The Ghosts of Mt. Everest

[Graves The Elder]

doubt it.

 

[rocketskates]

They should leave the bodies up there. Makes it more badass climbing past all the dead people. I'm sure a lot of these climbing junkies would rather be immortalized up there, rather than taken down and buried and rotting in the ground. I know which one I would pick.

For the most part they do. The bodies are used as trail markers because it's too risky to try to carry them down.

 

[bowened]

“Into Thin Air” by Jonathan Krakauer is an amazing account of death and tragedy on Everest. If you know nothing about mountaineering or Everest, this book will get you up to speed with the true story of a trip up the mountain gone terribly wrong. Highly recommend it!

 

[moreorless87]

Definitely, I can't fathom the scale of those mountains. I've spent lots of time in the Smokeys and have done exploring in the Rockies as well but even the tallest summit in the Rockies is barely half of the tallest in Everest. It's insane such structures exist in our world, and I get the obsession people have with climbing it. Certainly one of the most profound personal goals you can achieve.

I'd also love to see Antarctica but that's seemingly an impossibility for most average people.

The closest I'v got to the latter would be the south end of Patagonia, the mountains down there aren't near Himalayan standards but they are rising right from sea level and are amazingly carved by ice...

 

[ShoelessRye]

“Into Thin Air” by Jonathan Krakauer is an amazing account of death and tragedy on Everest. If you know nothing about mountaineering or Everest, this book will get you up to speed with the true story of a trip up the mountain gone terribly wrong. Highly recommend it!

Or just watch the movie -

 

[bowened]

Or just watch the movie -

Meh. I’ve heard the movie is weak as hell. And I can only imagine how much of the book they omitted to fit this neatly into a movie format.

 

[45ACP]

“Into Thin Air” by Jonathan Krakauer is an amazing account of death and tragedy on Everest. If you know nothing about mountaineering or Everest, this book will get you up to speed with the true story of a trip up the mountain gone terribly wrong. Highly recommend it!

That's the book that really got me interested in mountaineering and especially everest.

I had heard the same thing about the movie before seeing it so went into it with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I think if you enjoyed the book you'll enjoy the movie.

 

[ElKarlo]

I read a number saying for every 100 that attempt, 34 are killed.

Fuggin insane man.

Honestly, I've done mma and some other stuff. But I'd never have the balls to do that. What a cold lonely and frightening way to die

 

[45ACP]

So are there any climbers here? As an avid snowboarder who has traveled a fair amount for it I've been interested in learning some mountaineering/climbing skills for a while. Alaska is next on my list.

There's just something absolutely fascinating to me about big mountains. I don't think there's any natural structure that's more visually impressive. There really is nothing like the impact I get from standing in front of (or on top of) a big mountain or mountain range.

I come back from trips and look at the photos I took and compare them to what it actually felt like to be there seeing the stuff in person and it's depressing in a way, because I know no one I show the photos to could ever possibly fully appreciate them.

 

[BearGrounds]

Often thought of climbing it, became turned off to the idea since it became a tourist attraction...30-40,000 dollars they will carry any rich asshole up...Like most things, the locals benefited early on, then we shit the place up, garbage everywhere, turned it into , I don’t know what..

There's Way Too Much Human Faeces on Mount Everest, Experts Have Warned

More than 4,000 people have ascended Mount Everest since Sir Edmund Hillary first stood on the highest point of Earth's surface back in 1953. At the time, the deadly 29,000-foot (8,850-metre) summit was literally untouched by humanity, because no one had ever stood at its peak or took a poop all over its foothills.

Those days are long over, because the world’s tallest mountain is now covered in over 10 tonnes of human poop, and littered with broken supplies and oxygen tanks. Yup, glory-seeking explorers are ruining the most iconic mountain range on our planet.

https://www.sciencealert.com/there-s-way-too-much-human-faeces-on-mount-everest-experts-have-warned

 

[Kraysla]

It's a pretty grim reminder of the risks involved in climbing.

What's shocking is how long some of the bodies have been there. Apparently it's incredibly expensive and dangerous to get them down so many of them remain, decaying in the frigid cold.

Green Boots is the colloquial term for a well known body of a deceased Indian climber that's become somewhat of a death zone landmark. Some of the photos of the bodies are quite shocking.

Since people struggle just dealing with themselves i'd imagine it's just not practical to get a lot of people down and out of there, unfortunately. I gotta check out this documentary, sounds intense. I watched the movie that came out a few years ago and just thought, "no way." It's an awesome feat, but doesn't particularly appeal to me.

 

[45ACP]

Since people struggle just dealing with themselves i'd imagine it's just not practical to get a lot of people down and out of there, unfortunately. I gotta check out this documentary, sounds intense. I watched the movie that came out a few years ago and just thought, "no way." It's an awesome feat, but doesn't particularly appeal to me.

Yeah, sometimes it is literally impossible to get these bodies down. They accumulate ice which makes them even heavier and more difficult to move.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/24/mount-everest-death-toll-season-four-bodies-found

There are some heart wrenching stories of climbers who have had to leave loved ones to die.

https://mpora.com/mountaineering-ex...-who-die-on-mount-everest#iO1K4pPX0RfXlCT5.97

 

[45ACP]

They should leave the bodies up there. Makes it more badass climbing past all the dead people. I'm sure a lot of these climbing junkies would rather be immortalized up there, rather than taken down and buried and rotting in the ground. I know which one I would pick.

Yep, many of them specifically request that their bodies be left on the mountain if they die there.

While these two bodies were removed, scores have not been. More than 200 bodies dot the mountain, according to Smithsonian.

Some of them are there per their final wishes. Many climbers wish to remain on the mountain should they perish, much like a captain going down with his ship, BBC reported. For those who wish for a traditional service, the costs and obstacles of retrieving bodies from the mountain are staggering.

Here's a good article on what it takes to recover a body from the mountain. Climbers have even died during retrieval efforts. It's extremely dangerous, sometimes impossible due to where the bodies are located.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...es-from-mount-everest/?utm_term=.f789e5e6f1e0

 

[ToxicShocker]

 

[Viva]

So are there any climbers here? As an avid snowboarder who has traveled a fair amount for it I've been interested in learning some mountaineering/climbing skills for a while. Alaska is next on my list.

There's just something absolutely fascinating to me about big mountains. I don't think there's any natural structure that's more visually impressive. There really is nothing like the impact I get from standing in front of (or on top of) a big mountain or mountain range.

I come back from trips and look at the photos I took and compare them to what it actually felt like to be there seeing the stuff in person and it's depressing in a way, because I know no one I show the photos to could ever possibly fully appreciate them.

If you ever make it out to Alaska make sure to GoPro that shit dude. I used to love snowboarding but fucked my knee up doing so years back and thus decided to stop. Shit was a lotta fun though.

 

[cmw43]

Often thought of climbing it, became turned off to the idea since it became a tourist attraction...30-40,000 dollars they will carry any rich asshole up...Like most things, the locals benefited early on, then we shit the place up, garbage everywhere, turned it into , I don’t know what..

Theres been less than 200 people attempt it in the last 70 years from what I've read, that's only a handful a year I'm sure it's not too overrun by tourists.

 

[cmw43]

I read a number saying for every 100 that attempt, 34 are killed.

Fuggin insane man.

Article I read said that between 1950 and 2008 there been 130 attempts and 53 deaths.

 

[HomeRun916]

Good post.

 

[fdswer]

Everest seems like something a lot of rich people do for some ego thing from some of the shows I watched.

 

[guiza]

As far as the garbage goes. Tons of it was removed back in 2015 and 2017.