Because when you're at an upscale party in Atherton with assorted tech bros and venture capitalists, everyone has gobs of money but not everyone can claim to have climbed Mt Everest. Hence that card is played when necessary, to differentiate oneself from the other attendees.
Gives me the creeps with the way storms blow in and out. It's a nice line up...have fun getting back down. No interest in sitting there. There was a time in my life in the late 90s where I was intrigued but that has long passed. Too many other good places to explore without that nightmare.
>>>K 2 or fuck off.
I mean, if I was going to do one, K2 definitely seems more interesting. And despite it's technical challenges, I wonder if it's faster without all the bottlenecks shown in the picture above.
I got to 17,000 feet once and no interest in going back or going any higher. There is a certain amount of mental illness involved in mountaineering. It really isn't different from those people into extreme BDSM that hang themselves on giant hooks. Any activity where only loosing fingers and toes is considered a good outcome is pretty messed up.
More deadly is more like it. The Savage Mountain. The photo above is the north face -- China.
I got to 12,000 feet on Wheeler Peak in Nevada- high as I ever went. Wish I would have made the summit---- just another 1000 feet - too windy and that last buttress looked like a bitch. Not bad at my age though.
Anyone seen the movie "14 Peaks?" It's about a Nepali dude who goes on a quest to break the world record for climbing the world's highest 14 peaks. When he go to Everest he blasted past all the people on that line to the summit, and he took that famous picture of the craziness.
The previous record was 2 years. He did it in a few months. He did Everest and 2 other peaks on a couple of days.
Reinhold Messner was the real trail blazer. He climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen with a partner in 1978, and then made it up again solo without oxygen in 1980. He was also the first to ascend all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, and did them without supplemental oxygen.
I've been up just over 14,000 feet in the Rockies and that was plenty, thanks. Leave the Death Zone to the lunatics.
>>>>I got to 17,000 feet once and no interest in going back or going any higher.
That's significant. I've been at 13k and 14k and agree - no need to go higher. My old head doesn't like the altitude as much as it did when it was younger.
You can do all that without going to places where you can't breath and your digits freeze off, but at the end of the day I do enjoy watching the movies. If I was ever going to do something like that it would be a wing suite. They mostly all end up dying but at least it's quick.
17k is the top of Annapurna pass so not like I was mountaineering just a Tuesday in Nepal. That said, according to the doctor we talked to at the 14k lodge you spent the night in before you go over the top, one of the porters was most likely going to die from altitude sickness. Nothing you can do about that it's just Russian roulette with a thousand chamber gun. You can go over a hundred times and be fine and then not.
I had lived at 10k for a couple of years before I went, and for Annapurna I walked from 1k so had plenty of time to acclimate, but it didn't make a difference still kicked my ass and my wife almost didn't make it over.
> the pursuit of discovering one's own true boundaries
That sounds so lofty, Bss (pun fully-intended). We used to do these sorts of things just for kicks too.
I got into rock climbing in my mid-teens, and after we learned some basics, my climbing buddy and I started doing what you'd have to call stupid rappelling tricks. Like pushing off from the wall as far as you could and then spinning around once or twice before landing back on the wall, hopefully feet first, but not always, and never with the slightest consideration for the strain and scrapes we were subjecting the rope to. Or rappelling face first. We'd start off in the usual way, but then invert ourselves and go down like that for a while. But that was when I was like 16-17 years old and still firmly convinced I was indestructible. I miss those days in some ways, but not in others.
I was last on mt Whitney in 2017. It's a day hike via Whitney portal. I have summited via JMT in the past as well. 8x on top. along with a lot of the more "classic" west coast stuff and a bit in the brooks range as well. Baker, Rainier, Shasta, Shuksan, Williamson, Tom, Wheeler, Montgomery, Boundary, palisades, Tyndall, Muir, Russell, many others. No thunderbolt or starlight yet. Maybe someday. Some took multiple attempts. Solid partners are a must. All minor league stuff in the larger mountaineering world, really.
you know a joint lasts like 25 minutes at 14k?
As a kid I grew up reading about guys like messner, walter bonatti, Ed Hillary, fred beckey. Got bitten by the bug early. first 14'er was Mt Shasta via holtum ridge/glacier in 1996. It definitely gets in your blood.
That story about climbing the north face of Mt. Jannu is simply beyond my comprehension. I feel very proud to be of the same species as those three humans. When i read stories of incredible climbs by solo alpinists such as Reinhold Messner I'm in awe also, but this climb by these three young men impresses me more. That is because it involves collaboration in the most unforgiving environment possible.
If you are a great alpinist and doing solo climbs it is all on you and you just go for it using your best judgment. With three humans all so intricately connected both with ropes and emotion it just seems the risk of disaster is greater. They have to work in perfect coordination or any one of them can kill all three of them.
If a great solo climber does this alpine ascent he/she would use a certain number of hands/feet pushes and pulls. Let say the number is 5000. Obviously each one of those movements could be deadly if not executed to perfection. Now with three people climbing together the amounts of moves needed to get to the top would be 3x as great (or 15000 in my example). Again each of those moves must be executed to perfection or death awaits. And each single move must be done in perfect harmony with your other two partners. It is all just so amazing to me.
I liked how Branch described scenes like the one in the pic at the top of this thread: "The media-obsessed, big-money, guide-led, fixed-rope conga-line parades on mountains like Everest."
The face on that top pic in the Times story looks like the coldest place on earth, except for the bivouac pic, that is.
>>>Anyone seen the movie "14 Peaks?" It's about a Nepali dude
Great movie. Dude's name is Nims Purja and he actually took that picture of the traffic jam on Everest. He said there was a very small weather window and everyone went for the Summit.
I was trekking the Everest region last month and took his book to read on the plane.
View from the physically and visually breathtaking 18,000' Kala Patthar mountain (which looks like a small mound of dirt up against these giants)
>>>if I was going to do one, K2 definitely seems more interesting
Zang,I heard a Nepali guide say that the people in Pakistan are more dangerous than the mountain. In his book, Nims Purja talked about having to
For me, one of the most daunting physical things about 'climbing' these monsters would be all the downhill walking that's involved not only on summit day,
but also during the weeks of acclimatization and mentally, I know I couldn't handle the constant threat of things that are out of our control, namely avalanches.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
Me neither.
Me neither.
Alpine style or fuck off
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: nevermind
It's a twisted, well-funded
It's a twisted, well-funded form of nostalgia. Summiting Everest used to mean something.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: JP (J Bomb)
Because when you're at an
Because when you're at an upscale party in Atherton with assorted tech bros and venture capitalists, everyone has gobs of money but not everyone can claim to have climbed Mt Everest. Hence that card is played when necessary, to differentiate oneself from the other attendees.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Vann Kliburn
K 2 or fuck off.
K 2 or fuck off.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: fishcane
Yea, none of the above will
Yea, none of the above will be on that one^^^
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: (~)};)StealYourFace
Because it's there?...
Because it's there?...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha
New t-shirt? "I waited for
New t-shirt? "I waited for hours on Everest, the highest line in the world!"
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Vann Kliburn
mmm
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: OO
That line reminded me of
That line reminded me of ticketron lines for GD ticets in the 1980s. No Oxygen bottles but plenty of nitrous cartridges.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Zzzzzz
Gives me the creeps with the
Gives me the creeps with the way storms blow in and out. It's a nice line up...have fun getting back down. No interest in sitting there. There was a time in my life in the late 90s where I was intrigued but that has long passed. Too many other good places to explore without that nightmare.
>>>K 2 or fuck off.
I mean, if I was going to do one, K2 definitely seems more interesting. And despite it's technical challenges, I wonder if it's faster without all the bottlenecks shown in the picture above.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: El Nino
I got to 17,000 feet once and
I got to 17,000 feet once and no interest in going back or going any higher. There is a certain amount of mental illness involved in mountaineering. It really isn't different from those people into extreme BDSM that hang themselves on giant hooks. Any activity where only loosing fingers and toes is considered a good outcome is pretty messed up.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Vann Kliburn
K2 definitely seems more
K2 definitely seems more interesting. <<<<<<<<<<
More deadly is more like it. The Savage Mountain. The photo above is the north face -- China.
I got to 12,000 feet on Wheeler Peak in Nevada- high as I ever went. Wish I would have made the summit---- just another 1000 feet - too windy and that last buttress looked like a bitch. Not bad at my age though.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Tim
10%, first born, any spare
10%, first born, any spare drugs and a sperm sample (If Applicable)
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Briank
Anyone seen the movie "14
Anyone seen the movie "14 Peaks?" It's about a Nepali dude who goes on a quest to break the world record for climbing the world's highest 14 peaks. When he go to Everest he blasted past all the people on that line to the summit, and he took that famous picture of the craziness.
The previous record was 2 years. He did it in a few months. He did Everest and 2 other peaks on a couple of days.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
I have not but that sounds
I have not but that sounds interesting
thanks Brian
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: nevermind
Reinhold Messner was the real
Reinhold Messner was the real trail blazer. He climbed Everest without supplemental oxygen with a partner in 1978, and then made it up again solo without oxygen in 1980. He was also the first to ascend all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, and did them without supplemental oxygen.
I've been up just over 14,000 feet in the Rockies and that was plenty, thanks. Leave the Death Zone to the lunatics.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Zzzzzz
>>>>I got to 17,000 feet once
>>>>I got to 17,000 feet once and no interest in going back or going any higher.
That's significant. I've been at 13k and 14k and agree - no need to go higher. My old head doesn't like the altitude as much as it did when it was younger.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
>>There is a certain amount
>>There is a certain amount of mental illness involved in mountaineering.<<
speaking personally, the urge has always been something of a primal instinct
the pursuit of discovering one's own true boundaries
while communing with some of the rawest and least seen parts of this incredible terrestrial wonder
and negotiating forced and sometimes unexpected challenges from a life/death perspective
is that mental?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: El Nino
You can do all that without
You can do all that without going to places where you can't breath and your digits freeze off, but at the end of the day I do enjoy watching the movies. If I was ever going to do something like that it would be a wing suite. They mostly all end up dying but at least it's quick.
17k is the top of Annapurna pass so not like I was mountaineering just a Tuesday in Nepal. That said, according to the doctor we talked to at the 14k lodge you spent the night in before you go over the top, one of the porters was most likely going to die from altitude sickness. Nothing you can do about that it's just Russian roulette with a thousand chamber gun. You can go over a hundred times and be fine and then not.
I had lived at 10k for a couple of years before I went, and for Annapurna I walked from 1k so had plenty of time to acclimate, but it didn't make a difference still kicked my ass and my wife almost didn't make it over.
17k is basically base camp for Everest.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: nevermind
> the pursuit of discovering
> the pursuit of discovering one's own true boundaries
That sounds so lofty, Bss (pun fully-intended). We used to do these sorts of things just for kicks too.
I got into rock climbing in my mid-teens, and after we learned some basics, my climbing buddy and I started doing what you'd have to call stupid rappelling tricks. Like pushing off from the wall as far as you could and then spinning around once or twice before landing back on the wall, hopefully feet first, but not always, and never with the slightest consideration for the strain and scrapes we were subjecting the rope to. Or rappelling face first. We'd start off in the usual way, but then invert ourselves and go down like that for a while. But that was when I was like 16-17 years old and still firmly convinced I was indestructible. I miss those days in some ways, but not in others.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
>>You can do all that without
>>You can do all that without going to places where you can't breath and your digits freeze off,<<
right
mountaineering doesn't have an altitude or oxygen requirement
you can "do" mountaineering in the cascades or the sierra
& losing a digit is certainly possible at any altitude
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
My issues with altitude make
My issues with altitude make it so that 13k is about my limit over the past 10 years ... just get short of breath and light headed way quicker.=
So, definitely not a "peak bagger" and much prefer to make it less of a "sport" and more of an experience to connect with nature.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 2 Room Shack
Anyone done Whitney?
Anyone done Whitney?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: surjade
Did Whitney on the 70's
Did Whitney on the 70's
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Vann Kliburn
I was going to do Whitney in
I was going to do Whitney in 82 when I was young - but we ended up at Yosemite falls instead.
Reinhold Messner - described as larger than life.
He's done ALL the 8,000 meter peaks- many multiple times- alpine -- alone.
He was the first to climb Everest alpine - alone - north face,
An Austrian superman.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
I was last on mt Whitney in
I was last on mt Whitney in 2017. It's a day hike via Whitney portal. I have summited via JMT in the past as well. 8x on top. along with a lot of the more "classic" west coast stuff and a bit in the brooks range as well. Baker, Rainier, Shasta, Shuksan, Williamson, Tom, Wheeler, Montgomery, Boundary, palisades, Tyndall, Muir, Russell, many others. No thunderbolt or starlight yet. Maybe someday. Some took multiple attempts. Solid partners are a must. All minor league stuff in the larger mountaineering world, really.
you know a joint lasts like 25 minutes at 14k?
As a kid I grew up reading about guys like messner, walter bonatti, Ed Hillary, fred beckey. Got bitten by the bug early. first 14'er was Mt Shasta via holtum ridge/glacier in 1996. It definitely gets in your blood.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Racketinmyhead
Cool story bruh.
Cool story bruh.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
Can't wait to meet you, champ
Can't wait to meet you, champ.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: MarkD
BSS, you coming down next
BSS, you coming down next weekend?
I got a volcano you can climb.....
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: jazfish
Because it's there.
Because it's there.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: nevermind
https://www.nytimes.com/2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/us/climbing-jannu-north-face.html
Bypass the paywall: https://web.archive.org/web/20231201174727/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: billionyearoldcarbon
That story about climbing the
That story about climbing the north face of Mt. Jannu is simply beyond my comprehension. I feel very proud to be of the same species as those three humans. When i read stories of incredible climbs by solo alpinists such as Reinhold Messner I'm in awe also, but this climb by these three young men impresses me more. That is because it involves collaboration in the most unforgiving environment possible.
If you are a great alpinist and doing solo climbs it is all on you and you just go for it using your best judgment. With three humans all so intricately connected both with ropes and emotion it just seems the risk of disaster is greater. They have to work in perfect coordination or any one of them can kill all three of them.
If a great solo climber does this alpine ascent he/she would use a certain number of hands/feet pushes and pulls. Let say the number is 5000. Obviously each one of those movements could be deadly if not executed to perfection. Now with three people climbing together the amounts of moves needed to get to the top would be 3x as great (or 15000 in my example). Again each of those moves must be executed to perfection or death awaits. And each single move must be done in perfect harmony with your other two partners. It is all just so amazing to me.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: nevermind
I liked how the Times story
I liked how Branch described scenes like the one in the pic at the top of this thread: "The media-obsessed, big-money, guide-led, fixed-rope conga-line parades on mountains like Everest."
The face on that top pic in the Times story looks like the coldest place on earth, except for the bivouac pic, that is.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
Nice fresh footage from the
Nice fresh footage from the Everest summit
via mavic drone
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EzrYzabYpdg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: r n
Condo's at the Camps can't be
Condo's at the Camps can't be too far away.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: ismelltoadsmoke
Thanks for the drone footage,
Thanks for the drone footage, Mike. Very sharp and well done!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: treat island
Lovely drone footage, Bss.
Lovely drone footage, Bss.
Are the people who summit roped in up there? I didn't feel secure looking at them; I hope they did.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: nevermind
I don't know that I've ever
I don't know that I've ever had a real good sense of just how small the Everest summit is until I saw this drone video. Amazing.
I'm seeing what looks to be rope on the snow, judit, just to the right of and below center in this pic.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: |-|/-\|_|_
Cool thread!
Cool thread!
>>>Anyone seen the movie "14 Peaks?" It's about a Nepali dude
Great movie. Dude's name is Nims Purja and he actually took that picture of the traffic jam on Everest. He said there was a very small weather window and everyone went for the Summit.
I was trekking the Everest region last month and took his book to read on the plane.
View from the physically and visually breathtaking 18,000' Kala Patthar mountain (which looks like a small mound of dirt up against these giants)
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
Go Hall, Go!
Go Hall, Go!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: |-|/-\|_|_
!! BSS, I didn't realize you
!! BSS, I didn't realize you were a fellow mountain goat... I would love to hear about your climbs some day.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: |-|/-\|_|_
Highest Sunset on Earth
Highest Sunset on Earth
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: |-|/-\|_|_
..
..
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: |-|/-\|_|_
>>>if I was going to do one,
>>>if I was going to do one, K2 definitely seems more interesting
Zang,I heard a Nepali guide say that the people in Pakistan are more dangerous than the mountain. In his book, Nims Purja talked about having to
For me, one of the most daunting physical things about 'climbing' these monsters would be all the downhill walking that's involved not only on summit day,
but also during the weeks of acclimatization and mentally, I know I couldn't handle the constant threat of things that are out of our control, namely avalanches.
But they sure are nice to look at!
Lotse:
Climbers nearing the summit of Ama Dablam: