[Bigtime]

Nepal makes very good money thanks to Everest, unless their economic fortunes change in that country it will remain full speed ahead.

I highly recommend anyone slightly interested in these companies that you pay to get you up there read "Into Thin Air" by John Krakauer, he was in one of the groups (writing for Outside magazine) during the tragedy in '96. It's the kind of read you will motor through in a few hours, a real page turner that puts you into the mind of someone who's body is literally dying slowly once in the death zone up there.

Personally I would love just to go to base camp and get a look at that mountain towering above. I had a friend that did it a few years ago, and his pictures from that area of Nepal are beyond breathtaking.