Posted on 05/27/2019 6:14:45 AM PDT by C19fan
Ed Dohring, a doctor from Arizona, had dreamed his whole life of reaching the top of Mount Everest. But when he summited a few days ago, he was shocked by what he saw.
Climbers were pushing and shoving to take selfies. The flat part of the summit, which he estimated at about the size of two Ping-Pong tables, was packed with 15 or 20 people. To get up there, he had to wait hours in a line, chest to chest, one puffy jacket after the next, on an icy, rocky ridge with a several-thousand foot drop. He even had to step around the body of a woman who had just died.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
This two hour wait thing bothers me.
I have watched a couple documentaries of people’s climbs to the peak of Everest.
One of the things that always stuck with me from each was that they only could afford a few minutes at the summit because they had to immediately start their descent to make it back to base camp before dark or risk freezing to death or falling.
These are supposedly intelligent people making this climb and they are risking their lives waiting in line to get pictures. I suppose it could be oxygen deprivation impacting their reasoning capability.
I bought “fast passes” for Disneyland Paris, for my family in July.
Bike riders.
That would explain the first trip to the summit of Mount Everest. It doesn’t explain 50 people trying to cram themselves simultaneously onto an area the size of two ping-pong tables for selfies in 2019.
“Lots of Freepers on this thread that have never been to Disney World.”
Nor have any desire to go.
From what i read,
They are not leaving with all they take up there.
There are No restrooms and over the years folks have pooped all along the trail and left it all for souvenirs
Don’t short change pulmonary edema. If I’m not mistaken it is the #1 cause of death aside from accidents.
Now many are not leaving at all. They are leaving their bodies up there since there is no easy way to remove them. Its becoming a ghoulish shrine and apparently a place for the vapid and demented to commit suicide.
An American died yesterday. By the time you get to the top, your body goes into altitude sickness.
It is the reality of climbing Everest. If you die going up, there is no way to get you down. There is no choice but to step over your body.
Yep. Ultimate narcissism.
I am a retired military aviator. I followed thousands who made flying their trade. In no way can we measure up to or compare our accomplishments to those of the early aviation pioneers. They were the trailblazers, really worthy of admiration. Truly courageous people. The rest of us benefited from their daring and sacrifices.
Same thing with these latter-day climbers. They accomplish nothing worthy of bragging about.
I HATE lines. For just about anything.
Why not climb Chimborazo instead? The summit is further from the center of the Earth and closer to space. The whole sea level reference seems a bit random, especially because mountain bases are all at different altitudes
Yep. Leaky lungs at high altitude even in very fit individuals. Can you imagine someone on that line asking “ Hey anyone have any Lasix they can spare?” Its a terrible way to die.
Oh, I think the backcountry Alpine skier is pretty close.
Some people want to push life to the limit and experience new things that few others do.
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Clearly the “few other do” part doesn’t apply anymore. So why don’t they apply their lives to something more useful than endangering their useless lives for a selfie?
P R I D E
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