Can anybody climb Mt Everest?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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I am asking this question because I just read in the papers that Mount Everest just had its top scaled by the largest number of climbers on a single day or season - about 53!

The news article set me thinking. People in their 60s conquering the highest mountain in the world. Really! Surely it can't be that easy.
I believe some of these climbers must be the luckiest in the world this season because Everest is literally littered with bodies, many unclaimed, frozen for posterity.

What does it entail to be part of a Mt Everest climbing expedition. I heard you need lots of money and plenty of stamina, plus a whole truckload of luck.

Some of the best climbers in the world have been reported to have died on top of that mountain. And some first timers have conquered it with relative ease. How fickle is fate when experience occasionally loses out to luck and good weather.

Who among us here have conquered Everest and wants to talk about it?
 
I'm no climber. Everest has several routes up and is a busy mountain with several expeditions going on at once. All routes are difficult, so nothing like Kilimanjaro, but some are truely extreme. Very fit competant/experienced climbers with oxygen can make it if conditions permit on the tried and tested routes. I believe its been done unaided (Frenchman), no bottled oxygen, but this was an exception. Possibly as many as 200 people try a year, and hundreds more hike to the base! Cost is high and an attempt to the summit is going $20-40,000. There are several deaths a year on average. My figures may be well out but the impression is about right. So I'm not surprised by your figures, however, good weather and luck must have been on their side.
 
This is a really complicated issue. Here are three books that you should read if you're interested:

<U>Into Thin Air</U>, Jon Krakauer

<U>The Climb</U>, Anatoli Boukreev

<U>Dark Shadows Falling</U>, Joe Simpson

Krakauer's book is the definitive account of the '96 disaster. Boukreev's is another view of the same expedition (published posthumously), and Simpson's is worth reading for his opinions on guided climbing.

I guess the answer is yes, if nothing goes south. If something does go bad, you are on your own.

db
 
When the weather, avalanche-danger, and various conditions, go in your favor, most any fit person could probably climb Everest. The easiest routes to the top of Everest are supposed to be walk-ups. An experienced guide to help you, ladders set-up in advance over the difficult stretches, and sherpas carrying your gear can make it even easier. However, when conditions are bad, summiting Everest can be nearly impossible.

By the way, Everest is generally not considered to be an especially hard mountain climb. It has a certain prestige because it is the tallest mountain in the world, but there are many much smaller mountains which pose far greater challenges.

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The first person to climb Everest without the aid of bottled oxygen was Reinhold Messner, an Italian. Messner was also the first person to climb Everest solo, the first person to climb it without fixed ropes and aids, the first person to climb two 8,000+ meter peaks in a row, first person to climb every 8,000+ meter peak in the world, the first person to climb the highest peak on every continent (Dick Bass's claim to this is false), and much more.

He wrote several books which may be of interest. The most relevant one would probably be The Crystal Horizon, which is about his solo Everest climb. He also discusses the subject of what is involved with climbing Everest in detail in his books All Fourteen 8,000ers, and Free Spirit.

Another book by Joe Simpson which I would highly recommend, to understand what it takes to deal with the situation when something goes wrong on a mountain climb, is Touching The Void.

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"People in their 60s conquering the highest mountain in the world. Really! Surely it can't be that easy."

It may actually be easier for fit older people than for fit younger people. It is well documented that older people tend to acclimate better to extremely high altitude than younger people, though I don't know whether a good explanation for this phenomenon has yet been figured out. Many of the greatest mountain climbers are at their best in their forties and fifties.
 
Reinhold Messner is one of the greatest athelets of our time. I have read one of his books that was a collection of his achievments. I forget the title.

I read both "Into Thin Air" which is one of the best books that I have ever read and "The Climb" which is so-so, a different point of view and a defense of Boukreev.

I can't believe that any climb of Everest is easy. It is such a long drawn out ordeal as outlined in the horrific read: "Into Thin Air."
 
Evolute, thank you for correcting me, an Italian :) great. I knew my last post was a bit scetchy. I've been in a white out several times; now thats a lonely position to be in, however good you think you are ;) Best climbers have my respect. Mountain goats show us all up :D
 
The thing with Everest is that it is not a technical climb moreof a snow plod, so the main thing that you need is fitness, a good weather window and to make sure that you are climatised.

Now the K2 is a differnt matter that is hard technically and physically and more people have died on it than have made it to the top.
 
Originally posted by Evolute
, the first person to climb the highest peak on every continent (Dick Bass's claim to this is false
Click to expand...

Please tell me more. I read Bass's "7 Summits", which seemed fairly honest.
 
bae,

Dick Bass climbed the highest peak in the COUNTRY of Australia, but did not climb the highest peak on the CONTINENT of Australia.
 
Originally posted by Evolute
Dick Bass climbed the highest peak in the COUNTRY of Australia, but did not climb the highest peak on the CONTINENT of Australia.
Click to expand...

You mean he picked the wrong mountain???? Oooops. (Where is the tallest, on some island somewhere?)
 
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