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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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May 23, 2012 - 07:46pm PT
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Its funny to me that the guy who pulled his whole operation out says the reason is that the conditions were too dangerous. For him this meant the lack of snow and the dangers of falling rock and ice. Yet seems to ignore what appears to be an even bigger danger, which is the crowding.
Does it? Or did he simply choose to leave that part out of his statement? Consider this, you're a guide and you run a large expedition like that are you gonna tell people that it's too bloody crowded up there anyways so we might as well not go? Not very good advertising.
I think he took everything into consideration including the traffic and said, screw this lets get the f#$k outta here!
It sounds like these guys don't have much confidence in the icefall route this year. Which is probably why the rush is on.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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May 23, 2012 - 08:14pm PT
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"Worst of all, I had known the fear and ignorance, the lust for power, the blind-ness of heart which had made these things possible. I am a reporter--yes. It is my trade to know and to record. But I am also a man; every man has his point of surfeit, and there, in that summer of 1950, I had reached mine. It was not a soldier's surfeit: of killing, of the fear of death. In a way it was worse. It was the surfeit of the onlooker, the uninvolved, the privileged, the God-player, and it lay like a cold mortmain on my heart."--James Ramsey Ullman, Sands of the Karakorum, 1953.
I suppose I ought not be as cynical as I seem to be having read the above.
It is serious bidness. But it is a bidness. The "recreation bidness."
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michaeld
Sport climber
Sacramento
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May 23, 2012 - 08:24pm PT
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I'm sure Condrad is more happy getting people to the top, than carrying them down. I'm sure he's there more or less to help people fulfill their quest, than to be the hero of terrible outcomes.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
West Los Angeles, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 23, 2012 - 08:44pm PT
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I have a feeling something bad will go down this weekend up there and Conrad will be the hero.
Books and speaking rights to follow as he much deserves anyway.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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May 24, 2012 - 01:22am PT
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That may be a little more funny if the decedent was a depraved Westerner rather than a Sherpa, who for all we know had little or no experience with alcohol until introduced to it by the white man.
Everyone knows I'm the biggest fan of Sherpas around here, but in the interest of accuracy I have to say that they were well acquainted with alcohol before they ever met a white man. The difference is that they lived on the margins of survival before and after a week of drunken parties during festivals, they had to go back to work in order to eat.
What mountaineering income has allowed them to do is overindulge on a daily basis. The first to suffer were the elderly whose dutiful sons gave them money from what they earned. Being retired, they spent their days drinking. Now it has percolated down to some of the younger ones.
The Sherpa who died of acute alcohol poisoning according to Russel Bryce who employed him for many years, came from a family of alcoholics, so probably had a genetic predisposition for it. Bryce had also paid for his rehab three times before finally firing him last year.
As a consequence of this, many younger Sherpas never touch alcohol or they drink only at festivals and only home brew that is not distilled. They recognize it is a problem made worse by their new found affluence.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
merced, california
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May 24, 2012 - 08:22am PT
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Happy Seventy-first, Robert Z.
It was weird just now.
I came downstairs, turned on the TV
to catch the 5 am news
and caught instead the man
who said at 4:55
there are up to 200 there
in the thin cold air.
It was weird just now.
I'm 64 today and some of these guys
won't make it through the weekend
and that will be reported
on CBS Sunday Morning
and then we'll go on about
our other business news.
It was weird just now.
There is no "downstairs"
in my studio apartment
for there's no room
just as their was no room
for "failure" in the mind
of the good Doctor.
It was weird just now.
To remember that today
is Queen Victoria's birthday
who knighted Sir George
and also of Bob Dylan
who said of "failure"
things we should remember.
You know what's weird?
You could be killed by a rolling stone
or drink yourself to death with Rolling Rock.
Dead is dead.
Let's be grateful
Bob never told us
To climb the highest mountain.
MFM
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Les
Trad climber
Bahston
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May 24, 2012 - 08:24am PT
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I saw a Facebook message from the AAC yesterday saying there's now been 11 deaths on Everest this season? There was nothing more. Anyone seen anything in the mainstream press?
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paganmonkeyboy
climber
mars...it's near nevada...
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May 24, 2012 - 08:33am PT
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i predict chaos, madness...here's hoping we have a miraculous event-free weekend...
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Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
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May 24, 2012 - 08:44am PT
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Some years ago Jamling Norgay, (Tenzings son) told me that I should reconsider Everest as the crowds, garbage, etc, were just too much. He was pretty bummed about the whole deal. People shitting in his backyard and showing 0 respect for the Goddess Mother were his main points.
Good vibes going out to Conrad and co. And to everyone else up there too, even if they are wankers.
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Srbphoto
climber
Kennewick wa
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May 24, 2012 - 09:06am PT
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How will he fill the time in the parking lot at the Step?
Texting and posting on Facebook.
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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May 24, 2012 - 09:08am PT
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MisterE
Social climber
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May 24, 2012 - 09:13am PT
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I predict Chad Kellogg will set a new Everest speed record this weekend.
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Mike Friedrichs
Sport climber
City of Salt
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May 24, 2012 - 09:23am PT
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My friend Mark Jenkins is on Conrad's team. Hoping for success and safety for all.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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May 24, 2012 - 11:09am PT
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I hope that no one perishes. Best of luck to all there.
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rincon
Trad climber
SoCal
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May 24, 2012 - 11:17am PT
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This weekend on Everest
Weekend warriors?
Do people only climb it on weekends?
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monolith
climber
albany,ca
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May 24, 2012 - 11:18am PT
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The weather is clearing for the weekend.
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Russ Walling
Gym climber
Poofter's Froth, Wyoming
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May 24, 2012 - 11:21am PT
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You can get reports direct from Everest basecamp on the ShortWave radio. As of about 8 minutes ago, 3 more have perished just from reading this and the other Everest thread in their entirety.
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Kalimon
Trad climber
Ridgway, CO
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May 24, 2012 - 11:29am PT
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You can get reports direct from Everest basecamp on the ShortWave radio. As of about 8 minutes ago, 3 more have perished just from reading this and the other Everest thread in their entirety.
Now that is funny!
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TwistedCrank
climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
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May 24, 2012 - 11:31am PT
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Now that is funny!
Funny? He's serious.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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May 24, 2012 - 11:44am PT
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The latest news is that about 100 people are going to try it from the
south side tonight and who knows how many from the north and what the
total will be with all the Sherpas figured in? Some groups are already heading out.
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