country to visit.
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Nov 10, 2016 16:19
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Picnic Princess posted:Incredible. I really need to get my sorry rear end over there someday. Its sooooooo worth it. I already want to go back and do EBC, The Manaslu trek and Annapurna base camp among other things. It really is a hiker's paradise.
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Nov 10, 2016 22:58
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VOTE YES ON 69 posted:this is cool you are cool, thanks for you pics Thanks! Glad you like them. Nepal is cool.
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Nov 24, 2016 10:42
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Yeah I think having it in this subforum would be fine. I don't want the thread to die because it's one of the main things that inspired me to go to Nepal in the first place and that's a cool thing in my books.
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Feb 8, 2017 18:00
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A Horse Named Mandy posted:Can you talk more about the general prep and cost of your trip? Since it sounds like you mostly stayed in teahouses, I'm curious how that changes gear considerations. Teahouses are amazing because yeah, it just makes everything easier. No need to pack any food or shelter, apart from a sleeping bag. On the trip I did around the Annapurna Circuit there were villages all with teahouses and places to stay pretty much every hour or two. I had a general idea of where I wanted to stop for the day but other than that you can just go with the flow, stop off for lunch where you like, take interesting little side routes, that kind of stuff. The prep basically consisted of planning what gear I needed to bring and then making sure I got the right permits to do it when I got to Nepal, also I read a load of blogs from people who've already done it to get a general idea. You can pack really light, my pack came to 12kg but that was with a dslr and gorillapod, minus all that stuff it would have been around 9kg. The circuit is really cool in that you start off in subtropical jungle type climates, then as the days go on it gradually changes to temperate, then alpine forests, then tundra and high altitude barren landscapes. You just have to make sure to bring layers to account for all the different climates. I wore one merino wool (icebreaker) t-shirt the whole 16 days I was on the trail, it was loving awesome and didn't smell as bad as you think after that long, as long as you wash it with water when you get the chance. I had a long sleeve one too which I mainly used when I wasn't walking. I had one pair of lightweight trekking trousers, it would have been good if they were cutoffs because you get really loving warm and sweaty at the lower altitudes. Then just a lightweight fleece, insulated/down jacket, and a water and windproof jacket for up high. I went in October and the weather was wonderful, never rained, mostly clear blue skies too. Other stuff I took was just the usual hiking maguffins, trekking poles, first aid, suncream and lip balm, wet wipes were really useful, sun hat, gloves (make sure they're windproof because mine weren't and the morning we went over the pass it was so cold my hands went completely numb), winter hat, polarised sunglasses and a buff. Buffs are amazing and I can't get enough of them. All of this stuff including the sleeping bag fit very comfortably into my 50L pack. My friend managed to do it with a 33L pack but he kind of regretted it afterwards because it just was too full and wasn't comfortable most of the time. I did a little write up with some pictures earlier in the thread somewhere which I can dig up if you want to know more about it. The trip was absolutely loving incredible and Nepal is somewhere where I am DEFINITELY going to go back to because it's just a really really cool place. I want to do EBC like Elwood did, also the Manaslu trek looks awesome and a lot less developed than the Annapurna Circuit. I just wish I had time when I was there to do the Annapurna base camp trek too. I read Annapurna by Maurice Herzog when I was there and it was very cool passing through places he went when he did the first ascent to it. Oh yeah on that note a kindle is essential. E: Forgot about the cost! Nepal is super cheap and while we were on the trek we had a budget of around 2000 - 2500 Nepalese rupees a day. I think I took out 45000 at the start of the trek and it lasted all 16 days I was on it with a little to spare. I did have a couple of beers most evenings though because god dammit it's such a good way to round off a tough day's hike. Rondette posted:I will pay you money and be your friend forever if you could snag me one of those 'Everest no problem' Bart Simpson tshirts that was posted earlier. drat, I went in October but I totally would have had a look for one if I knew! I would have gotten one for myself if I had found it as well for sure haha. Aphex- fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Feb 9, 2017 |
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Feb 9, 2017 09:26
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A Horse Named Mandy posted:Thanks for the reply. I'm already planning Peru for this year, and it's an extra hassle of planning when a lot of the infrastructure in these countries have stringent weight limits (eg one 15lb bag on the train back from Machu Picchu). That sounds like a great way to go on the lighter side. Yeah those trekkers who complain about development are just utter bullshit. There is a 'road' which goes a fair way along the trek now but not only has it really helped the local communities, it's also not busy at ALL. It's more like a dirt track than a road anyway. As well as this, you can walk the whole way now on these new trails that a group of people have made that avoid the road entirely. It's unbelievably peaceful, the road hasn't ruined it in the slightest, and these new trails have opened up some really really cool villages that you wouldn't see otherwise.
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Feb 9, 2017 14:12
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Rojkir posted:
Yup that's the post! We sort of winged it yeah, just read up about it beforehand but there's nothing you need to book or anything before getting there. You just need to make sure to get your TIMS card and ACAP permit when you get to Kathmandu, you can just ask people at your hostel or hotel where to get that from, it's simple enough. Yeah we went were there in the busy season, but to be honest until we got to Manang which is like a week into the trek, we maybe saw like 1 or 2 other groups of trekkers each day on the trail. After Manang it did get busier because people are more concentrated and there are generally fewer teahouses higher up, but as long as you start early and finish early, getting a room should be no problem at all. We generally started walking between 07:30 and 08:30 and finished anywhere between 14:00 to 17:00 depending on the day and how we felt. Also after Manang I would highly recommend doing the side trek to Tilicho Lake when you're there because it's an awesome trail. Another thing is to get a map of the circuit when you're in Kathmandu, one which shows the NATT routes because they are great and avoid the road for the most part. We got this book - http://amzn.eu/7P67TW4 - on kindle and it was really handy to read at the end of every day to plan the next day and get a good idea of where to go and how to get there.
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Feb 11, 2017 16:04
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Holy poo poo, that's really awful news, drat.  RIP one of the true greats. Here he is climbing the north face of the Eiger in 2 hours 22 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfpYNr7es0Y
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Apr 30, 2017 12:10
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Maybe no one else will die this year because Steck counts for like 10 people alone.
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May 2, 2017 08:17
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Yeah the K2 serac is a thing of terror for sure: Having to spend a couple of hours under that thing traversing a near-vertical ice wall all the while being over 8000 metres is just insane. Ed Viesturs book 'K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain' is a really good account of the history of the mountain and the most memorable attempts to climb it, I definitely recommend reading it. It also includes the story of the 2008 disaster as shown in the documentary 'The Summit' which is equally as amazing.
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May 10, 2017 08:54
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A Horse Named Mandy posted:I know this thread has multiple people who have done the trek to Everest Base Camp and/or the Annapurna Circuit. I'm planning to go to Nepal next year and am wondering how the two treks compare. How do they rate in terms of a sense of adventure, backpacking independence, cheapness, and experiencing an environment unlike any other? I did the Annapurna Circuit last October so I'm probably biased. I haven't done EBC but I really want to, and I think whichever one you choose you'll have an incredible time. You'll definitely get a good sense of adventure from either of them, but in terms of backpacking independence I'd say the Annapurna Circuit is a lot more independent. I'm pretty sure you have to do EBC with a group and guides because of the permits and things (someone correct me if I'm wrong about this), but the AC you can do independently as I did. Either one you'll experience environments unlike other places. You're really spoilt for choice just being in the Himalayas. The AC has a little more variety in terms of environment as you start in subtropical jungle, then temperate forest, alpine zones, high tundra, and high desert sections. It is genuinely incredible, every single day is different. From what I've seen and heard, EBC still has variety, but you start off a lot higher and skip some of the lower altitude regions. You also come back the way you came on the EBC, unlike the AC where it's in a loop so you don't see the same thing twice. You go through loads of cool villages and settlements on the AC too, while there are some of them on EBC, they're really only there due to trekkers and climbers so the culture isn't really the same. On the other hand with the EBC you get to see loving Everest and Lhotse and all that jazz up close. You're still surrounded by bigass mountains and some 8,000 peaks on the AC but it's not as pronounced. Some of the photos Elwood took of the EBC make it look amazing. On the AC you do get to see Annapurna 1 and 2, Manaslu and Dhaulagiri though, and they're all cool as gently caress. Depending on how long you want to stay on the AC it can also be longer or shorter than EBC so it's a little more flexible. The AC would be cheaper than EBC too. I got by very well indeed on ~$20 a day. That was including a place to stay, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and a beer or two most nights. Honestly you can't go wrong with either of them. I will definitely be going back in the next few years to do EBC and I also want to do the Manaslu trek as well.
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May 22, 2017 09:31
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The high altitude hiking I did in Nepal was really loving awesome and a very different and cool environment to the lower altitude stuff. It's good to like both because they can be completely different experiences.
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Aug 31, 2017 21:57
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