Mount Everest

[gshock]

I was watching TV and saw that some old guy climed mount everest and 7 other tall mountains in 187 days. This looked pretty interesting and i looked up mt everest on the internet and found this picture:

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full22.html (a view from the top of mt everest)

Now im curious, people say climbing mt everest is really hard. But is it just walking and hiking in really tough conditions? I mean what's so difficult about it? This is really really interesting to me... maybe a substitute for poker?

Im also wondering if a lot of people climb mt everest each year and how cool it would be!!

[WannaBe_80z]

Mt everest USED to be an amazing place to go and challenge yourself and climb...back in the day before all this technology. Don't get me wrong I am sure it is no walk in the park but back in 6th grade I saw the mt everest movie at the boston science museum in that huge theater and it talked about the first people who climbed it and the supplies they used etc. Now that was amazing. But with all the technology used in climbing today it just seems like anyone who trains for a little while and is rich can do it. I mean how many people climb it a year? I know that it has gotten to the point where there is a group trying to shut it down because the mt is so trashed and littered with stuff left behind it is starting to lose it's natural beauty. Also how many stories have you heard in the past 5-10 years about people missing limbs climbing it and even that blind guy climbed it....

isn't K2 harder?

[silverx2]

there is a show on the discovery channel of i think 5 guys that climbed and filmed it last year. so basically if 4 non-climbers and a film crew can do it, a kid with no friends and a cheating poker game might be able to.

[kortex]

Now im curious, people say climbing mt everest is really hard. But is it just walking and hiking in really tough conditions? I mean what's so difficult about it? This is really really interesting to me... maybe a substitute for poker?

Well for those of you who saw the everest special on Discovery channel, there is approximately 43% of the oxygen on the summit of everest as there is at see level, so simply standing up can knock the wind out of you. As of the last episode 5 people had died 4 of them shurpas (those who go up the mountain all the time).

So while yes must be a great deal simpler with all the technology, there are a lot of people who start the trip and never make it to the summit.

[Subway]

Hey, some wannabe adventurers on FK.

Anyone coming with me: http://www.tourdafrique.com/silkroute/

I'm really planning to do it in about five years. I'm currently doing about 6000km a year on my mountain bike, so I have to train more and well, search some sponsors.

Ok, ok, I'm really not sure if I'll ever do it, but if I ever get really bored, who knows.

Fredi

[bigginge]

Sleeping looks worrying.

[WannaBe_80z]

No thanks. I will sleep on the ground.

[gerbick]

Those sleeping arrangements seem awesome.

Dude, start small... climb a tree, the Appalachian Trail, mount a fat chick before climbing Mt. Everest. You need to train for that... good luck if you decide to do it though.

[Subway]

Sleeping looks worrying.

I actually did that once on a climbing tour in France, about 200 meters above ground ... you better don't look down right after you wake up.

Fredi

[silverx2]

Those sleeping arrangements seem awesome.

Dude, start small... climb a tree, the Appalachian Trail, mount a fat chick before climbing Mt. Everest. You need to train for that... good luck if you decide to do it though.

and some more advice:
you cant cheat and bluff a mountain.. it aint moving.

[gerbick]

Is it already poker analogy Wednesday?

[silverx2]

Is it already poker analogy Wednesday?

haha, that joke was so good like catching a royal flush on the river.

[gerbick]

fighting the urge to use the word "flop"...

[argonauta]

I live at 9000 feet above sea level, and whenever I go to the coast and back, I need to stay calm for one day unless I want to get sick. Altitude affects your body, even if you don't notice.

I'm used to the lack of oxygen at this altitude (compare to the coast), and everybody is, but you should see tourists visiting the city, they have to stay at least two weeks, because it takes them at least one week before they adapt, and are able to walk more than one block without having breathing difficulties.

Mount everest is 29,035 feet, so, just imagine.

Mt sister climbed the Cotopaxi (18997 feet), the highest active volcano in the world, a few years ago, and it wasn't that hard. But she prepared for a whole year. Each weekend she and her group would climb a mountain, increasing difficulty and altitude. So yes, to climb mount everest, you need to train a lot. Ah, what's really cool, is that they have to walk really slow, otherwise, you heart can explode.

Besides, people don't die just because they can't breathe (that's why you take your oxygen tanks with you), but you may be climbing happily and boom, you fall to a cave that you didn't see because it was covered by snow.

I wouldn't even try to climb to the roof of my house, as I smoke but if you train, have good health condition, and no heart problems, then you definitely can go and climb it.

I dare you to go and climb it without using oxygen tanks very few people in the world have done that.

[ihoss.com]

Last year a group of Norwegian hobby climbers decided to climb mount everest. I can't remember the details, but I think one of them died. As someone said you need oxygen masks to get to the top, and that stuff is heavy, so people just leave it there when its empty. One of the routes to the top has a rope that you can follow, and people who have tried to get to the top and failed lye dead along this rope. The last part is incredibly tough, and every step feels like the last one. They started the last ascent at about 5 in the morning, reached the top at about noon, and then had to go down again after max 10 mins on the top. It is incredibly tough, but if you have the money and the will, then you probably can do it.

[silverx2]

http://www.dbooth.net/internerd/everest.cfm

[kortex]

I dare you to go and climb it without using oxygen tanks very few people in the world have done that.

Actually on that discovery channel thing one of the guys (an asthmatic no less) is trying it with o2 tank. I think they left off when they were leaving (or had arrived, whichever one is right below the "death zone" ) for camp col 3 and he had not used one yet. Will have to see if he makes it.

[sk8Krog]

So pretty much what everyone is saying is you should book a flight out there soon. Beat the summer rush.

[MagnusVS]

Experience climbers dies on the way up. I don't actually think it's easy...

[gshock]

i love the poker jokes! I dont know if ill ever get the chance to climb it... but if i do, i'd want to climb it when im really young so i can brag for the rest of my life