There are inherent dangers when attempting to climb the world's tallest peak. Among the dangers are avalanches, cliffs, dangerous temperatures, lack of atmospheric oxygen, fatigue, the risk and benefit of climbing with others who can possibly fall ill ( leaving you with moral choices).
Now I am sure there are dozens of other dangers, but my question is, why cant each of these dangers be prepared for properly. Gear can be designed to be completely temperature proof, high wind speed tents can be made, high flow tent heaters can be brought, lots of supplemental oxygen can be carried.
So it seems the biggest thing is keeping your head about you in a hostile oxygen deprived, cold environment. If you are warm in a tent, have lots of water and calories in your system and are breathing intranasal or mask oxygen why do people get frost bite and sometimes die???
I know there is the medical risk of high-altitude cerebral edema....now is this directly related to not physically having enough oxygen or is it directly related to the body not having the external atmospheric pressure to move oxygen around the body at that altitude??
Please only answer if you have some knowledge on this subject. I am 20 and my dream is to climb Everest. I want to do it for myself. I want no acclaim for it, I realize it is more dangerous than I can imagine right now. Please state who you are and your reason for answering, aka you are a climber, an doctor, a Sherpa etc. I love you all and thank you for taking the time to indulge me.
Princess Cut Engagement Rings
Camping Discounters
February 20th, 2010
Men’s Jewlery Rings
There are so many variables that have to be accounted for and so much that is completely beyond the objective control of the climbers that it is impossible to 100% avoid all possibility of danger in a high alpine environment. One has to weigh the relative chance that one will need excess levels of extra food, supplemental oxygen, higher tech and heavier equipment, etc., against the fact that these things are costly to haul up there both in time and effort and will therefore cause you to be on the mountain longer and run more risk of encountering avalanches and crippling storms as well as prolong the stress on your mind and body. Sometimes even the most fit people have unanticipated health crises and even the most minor ailments can rapidly become fatal in a situation where evacuation is difficult if not impossible. Once you get above a certain elevation your body essentially begins to die due to the low oxygen pressure — supplemental oxygen equipment is a bulky and laborious item to haul and difficult to operate and service. Exhaustion contributes to frostbite and hypothermia and hauling O2 contributes to exhaustion. Some people are just naturally more susceptible to altitude-related illness than others and that is usually not apparent until they have spent some time at that elevation — even oxygen won’t help them once HAPE sets in (high altitude pulmonary edema). You can’t just call an ambulance to evacuate you from up there. Even the best designed equipment is not fail-safe (gear can’t be made “temperature-proof” as you state, that would be impossible) for the horrific conditions that can occur such as wind speeds of over 100 mph and sustained double-digit wind chills with snows that collapse tents and trap parties on exposed slopes.
Have you done much severe winter camping or Alpine mountaineering? If you have not (and you had better start soon if you really do intend to try climbing Everest some day) it would be hard to explain to you the constant effort and vigilance that is required to survive in safety, let alone comfort. But that is what constitutes a good part of the challenge and satisfaction of the endeavor. You can plan for and equip yourself as much as possible and there will still be risks (if you want absolute safety, stay home and watch TV.)
As you state yourself, there are always dangers like avalanches, rockfall and weather changes. How do you propose to “prepare” for those? Do you recommend we get the Nepalese government to build a heated, enclosed escalator to the summit with oxygen piped into it? It ain’t Disneyland, ya’know.
I lost one of my dearest friends, a world class mountaineer, 30 years ago due to a freak avalanche caused by record warm Spring temperatures in the Pakistan Himalayas that caused massive melting behind a huge cracked pillar above their high camp during an ascent of a 26,000′ peak. In fact, I have lost 5 friends over the years to mountaineering accidents and every one of them was well-trained, experienced and as prepared as it was possible to be.
By the way, there is no “acclaim” to be derived from climbing Everest any more. It has been done hundreds of times and most recently, by anyone wealthy enough (and, in some cases, foolish enough) to pay a guide to drag them up there. There are many more challenging and beautiful mountains in the world than Everest, even some that have yet to be climbed by anyone. You could have a more exhilarating experience on hundreds of those peaks. Instead of fixating on Everest, why don’t you take some time to read the narratives of some of the great climbers of history? You might want to start with “Medicine for Mountaineering” which explains the etiology of HAPE. Allso start learning the craft of mountaineering and practice it in places like the Canadian Rockies, Wyoming’s Wind Rivers and Tetons, the Sierras, Cascades and, eventually, the Peruvian Andes.
Personally, I feel a person should climb for love of climbing and the exhilaration of being in the mountains, not just to check off some “list” item because it’s a few feet higher than some others.