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Thanks for the clarification. I won't quibble about starting at 4,593 feet if they have to then hike to the 17,598 base station before even starting the real climb.

It is an incredible accomplishment, again, I don't want to detract from that.

The problem is not the climb. It is acclimating your body to whether you can survive the lack of oxygen. Many people can not handle it even on oxygen the whole way up and down. You are basically killing yourself every minute you spend above 20M’ in elevation. That is unless you were born there like the Sherpas.

It is similar to the fact that people who were born and have lived their life in the higher elevation of the Andes of Peru can not handle physical exercise at sea level. It could kill them.

I just watched a YouTube video last night about the first two guys that tried to summit the Eiger by going up the North Face. They died trying. It was eventually successfully climbed in 1938. This is the route made famous in the 1975 Clint Eastwood movie “The Eiger Sanction”. It is also where the clothing name comes from.