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Money quote:

With the increasing number of inexperienced climbers, Cool [14 climbs on Everest] said he saw some kind of capability assessment as a “step in the right direction”.

The death tool has risen to 10. Based on news reports I believe that is over a 3% death rate. Perhaps if these organizers mention you have a decent percentage chance of dying that might weed out the amateurs.

1 posted on 05/25/2019 3:35:46 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

If ya gotta die, and ya gotta, why not go out on the top of the world?


2 posted on 05/25/2019 3:40:53 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist ("All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing")
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To: C19fan

I don’t get it. Misery for tens of thousands of dollars.
It has been done so many times as to be meaningless.
I’d rather go to Hawaii and tan while staring at hotties in thong bikinis...


3 posted on 05/25/2019 3:54:17 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: C19fan

On a clear day, I can see Mt. Rainier from the front door of my apartment building.

Almost every year, someone dies up there.

Sometimes they fall off one of the hiking trails.

Sometimes they die climbing - avalanche, crevasse, or they just start tumbling down hill and can’t stop.

Sometimes we get 2 or 3 deaths in one year.

Crazy - hard to believe that so many people take so many foolish risks.


7 posted on 05/25/2019 4:25:15 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: C19fan
From what I've read, climbers of Mt Everest typically start at the base camp which is nearly 18,000 feet up. Is that really considered climbing the mountain when they are already 2/3 of the way up when they start?

It would be like if I took the elevator in a 100-story skyscraper to the 67th floor and walked up the stairs the rest of the way to the top. Could I then say that I climbed that skyscraper?

8 posted on 05/25/2019 4:31:11 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: C19fan

The picture at the jump is in itself almost unbelievable - people lined up cheek-to-jowl in a queue at least 50 deep, waiting to set foot on the summit. Just personally, I have little tolerance for lines, and it would take something extraordinarily good to get me to stand in one I didn’t have to - literally freezing to death in one just so I could say I climbed the highest mountain in the world involves a kind of ego gratification I don’t really understand.

I do remember an incredible feeling of accomplishment just from finishing a marathon - but if I had to stand in line and spend an extended period of time in single file over the last half mile to cross the finish line, I think I would’ve said “screw it” and walked home.


9 posted on 05/25/2019 4:32:16 AM PDT by Stosh
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To: C19fan

10 posted on 05/25/2019 4:36:55 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: C19fan

Sorry...my “give a damn” meter is hovering right around zero.


12 posted on 05/25/2019 4:51:55 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (A joke: Comey,Brennan and Lynch walk into a Barr...)
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To: C19fan

“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes”


20 posted on 05/25/2019 5:14:21 AM PDT by RedMonqey (Welcome to Thunderdome... America 2019)
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To: C19fan

I took a rock climbing class in college as a gym credit. It was fun and challenging for a 20 year old. The rappelling down was wildly fun and exciting. Now I still enjoy hiking, solitude, and great views, but nothing more challenging than the occasional friction climb. What I’m saying is, I understand some of the thrill, but I guess my priorities are vastly different. The thought of the expense, risks, and crowd has zero appeal to me. Now, give me a warm sunny day, empty road, full gas tank, and my Harley... That’s a risk I’d enjoy every day of the week...


24 posted on 05/25/2019 5:21:23 AM PDT by ThunderSleeps ( Be ready!)
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To: C19fan

Besides the climb victory I’d be the 1st one wearing the James Cagney mask for the “Top of the world Ma!” yell.


25 posted on 05/25/2019 5:21:32 AM PDT by vietvet67
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To: C19fan
The father of two was part of a group from the UK-based 360 Expeditions.

"Moms, why did Daddy have to die?"

"Because he was a selfish dumbass, Sweety."

26 posted on 05/25/2019 5:22:51 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (“Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts.”)
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To: C19fan

“US climber Don Cash died on Wednesday after being delayed in a bottleneck of climbers during his descent. Cash, 55, fell ill close to the summit and was being helped down by two Sherpas when he collapsed again while waiting in a queue for two hours to descend the Hillary step, a well-known chokepoint”

People are dying of altitude sickness because they’re having to spend so long waiting in lines at extreme altitude. Sherpas can’t get experienced climbers down to lower altitude fast enough due to the congestion of climbers. I have to wonder if people are being told how long the wait is to go up & then down so they understand how long they will have to endure not just the wind & cold but the lack of oxygen.


27 posted on 05/25/2019 5:23:18 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: C19fan

It seems like there’s criminal negligence on the part of the various group organizers on the scene there.


28 posted on 05/25/2019 5:28:16 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: C19fan
Perhaps if these organizers mention you have a decent percentage chance of dying that might weed out the amateurs.

The facts are well-publicized. I don't think one more "warning label" will make a difference. A spectacular, multi-dozen fatality week might, though.

37 posted on 05/25/2019 6:00:46 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine ( "It's always a party when you're eating the seed corn.")
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To: C19fan

They chose to put themselves in danger for the ability to say they had climbed Everest. They willingly accepted the consequences of a mistake.

Do not interfere with that.


40 posted on 05/25/2019 6:20:15 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Islam, not a religion, a totalitarian political ideology aiming for world domination. -Wilders)
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To: C19fan
Kevin was one of the strongest and most experienced climbers on our team, and had previously summited Everest South and Lhotse.”

It's not just amateurs ... Everest kills the pros too.

41 posted on 05/25/2019 6:20:41 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: C19fan

The stupidity of the Everest high priced “unique” scam— is that it makes no difference if one is “experienced” or not- or even born genetically tolerant to height, cold and low oxygen (for example 16 Sherpas were all killed in the same ice fall in May of 2014- you never hear about them, cause it kills the marketing of this fraud).

At base camp, the problem is a blood chemistry absolute fact: the low partial pressure of oxygen has a immediate effect on blood oxygen saturation levels—one’s O2 Sat %. At sea level, blood oxygen saturation is generally 98–99% in healthy individuals, not over 50 y.o.. Base camp blood saturation measured shows between 85 and 87%. Blood samples have been take at the summit (from a presumably alive climber, not standing in line for two hours walk to the “top”) and showed very low blood oxygen saturation. A result of this is increased breathing rate, commonly 80–90 breaths per minute vs. a normal 20–30/min. So, adding in “climbing” one step every full minute, say- adds to the body’s demand for already limited oxygen, and exhaustion and resultant death (increased by cold exposure) can occur just by the rapid attempting to breathe. Training, and even blood cell “doping” will not improve this.

The entire exercise of “the climb” is self indulgent and at the same time “hey look at me, I’m somebody” in wealthy trust fund baby ... nobodies and notably adrenalin junkies who cannot quit. Nature takes care of all these deficits.

BTW there is well over 200 bodies still there out some 300 plus deaths on the mountain. And also— nobody stops to help a climber in trouble— repeatedly observed- they have to “get to the top” and will not stop. Reversion to animal deprivation group models— rat eat rat, dog eat dog. Disgusting and unnecessary.


48 posted on 05/25/2019 6:56:23 AM PDT by John S Mosby (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: C19fan
Reminds me of high altitude trainings in the Air Force. I was required to go through it in preparation for doing some flight testing of some new gear. They put us in an altitude chamber, put oxygen masks on us, and started pumping the pressure down. Once we were at the equivalent pressure of thirty thousand feet, we were told to take off our masks, then write something on a clipboard they gave us. Once we were back down to sea level pressure, we tried to read the gibberish we'd written while deprived of oxygen. It was a good reminder that the brain doesn't function well under oxygen deprivation. If you need to take some action to survive, you probably won't be able to do it. Climbing a very high mountain without oxygen would be suicide.
51 posted on 05/25/2019 7:30:55 AM PDT by JoeFromSidney (Colonel (Retired) USAF.)
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To: C19fan

Glad to see them die. Sorrows for the Sherpa. They are slaves to the super-egos of Everest climbers.


52 posted on 05/25/2019 7:32:47 AM PDT by anton
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To: C19fan

We need to convince the muslems of the world that Mt Everest is the place to be, this is the thing to be doing right now. History and allah demand the muslems migrate to this mountain and worship. NOW!


53 posted on 05/25/2019 7:53:42 AM PDT by Delta 21 (Be strong & prosper, be weak & die! Stay true.... ~~ Donald J. Trump)
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