Posted on 10/29/2025 6:11:16 PM PDT by Duke C.
Below is a comprehensive, no-BS checklist for a solo, unguided, no-O2 climb of Mt. Everest from the Nepal South Col route (the only realistic solo option today). Reality check first: Solo Everest is illegal without a permit (you still need the $11,000 Nepal permit + liaison officer). No commercial operator will support a true solo climb; you’ll be self-sufficient from BC upward. 99.9% of “solo” claims used fixed ropes, camps, or O2 left by teams. Death rate for solo attempts is >50%. If you’re asking this question, you’re not ready.
(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Glad to see fellow Messner fanboys here
Truly number one
I remember when he went left middle of night alone
No Os
Then walked down other side and climbed another peak alone
Eccentric no question
But man he had endurance
Need a psychiatrist.
How about favorable weather conditions? You can’t put that in your backpack.
The author is clearly an idiot, so Grok should reply a backpack and a windbreaker and let the fool go to his Darwin death.
Messner and longtime climbing partner Peter Habeler were the first humans to summit Everest without supplemental O2 in '78. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay both protested the accreditation of the climb because they said it couldn't be done. So two years later Messner came back and did it again, only in 1980 he did it solo and unsupported.
And with only three toes, because that was all he had left after Nanga Parbat 1970 (when his brother was killed).
So if there's anybody knows anything about mountaineering without O2, it's him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.