"The Mess on Everest"

Very good article in September Outside Magazine covering the recent tragedies on Mt. Everest.
Interesting reading!

******You can even win an "instant" trip to Everest Base Camp (3 weeks) with REI. Number is enclosed in mag. I didn't win it so you still have a chance!

Natioanal Geographic Explorer is covering the stories too. I thought it was kind of amusing how they compared 1996 to 2006. Anyone else think this is rediculous?

-percoius

percious said:

Natioanal Geographic Explorer is covering the stories too. I thought it was kind of amusing how they compared 1996 to 2006. Anyone else think this is rediculous?

-percoius

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Sometimes I wonder if National Geographic is running out of topics to write.

yea - its crazy, but good readin'

everest sells I guess. heck I bought a copy for the train

I happened to see the magazine in a store and bought it. Haven't read it yet.

The technical climbing and mountaineering communities regularly analyze accidents in the hope that what is learned can help to prevent future accidents. (See "Accidents in North American Mountaineering", by the AAC, any year.) Given the magnitude and confusion about the 1996 event, 10 years seems like a reasonable time for a look-back and analysis.

Besides, it might put something worth reading in the mags...

Doug

I liked the article with ed vistiers, dave hahn, etc. (who I met at whittakers bunkhouse and is a heck of a nice guy and seems to tell it like it is, I also briefly spoke with him at camp muir) and they seem to say, sure your always going to have your "issues" on a mtn like everest, but if you look at the stats - 2006 was a better/safer year. the ratio to deaths to climbers is better - I don't recall the exact numbers, but it seems there are much more people on the MTN now and accidents are less if compared with the # of climbers.
The typical media fiasco was there, what about those who walked by the bodies, what about those left behind, etc..

I guess dave breashers is doing another movie on the 1996 events.

Worth the 5 bucks to read - there is also a nice article about the 2 women climbers lost/killed in Alaska.

I guess I just see the comparison between 96 and 06 to be obtuse, largely due to the fact that the '96 "tragedy" was caused by bad weather and bad decisions of the guides. Seems like everyone made very prudent decisions in 2006 with the exception of those who were solo. The press really ostracized those who left the solo hiker for dead. I think it's hard for people who have not experienced elevation before to understand that up where the air is thin, you are saving your own life just by going down.

2006 is a very every-man for himself year, where as 1996 was very team based expert-guided oriented climb.

Just a few reflections as I see it.

-percious

I thought the article in OUTSIDE tried to be fair and not sensationalize the death of the climber that was left on Everest. There is also a similar article in the October issue of ROCK AND ICE. The mainstream media tended to rush to judgement this past May at the time of the events. These articles try to be a bit more even handed. I know how tired and sucking for oxygen I was at 14,400 feet. I can't imagine how my body would react above 26,00 feet where David Sharp took his last oxygen deprived breaths.

ROCK AND ICE also has a nice article on the North Conway based Mountain Rescue Service and the life and death of Albert Dow. If you have ever hiked into Huntington Ravine you have hiked past the Albert Dow Memorial Avalanche/First Aide Cache.

Thanks for the heads up. I foolishly let my subscription run out to Outside. Now I have an excuse to buy an issue and resubscribe.

Artex said:

Thanks for the heads up. I foolishly let my subscription run out to Outside. Now I have an excuse to buy an issue and resubscribe.

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Well, buy one issue anyhow...

Now that I have read most of it, it is mostly pretty level.
Ed Douglas is the author of the primary article.

Doug

Since your talking about Everest....a girl in my school (4th grade) who I teach is a Sherpa (her last name also happens to be Sherpa)....she told me today that she went back home to see relatives this summer, she took a helicopter ride to see the mountain...funny thing ..her father gets tired walking up the 4 flights of steps in my school, he joked about being Americanized!...just thought it was interesting....I work in the NYC public school system...

percious said:

I guess I just see the comparison between 96 and 06 to be obtuse, largely due to the fact that the '96 "tragedy" was caused by bad weather and bad decisions of the guides. Seems like everyone made very prudent decisions in 2006 with the exception of those who were solo. The press really ostracized those who left the solo hiker for dead. I think it's hard for people who have not experienced elevation before to understand that up where the air is thin, you are saving your own life just by going down.

2006 is a very every-man for himself year, where as 1996 was very team based expert-guided oriented climb.

Just a few reflections as I see it.

-percious

Click to expand...

Very well said....Hit the nail on the head!