I’ve read several books on the ascent and attempted ascent of Everest, and it seems to me a lot of folks who make the attempt have no business doing so. Bad stuff can happen when the unqualified make such attempts. Hell, even the very qualified can run into trouble, as the mountain is an unforgiving bitch.
Into Thin Air was one of the most gripping books I read.
I saw a National Geographic documentary some years ago about two British accomplished mountain climbers, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine who tried to summit Everest without oxygen and perished. It was 1924.
Fast forward to 1999, and an expedition was mounted to find them. They expected to find Irvine, but found Mallory instead. They covered what was left of him with stones, and took personal effects to forward to his family.
They were hoping to find Irvine, because he had a camera on him which could possibly provide some information about wether or not they had actually summited the mountain, some 30 years ahead of Sir Edmond Hillary and his guide.
A fascinating, and tragic, story.
The other problem is unqualified climbers create unnecessary bottlenecks and delays for other climbers, especially near the summit.
Can’t mess around. Climb, get to the summit, take a couple of pictures and get the hell out of there.