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Surprisingly enough Mt. Everest is not a very technical climb. There are portions of the mountain today that have fixed ropes, and even ladders left by the Chinese back in the early to mid 70s. Naturally, of course, this all depends upon what route you take and the amount of money you are willing to fund your trip with.
You can use gear and advanced equipment or you can do it in the Alpinist spirit with as little gear as necessary.
56 deaths - 103 ascents
That is more than a 50% casualty rate.
My personal suspicion is that a significant number failed to reach the absolute top, but took credit nonetheless. The last 100 yards, or so, involve a ridiculous feat of straddling a knife edged ridge on your stomach....and inching your way across. I'll bet that some balked at that maneuver, yet took credit anyway.
Annapurna is scary. Even the worlds greatest climbers feel true fear when scaling Annapurna. With good reason, consider that those 56 fatalities were, for the most part, very skilled climbers I would think.
In my opinion, Everest is more a feat of stamina and fitness. K2 and Annapurna? Balls out dangerous. Imagine trying something that has a 50% chance of killing you. I honestly have....no interest. At all.
As for the elderly folks climbing Everest? Very impressive indeed. I'm impressed by merely living to be 85 or more. Life being full of obstacles and such.
Last edited by JohnHAdams; 01-30-2011 at 12:33 PM..
From what i'm being lead to understand through articles, reviews, doc's, guide sites, magazines, etc, Everest has become really commercialized and almost like a tourist destination - with individuals and parties paying ridiculous amounts of money for guides to drag them up to the summit and back down. More often than not a lot of these folks have little to no experience in mountaineering, alpinism, ice climbing, etc and its essentially a babysitting course.
It's so unfortunate cause really that sort of approach to mountaineering removes the beauty and spiritual dimension of it all. People in their 70s, kids as young as 13, office groups, mid life crises types, etc and so on.
IMO, Matterhorn is undeniably the most spectacular summit of all!
From what i'm being lead to understand through articles, reviews, doc's, guide sites, magazines, etc, Everest has become really commercialized and almost like a tourist destination - with individuals and parties paying ridiculous amounts of money for guides to drag them up to the summit and back down. More often than not a lot of these folks have little to no experience in mountaineering, alpinism, ice climbing, etc and its essentially a babysitting course.
It's so unfortunate cause really that sort of approach to mountaineering removes the beauty and spiritual dimension of it all. People in their 70s, kids as young as 13, office groups, mid life crises types, etc and so on.
IMO, Matterhorn is undeniably the most spectacular summit of all!
I earlier lamented that it seems like people rarely write without an agenda. Everest can still kill you if you make a couple significant mistakes. It is still a very physically demanding climb. You still have to get your ass up the worlds tallest mountain, over 29,000 feet. I don't care how much money you have, no guide and no chopper is going to lift you close to the top. It is still rated with a 9% fatality ratio per successful ascents. I wouldn't sneeze at a 9% chance of dieing.
You will always be at the mercy of the weather. Those who call it easy did not have to deal with Everest storms and avalanches.
I doubt that many "office groups" have scaled Everest.
Perhaps there is an effort to reduce Everest traffic and increase traffic on the others.
Everest is more than twice as tall as the Matterhorn....which I never studied. http://gearjunkie.com/worlds-10-most...mountains?pg=3 "#6. THE MATTERHORN, border between Switzerland and Italy (14,691 ft.) "These days the principle danger on the Matterhorn is its popularity, with overeager tourists sending loose rocks onto the heads of fellow climbers below."
The Alps are for climbers. The Himilaya's are for mountaineers. Almost two different sets of skills. I probably would have been a mountaineer but I got choppered out at a youthful age. Wasn't a pretty thing.
Last edited by JohnHAdams; 01-30-2011 at 06:23 PM..
I only posted the Matterhorn because its such a beautiful mountain
Also, I think both our views on Everest are correct.
Take care!
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