AIBU to be blown away by this? TW - Deaths on Everest.

Eternity will end before you have listed all the ways humans can find, discover or invent to be stupid.

For comparison, around 15 perc of people trying to sumit Annapurna 1 die, a bit lower for K2 but still over 1 in 10 die climbing K2.

Like people who don’t take out travel insurance!

Saving people from their own stupidity is a thankless - and ultimately wasted - exercise.

Same reason you see drug addiction and violence sadly.

Thank you. Yeah it did seem to attract these Uber high achieving thrill seekers. Like they need an increasing buzz.

They do limit how many can go up Everest. The real problem is the ascent window is very narrow so the pictures of queues are when there is a very short break in the weather during the very limited time of the year ascent is possible. 7500 different people have got there and 13k ascents have been made, obviously accounting for some people doing it more than once, and 339 never got off the mountain alive.
There's a Sherpa that's been on the top 31 times. About 60 perc who try never get there due to weather and you are twice as likely to die doing the Tibet route than the Nepal route.
You have about 40 perc chance you'll do it and around 1.5 perc chance you'll die trying.
I don't know if they are acceptable or not for someone to 'achieve a lifetime goal

It is the challenge, read Into Thin Air, they are all successful in their field, one woman in the party was heir to some famous American business, others were top doctors etc. they need something else to reach for, most people are just engaged in trying to meet their monthly costs.

Mumsnet can be very educational, thanks. Another poster has mentioned the title now.

I think there are a lot of naive people in the world - and a lot or think the British embassy can get them out of any scrape!

I remember being struck at the time by the fact no one ever says that about male mountaineers who die and how ‘mother’ is always added to a woman but you rarely saw/see ‘father’ when it’s a man

@CypressMoonI remember my mum thinking that climber who died climbing K2 without oxygen was incredibly selfish as she had very young children. I think one of her sons died a few years ago doing similar. Surely you would put your children’s welfare before a reckless ambition.

Same as the British couple detained in Iran. They were warned not to travel there.

Aren’t they paid? That’s probably the incentive for the majority of them?

I just watched this on Prime (called Everest: Death Zone on there but it’s definitely this one). Fascinating, humbling and extremely sad. Thanks for t( recommendation.

Yes, her image, sitting up more or less preserved decades after her death was not something to forget easily.

I completely agree. There was a British woman who kayaked down the Amazon by herself a few years ago. It’s the same sort of thing. She was warned she was in dangerous territory by locals but didn’t heed them, presumably because she felt she was entitled to her massive adventure and saying she had skipped a bit of the route would have undermined it in some way. She was killed overnight (and god knows what else). So so sad for her and her family, but this massive drive to do extremely dangerous stuff for … what ..?

Yeah I've heard that happening in those awful situations where a bunch of people try to enter a country via a refrigerated lorry. They all start stripping off and are found nude or semi nude. When the air runs out.

I guess it's similar at high altitude. It must feel almost like the air running out.

I don't honestly know why people go up big snowy mountains. It just feels almost inevitable that something awful would happen.

Sagar-Matha in Nepal. In Tibet it is known as Qomolangma.

I used to think someone having climbed Everest was such an impressive feat. But now, whilst it's still an impressive physical feat, I really do just think 'selfish bellends'.

And as pointed out, it's on the way down most die.

It's not just about having oxygen

Oh come on, surely you must understand why they are left? It is nothing to do with respect or disrespect.

Other people can die and have died trying to retrieve plenty of these bodies.

The first rule of trying to help even people who are still alive is 'don't become another casualty yourself'. The idea that you'd risk becoming another casualty in order to retrieve a dead body (not even someone still alive who can be helped) is just grossly irresponsible.

Dead bodies aside. Everest has become the world's highest garbage tip. It is totally violated with discarded oxygen bottles, camping gear, plastic wrappers and food waste along with human faeces and a myriad of other debris. Time it stopped.

Speaking of Everest, that story about the Sherpa with the miraculous recovery a month or so back was really odd and made me really question the relationship with the westerners who set up the guiding companies and the guides they employ