Latest Everest Fatalities

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jamatt

Social climber
Asheville, NC
Topic Author's Original Post - May 21, 2018 - 08:08am PT
With all due respect, the latest Everest fatalities has me thinking. I know climbing is as much about conquering your head as it is conquering a route, and the lessons of perseverance and courage are well taught by the mountains.

But I think there's another lesson out there: Not everything is for everyone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/world/asia/nobukazu-kuriki-everest-death.html
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
May 21, 2018 - 09:14am PT
No one is forced to go and everyone is aware of the risks. Deaths on Everest are not tragedies in my sense of the word.
thebravecowboy

climber
The Good Places
May 21, 2018 - 10:47am PT
[Click to View YouTube Video]
jamatt

Social climber
Asheville, NC
Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2018 - 11:01am PT
I guess I'm trying to ask: Is it also courageous to say nope, this isn't for me? Especially after losing 90% of your fingers?

Not everything is for everyone.
Stewart Johnson

Mountain climber
lake forest
May 21, 2018 - 11:03am PT
Meh. Everest is a great place to die
Jan

Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
May 21, 2018 - 11:16am PT
This is not the place to discuss that strategy. If you poke around the archives here, you'll find numerous examples of individuals who have been injured and near death and gone back out to do the same thing all over again. Mostly, they're considered courageous.

Every year Everest has its own triumphs and tragedies. The triumph this year was a Chinese double amputee who lost his legs to frostbite on a previous Everest expedition and finally summitted this year on his 5th try. Everyone who knew him, including the Sherpas who saw him struggle unsuccessfully year after year, were joyous for his achievement.

healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
May 21, 2018 - 11:18am PT
Commercial, high-altitude tourism is always going to come at a price.
fear

Ice climber
hartford, ct
May 21, 2018 - 11:24am PT
Meh. Everest is a great place to die

And stand in line doing so....

That's the part I can't grasp.... Mountaineering in some remote wilderness experience, I get that. Standing in line at the Hillary step clipped to 30,000' of fixed line...?

Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
May 21, 2018 - 01:16pm PT
Meh. Everest is a great place to die

And stand in line doing so....

That's the part I can't grasp.... Mountaineering in some remote wilderness experience, I get that. Standing in line at the Hillary step clipped to 30,000' of fixed line...?

I don't think there were any lineups to get on Stewart Johnson's Everest route...
Jan

Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
May 21, 2018 - 01:22pm PT
Everest climbing is about to get better or worse depending on your point of view as the number of climbing Sherpas is declining, leaving a shortage. No one knows if that work can be done by other ethnic groups in Nepal, but so far only a handful have been able to do well at those altitudes. Perhaps Nepal can import Tibetans from across the border to do it. Or perhaps, the age of unqualified global tourists is drawing to a close and only those who can fix their own ropes will climb to the top in the future. Who knows?

https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/sherpa-shortage-takes-a-toll-on-everest/
Jan

Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
May 21, 2018 - 01:39pm PT
Here's what Alan Arnette had to say about Kuriki.

Stunning news that Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki was found dead at Camp 2 on the Nepal side of Everest on the Standard route. The Himalayan Times reports that Sherpas found him at C2. I had just reported that he was feeling better after a cough and was prepared to go higher on an unspecified route. He had struggled in 2018 with a high fever and a cough. Personally, I am shocked as I always found his climbs inspirational.

A Unique Style
Kuriki-san was an alpinist purist – always alone, no supplemental oxygen and in the off seasons. He set a standard for his climbs that seemed impossible even for himself. Only a few teams attempt Everest in the autumn season each year due to shortening, cold days and the quickly approaching winter snows. But his determination and commitment was impressive regardless of the results. Climbing alone was his “style” of climbing. He had solo climbs of McKinley (2004), Aconcagua, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro all in 2005 and Carstensz Pyramid in 2006.

A Strong Determination
This was his eighth attempt on Everest and 13th on an 8000 meter peak, all without supplemental oxygen. Kuriji-san had become a legend in Japan with his Everest attempts and going so far as to lose his fingers to frostbite. He dreamed of summiting Everest in the autumn – rarely accomplished by any climber – in his unique style of strictly alone and without supplemental oxygen. This was his dream and he never let it go.

Cho Oyu 8188m, age 24 summited on August 5, 2007
Manaslu 8153m, age 26 reached 8125m,
Dhaulagiri, 81657m, age 26 summited on May 18, 2009
Everest, 8805m. age 27, stopped by weather September 9, 2009
Annapurna, 8091m. age 27, aborted at high camp with frostbite May 23, 2010
Everest, 8805m. age 28, stopped by weather January 10, 2010
Everest, 8805m. age 29, stopped by weather March 10, 2011
Everest, 8805m. age 30, frostbite October 18, 2012
Everest, 8805m. age 33, stopped by weather October 10, 2015
Everest, 8805m. age 34, stopped by avalanches , poor snow conditions, July 10, 2016
Annapurna, 8091m. age 33, aborted at high camp with bad climbing conditions October 5, 2016
Everest, 8805m. age 34, stopped by weather, May 23, 2017
Everest, 8805m. age 35, May 20, 2018
Nobukazu Kuriki in Kathmandu Hospital (courtesy of Nobukazu Kuriki)
Nobukazu Kuriki in Kathmandu Hospital in 2012

http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/05/20/everest-2018-dead-on-everest-japanese-alpinist-nobukazu-kuriki/
Trump

climber
May 21, 2018 - 01:57pm PT
We learn the lessons we want to learn and then conclude that they’re the right lessons for everyone else to learn too. Kind of an interesting thing to learn in a countercultural culture like ours, but maybe that lesson has wider roots.

But if the lesson you learned is that you don’t understand why other people learn different lessons, good for you!

Yea, me, I’m gonna die too.
WBraun

climber
May 21, 2018 - 02:56pm PT
Oh c'mon we know you all wanna go up there too.

Ya just have too much pride to admit it .......
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
May 21, 2018 - 05:15pm PT
“The great mountaineers die in their rocking chair.” - Walter Bonatti

End of discussion.
Trump

climber
May 21, 2018 - 05:35pm PT
“turning out to be a bad year”

For you? Sorry about that. But what does your double blind research on the goodness/badness of the year for the folks who climbed Everest say about it?

“The great mountaineers die in their rocking chair.”

Let me guess - this analysis of greatness came from a mountaineer who died in his rocking chair. Yea me!

Might I say, as a corollary, that “I like people who weren’t captured”? I guess I, having risen to the rank of commander in chief, already did say that, to wide condemnation amongst the intelligentsia, and supertopo posters.

Believe it if you need it, if you don’t just pass it on.
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
May 22, 2018 - 06:25am PT
I read something like 500 have already summited. Holy crap!
Stewart Johnson

Mountain climber
lake forest
May 22, 2018 - 06:44am PT
Jumaring Everest without oxygen is the new measure of a persons greatness.
Flip Flop

climber
Earth Planet, Universe
May 22, 2018 - 07:02am PT
"Let me guess - this analysis of greatness came from a mountaineer who died in his rocking chair."
Gawd you're dumb
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
May 22, 2018 - 07:28am PT
Hmmmm....scratch Alex Lowe, Hermann Buhl, Lionel Terray et al from all consideration of greatness. One line expositories always come up short.
Stewart Johnson

Mountain climber
lake forest
May 23, 2018 - 05:43am PT
The media darlings
Are jumaring Everest
And calling themselves
Great
Messages 1 - 20 of total 23 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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