We were just talking about that in our house. Some people have died waiting in line for a selfie.
Comment on Literally a shitpost.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Mount Everest is a fake ass accomplishment for rich people anyway. You don’t carry all your shit, there are lines to the peak, garbage everywhere, it’s basically Times Square for CEOs who want to market themselves as ‘adventurers’. Slightly more death involved each year, but that has more to do with the weather than how Tough someone is.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
And none of them are missed.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Its kind of like the opposite of a guillotine.
Doesn’t always works, but when it does, you basically did it to yourself.
The corpse pile problem on Everest has been getting significantly worse for a while now.
… same thing, to a lesser extent, with the Titanic.
Maybe we could make an empathetic argument that there shouldn’t be any billionaires: Having that much money makes you so stupid and encourages such risky behavior that really, you should be thanking us for not allowing you to get into a dangerous headspace.
Zwiebel@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
It’s a nice after-work walk you might say, nothing to it, just a few spots where you have to take your hands out of your pockets!
stenAanden@feddit.dk 2 weeks ago
Ultimate basement dweller comment.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I’d rather someone dwell in a basement than exploit local people, litter, and leave literal piles of bagged human shit in a beautiful place that’s dangerous to clean. The level of entitlement is beyond comprehension.
stenAanden@feddit.dk 2 weeks ago
Exploit local people??? Lol wut
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
This has been a long standing issue with Mt. Everest, here’s a recent article that does a deeper dive into it: bbc.com/…/20250530-the-everest-climbs-putting-she…
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Have you literally never heard of Sherpas?
Akasazh@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m reading this as recursive, and it works
auzy1@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Doesn’t make it a fake ass accomplishment
You can’t just stroll up there still.
I’ve done up to 6000m, and hoping to do 7000m.
You do rely on sherpas, but it still isn’t a day hike either. Even Hillary’s team used sherpas to assist
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
What makes it fake is presenting it as the work of an individual, as those egotistical peak selfies and tedious biographies frequently do. (General) you didn’t make it to the peak, you were helped along by underpaid locals dragging around all the shit that is keeping you alive, who frequently lose their lives in an effort to support their families so some tech bro can get a selfie. It’s a gross way to spend $30k+.
Holyginz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And 30k is on the cheap end. I think the average is like 50-60k now. Over 100k if you go with the really high end companies. Its crazy.
auzy1@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You’re being upvoted, but, what experience do you have mountaineering training? Any? Have you even got hiking experience
It feels like you’re just saying stuff that sounds good.
- A good company costs 60K minimum, and another 20K if you want 4L of oxygen.
- No, you cant just spend 60K and climb either.
- You MUST have 7000m experience, which eliminates mountains like Island Peak and Mera (which was the FULL intention), and it means you have experience staying overnight at altitude.
- Don’t speak on behalf of the locals. I personally knew 2 different Sherpas who want to climb Everest. One did, the other wanted to (and hopefully has already).
- Preparing the camps is a matter of time primarily.
- You carry your own gear at 8000m+ which is basically 30% Oxygen, and you cannot acclimatise.
- Clients still do many acclimatisation climbs. Getting the camps prepared is basically a matter of time (months).
- Whilst I agree a lot of it is just rich people trying to get attention, don’t underestimate the level of fitness it takes. Based on my experience a huge number of people can’t even get to base camp (which is only 5400m). People doing Everest don’t simply wake up and do acclimatisation walks. Even at 6000M, you’re at 40% Oxygen, and its already a bit hard to breath… Every step feels a lot harder
- Don’t forget, that a lot of summit guides live at 4000m+, so, they can set up the camps a lot quicker.
- Good companies still pay sherpas the FULL amount even if summit/climbing is completely cancelled
- I haven’t climbed Everest, but, don’t underestimate the fear of being dropped off in a glacier for the first time, and being told you’ll fall into a crevasse at some point during training. It takes courage too.
YawningNostalgia@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
Re: point 6, oxygen content of air is usually 21%. Did you mean it’s 30% of that normal 21%?
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
A good company costs 60K minimum
You get how that’s even grosser, right?
Don’t speak on behalf of the locals. I personally knew 2 different Sherpas
‘Don’t speak on behalf of the locals, allow me, who knew two dudes, to do so instead’? No, I think I’ll listen to reporting by the BBC, who talked to people whose livelihoods didn’t depend on telling them what they wanted to hear. Obviously some locals do want to climb, but you are delusional if you believe nobody is doing it for money to support their family.
Everything else you’re saying here is irrelevant, I never said it wasn’t physically challenging. It’s just immoral to climb Everest due to the local exploitation and environmental degradation inherent to climbing it. Outside of the nearly 20 lbs of waste each person creates climbing the mountain (the majority of which doesn’t get removed), there are also deforestation issues from locals over harvesting wood to meet tourist demand.
There is not an amount of explanation that is going to move me beyond those facts.
auzy1@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Also, one other fact that people don’t realise, is that using oxygen makes it sound like a cakewalk, but its not.
Your breath has water vapour in it that freezes and accumulates. So, you’re even competing with your oxygen mask getting frozen shut apparently at high altitude. At 8000m+ you need it, and to sleep at 8000m, you apparently still need some oxygen, or you gag.
Apparently oxygen bottle theft is also common.
Once you’re at 8000m (camp 4), you’re basically on your own… Yes, its a bigger accomplishment to set up camps and carry everything up, but, it doesn’t mean that even getting to 7000M isn’t a huge achievement (Everest is 8900m).
I am planning to do a 700km walk hopefully within the next year, and, I don’t think anyone is going to downplay it simply because I have done food drops (and had others helping with food drops).
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Even Hillary’s team used sherpas to assist
Nothing says “fake accomplishment” like claiming to be the first to reach the top of a mountain while using the help of people who had presumably been doing it for hundreds of years.
auzy1@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nobody was climbing Everest before then for hundreds of years. Absolutely 0% fucking chance that happened lol… especially from the Nepalese side (I seriously doubt from tibet either).
The ice fall on the Nepal side is literally moving 1m every day and constantly changes for starters, and by the time you set up the camps, they’d be buried. Glacier travel you have a team of 2-3 people because of things like ice bridges and crevasses too and it would be impossible to summit without ladders
It can’t be done without a large team, just like you can’t captain a submarine without a team who built it, and helps maintain it. It is a group effort
You do realize that Tenzing was Nepalese too right? He was there with Edmund. Nims purja also had both a small team of climbers who were highly experienced and a much larger team helping. He is Nepalese. Is it exploitation by him too?
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
So Sherpas just knew exactly how to do it through cultural osmosis?
hOrni@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They have luxury expeditions with private chefs, hot tubs and massages. Kinda misses the point in my opinion.
For those interested, hers is a video on the subject I recently watched:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=imHXyoquZyA
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Holy fuck. If you’re a first time climber, you have a 1 in 6 chance of dying? That’s insane.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Playing Russian roulette would be a lot cheaper.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Makes me think about how rich people apparently ruined Burning Man