4 dead on Everest in two days, 10 for the season

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by Zevo

Maybe I'm not understanding this, but are you saying that 2% of people that have ever driven a car die in car accidents? If so, that sounds like an absurd statement to me.

I believe it is 2% of all fatalities, could be wrong though.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by Zevo

Maybe I'm not understanding this, but are you saying that 2% of people that have ever driven a car die in car accidents? If so, that sounds like an absurd statement to me.

What I'm saying is that climbing Mount Everest is not as likely to lead to death as people early in the thread seemed to assume.

If you want to keep talking about the car stat and what it means, read the link I provided and/or pm me. It was clearly poorly chosen as a point of comparison given all the confusion it has caused, and wasn't meant to become the focus of this thread.

[TheGrimm]

Originally Posted by Superfraggle

What I'm saying is that climbing Mount Everest is not as likely to lead to death as people early in the thread seemed to assume.

If you want to keep talking about the car stat and what it means, read the link I provided and/or pm me. It was clearly poorly chosen as a point of comparison given all the confusion it has caused, and wasn't meant to become the focus of this thread.

OK try this one:

If someone told you the next flight you were taking had only a 2% risk of killing you? Would you be rethinking that trip to LA?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

perhaps the Captain should pimp himself out for corporate gigs - it would be inspiring to here about how on a certain night it would appear like he was going home for the taffy pull, when BAM!!! the zeros in on the chick that was a 2 at 10 takes here home and she polishes his hitch and then takes him for a wild ride. he can also deal with the aftermath of trying to remove his arm from around her and get her quickly out of his house......

Usually I throw a angel food cake out the front door and when she goes scampering after it, I slam the door and lock it. When she asks me if she can have her purse back I say "Nobody is home" in eastern european accent.

[T@T]

I have never condemned people who die doing what they like even if it's a thrill seek but Everest always amazed me for some reason. Humans simply aren't made to survive at those altitudes but then I saw a show on discovery about the Tibetan's(Sherpa's) and it changed my mind about how fast humans can evolve..they are truly a medical wonder in the way their body's have adapted to high altitude over time, hemoglobin-binding enzymes, doubled nitric oxide production, hearts that can utilize glucose, and lungs with an increased efficiency in low oxygen conditions, and the crazy part is ...most of them are smokers.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

OK try this one:

If someone told you the next flight you were taking had only a 2% risk of killing you? Would you be rethinking that trip to LA?

Probably not.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

OK try this one:

If someone told you the next flight you were taking had only a 2% risk of killing you? Would you be rethinking that trip to LA?

Sure would, because the best possible outcome of that flight does not justify the risk. Level of acceptable risk is dependent on outcome of the activity.

Your example is just as irrelevant to climbing Everest as mine turned out to be.

[Bigtime]

Oh you have got to be kidding me:

Everest victim's family asks for government help

"We want somebody to help us in the foreign affairs department to bring the body from Kathmandu to Toronto," he said.

"As a humanitarian gesture, I think it should be the responsibility of the foreign affairs department," said Lamba.

He added Shah "spent her every dime to reach Mount Everest with the sole purpose of unfurling [the] maple leaf flag over there."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...r-body468.html

That last part I quoted is the worst, don't try and play the flag card. We've had a bunch of Canucks (not too mention the first one) already bring our flag up there.

[Phanuthier]

I didn't realize some of the pursuits of Everest were so idiotic... spent every dime on it? Pathetic.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Oh you have got to be kidding me:



That last part I quoted is the worst, don't try and play the flag card. We've had a bunch of Canucks (not too mention the first one) already bring our flag up there.

some one dying due to a hobby is not our responsibility.

And the flag card fails unless the Canadian Government asked her to do it.

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by fotze

It is quite a feat I am sure, but when you put yourself into the situation knowingly, it becomes less impressive. Its like a sword swallower or one of those sledgehammer concrete tummy break guys. Neat to watch for a few seconds but hardly inspiring.

Seems contrived as well. Lets think of some other harsh environment place.

I will be the first person to walk across the North Korean border fully engulfed in a flame ball constructed out of bat dung and filled with rattlesnakes. I will be so proud of this I will go on a tour to explain my struggle and inspire others with it.....for a fee.

Okay you do that and I'll walk/swim across the Everglades without a weapon

[mrbanffgirl]

These days, climbing up Everest is like herding sheep! These "Adventure" companies sell it like it is a trip all to yourself, but you get there ant there are 200 - 300 other climbers ( read - lambs) waiting on their turn for glory.
Retrieving one idiots body of of a mountain, put's how many others lives at stake? To pull the Flag card is brutal. She spent the money, risked everything she had, and failed miserably in the worst way.
If she really wanted to leave her mark, leave her there with the hundreds of other frozen climbers as a shrine to want you should not do... Be inexperienced, unprepared and expect others to bail you out when crap goes bad.

[Bill Bumface]

I'm sure being born in Nepal and raised in India it was her life long dream to be the 232nd person to plant a Canadian flag at the top of Everest....

[burn_this_city]

I thought fotze was kidding about the climbing hills in Toronto... Wow...

[Cowperson]

Everest victim's family asks for government help

"We want somebody to help us in the foreign affairs department to bring the body from Kathmandu to Toronto," he said.

"As a humanitarian gesture, I think it should be the responsibility of the foreign affairs department," said Lamba.

He added Shah "spent her every dime to reach Mount Everest with the sole purpose of unfurling [the] maple leaf flag over there."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...r-body468.html

"If you can't handle MiG's, don't fly in MiG Alley." - Dan Akroyd at John Belushi's funeral.

Cowperson

[mrbanffgirl]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

"If you can't handle MiG's, don't fly in MiG Alley." - Dan Akroyd at John Belushi's funeral.

Cowperson

Yeah, it's laughable! The humanitarian gesture would be to go and give the $30,000 some odd dollars it would cost to scrape her body off the mountain, to the Sherpa's who have to go up there to do the work. That's a humanitarian thing to do.
Yeah she died, and yes she raised some money for sick kids, but at the end of the day, she wanted to go! no one had a gun to her head saying she had to do it. there are many experienced climbers up there frozen in the snow, who died doing what they spent a lifetime working towards! Not just day walks in the 'hills' around toronto!
I visited her web site, and there is not one picture of her outside!! there is a pretty good one of her Photoshopped in front of Lake Louise though!

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I thought fotze was kidding about the climbing hills in Toronto... Wow...

It really is insane. From what I've read, and from talking to some very experienced mountaineers, Everest isn't a technical climb at all. It's more about willpower and being able to work through exhaustion, which is why it's littered with people that have next to no climbing experience, a basic foundation of fitness, but enough cash to have someone haul their sorry arse and all their gear up a mountain. The sherpas do almost all of the work there; a lot of these self righteous a-holes summiting are only there to make a claim to "climbing" the worlds tallest peak, and either jump on a motivational speaking tour, or pass themselves off as mountaineers to people around them as some kind of narcissistic ego boost.

I met a guy that summited Everest twice, and all he talked about was how much of a climber he was. It took one glance at his fat ass to know that wasn't true, and where his motivation was to make that claim. My uncle and a whole lot of his friends were climbers up until a few years ago (they're all old as dirt now) but when they were climbing, they were weathered, fit as f*** mountain men that spent days roped onto the side of a 1000ft cliff face, pi**ing in their helmets and eating chicken broth while a snowstorm passed over.

A lot of that is my opinion, and I've never been to Everest so take it with a grain of salt I guess.

National Geographic's team made it up today, and this is what they had to say

We all had to pass dozens upon dozens of climbers, a fair number of whom have no business being on Everest. Crowds of inexperienced climbers are generally the bane of the highest point on Earth if you take the standard route. But there are over a dozen other routes for hard-core mountaineers.


http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ev...5-25/we-did-it

Darwinism at its finest as far as I'm concerned. If you jump on a speed boat with no life jacket and minimal driving skills, is it going to surprise anyone when you drown?

[oilyfan]

I agree with a lot of posters here, she was unprepared, naive and frankly probably deluded. While Climbing Everest is a an accomplishment, doing it the way that these "adventure" climbers are doing it is not what the accomplishment is about.

If anyone is interested in what a true climber is made of read "No shortcuts to the top" by Ed Viesturs, one of the few who has climbed all 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters without oxygen.

[trublmaker]

Originally Posted by Doodlebug

Why all the fuss about Everest, when K2 is generally considered a much tougher climb. Plus...you know you not going to be waiting in a long line to trek up.

Because it is Everest

[trublmaker]

watching Ulimate survival: Everest lately not a friendly place at all