Everest: Beyond the Limit. Discussion Note ***WITH SPOILERS***

[keb]

Agreed with all. The show has dramatically improved since the first episode. The footage is terrific. The chanting has continued, at least going into and coming out of commercial breaks, but what can you do. I'm hooked, didn't want last night's episode to end.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Am I the only person who doesn’t get a true feel how cold it is from the footage? I guess I expected to see white out conditions all the time and 100 mile an hour winds constantly whipping around the snow. Great stuff

Funny you should say this. I was dressed in sweats, a long-sleeve shirt, and warm fleece, with a throw while watching -- the house was 64 degrees, but I was cold, and it took me half an hour to warm up once I crawled into bed. I definitely was psychologically cold!

Tim

 

[jrbren]

Many (most?) of the commercial trips to Everest (perhaps including this one*) have members who are not fully compentent to be there. (If they were fully competent, they might not need to be on a commercial trip...) Add crowding on single-file routes and problems result. Also a factor in the 1996 deaths.

Doug


* haven't seen the program myself, just stating a possibility.

I got the impression the problem with this Chinese team was that *no one* on the team was competant or spoke english, Tibetan, nepalese or Sherpa. The sherpas from the team covered by the show said their were NO sherpas with the Chinese team, hence there was no language bridge to ask them to step aside. I think once that was finally communicated to them they did step aside. For me, my own incompetance would keep me from ever getting that high to have these problems, I just enjoy watching this from the comfort of my 60F living room on TV.

 

[DougPaul]

"The Weather Window is a period with no Jetwind, low general winds and little precipitation perfect for climbing above 8000 meters. According to historical data the majority of all successful Everest summits occur during the Weather Window that traditionally occurs between approximately May 15 and June 8, when the Monsoon hits the Himalayas. The climbing season as defined by the Nepal government climbing permits normally ends June 1, except that this season various expeditions have 75 day permits which go through mid June. The length of the Weather Window is approximately 2 weeks. The Weather Window might be disrupted by incoming weather systems."

There is also a fall window. However, it is more difficult because the weather tends to get colder as you get higher.

And yes, Everest has also been climbed in the middle of winter...

Doug

 

[coldfeet]

My daughter is reading a middle school book (5th grade Historical fiction ...called "Everest - The Contest"...written by Gordon Korman...it's about kids trying to break the record for being the youngest to summit Everest....(it's all about advertising, which the leader doesn't like but understands the politics involved in the expense of a trip like that) I read the whole book monday night, 140 pgs....it's a 3 part series...very interesting...need to get book #2...(the bad kid has made the 4 person team)

Tried to video tape the discovery program for my daughter but as usual machine wasn't working told her I was posting this..

 

[Paradox]

I have greatly enjoyed this series since it began. I did not understand the parellel with reality series television as I had never watched "Survivor" until I started following this thread, but now I think I get it. None of the characters including Brice were familiar to me, but I wondered about the criticism of Brice. I read many of the threads and links on Brice and Henry Todd and much of the criticism seemed like sour grapes, but how is an armchair quarterback supposed to know? Last night's episode was truely an eye opener, watching everyone qued up to go down a Home Depot ladder in -40F weather. 23 people, the last one waiting perhaps 4 hours to get to the ladder and oxygen running low. I was reading the National Geographic website last night about the 50th anniversary in 2003: 1200 people had summited Everest and 200 had died.

Absolute insanity! I suppose I could afford it, but it would be really stupid. Total insanity! If I lost fingers it would end my career, jeopardize my family, and sustenence. Why do I find myself now giving it some serious thought?

I just realized that I couldn't take Chips and Zippy. That will put me off for a while. Although Zippy would do just fine.

 

[Chip]

Why do I find myself now giving it some serious thought?

There are some real tourist type outings where you visit Base Camp or maybe actually spend a night or 2. Better than nothing I guess. I'd like to see if I could get further up than that, but there's alot of peaks on the list on this half of the world before that happens.

 

[Paradox]

there's alot of peaks on the list on this half of the world before that happens.

Concur. My thoughts and imagination were captured by Kevin Rooney's description and pictures of Mt. Shasta. I love the White's and would not trade my close proximity to them, but I want to do something exotic (I mean that purely in the mountainous sense).

 

[Chip]

From 8 to 9pm tonight Nova on PBS is airing "Descent into the Ice",

" “Glacionauts” dive into glacial water wells on Mont Blanc in the Alps to search for hidden “lakes” that could give way and inundate villages below."

Looks like a good lead-in to watch before the EVER EVER REST REST REST show. Ice climbing, spelunking and ice cave scuba diving into glaciers !

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Chip probably bumped this to the top of most people's list already, but I'll do it too, and point out that tonight's episode is called "Mutiny on the Mountain", presumably (we're lead to believe) that Tim the rebel biker disobeys Russ' order to turn around. We'll probably get to see if team 2, considered the weaker team, has a higher success rate then team 1 (1 out of 3 with Terry-the-doctor), and of course, we will (hopefully) see how Terry's descent makes out.

What to watch from 9 to 10?

10pm-11pm on Discovery, Tuesday 12/12

Tim

 

[dms]

For an interesting read on this trip, take a look at the Alpina section of the Winter/Spring edition of Appalachia. Some interesting insights for sure.

 

[Carmel]

My daughter is reading a middle school book (5th grade Historical fiction ...called "Everest - The Contest"...written by Gordon Korman...it's about kids trying to break the record for being the youngest to summit Everest...

My dad used to read us gordon korman books when we were kids. my favorites were the bruno and boots series! i know a few times he almost drove off the road on family trips! they were funny.

i think the series is great, and i didn't want it to end Tuesday. it definitely got a lot better than the first episode, and i enjoyed that one.

i thought the comment "sub-zero winds." was funny, he was trying to be all dramatic. i'm not sure what sub zero winds are tho...i've heard of -40 degree wind chill and sub zero temperatures...but not sub-zero winds!

can't wait till Tuesday...

 

[DougPaul]

i'm not sure what sub zero winds are tho...

Perhaps the wind blows backward?

Doug

 

[Chip]

I found this last episode a bit depressing. I don't know if I was just tired or mad at the climbers or with the banter or what. My approach so far has been to treat this show like a survivor/reality show, where-in I really don't give a bump about the participants, they knew what they were getting into when they signed up. But to see these guys falling down, disoriented and irrational was not much fun. Next week covers the David Sharp death. This is a good article about him, Brice and the Discovery Channel filming. Since the original working title of this series was "Everest: No Experience Required" I guess we shouldn't expect any "feel good" endings.

 

[Paradox]

I read the link in Chip's post and found the following interesting:
"As the chorus of the righteous loudly points out, may be this wasn’t a mountaineering story but a story about how mountaineering serves as a microcosm, albeit a very intense microcosm, of human nature. Aren’t we all susceptible to the impulse to avoid the bleeding man on the curb, to leave the problem to someone else? Don’t we resent having to bail out the less fortunate when they’ve brought trouble on themselves? And do any of those impulses absolve us of the responsibility to help any way?"

Brice's business is very successful with a lot of resources. This breeds jelousy and contempt. A lot of criticism is going to be directed toward him.

 

[dms]

But to see these guys falling down, disoriented and irrational was not much fun.

How about seeing the sherpas putting the "climbers" crampons on, or showing them how to use the ascenders and carabiners. I agree this episode was depressing.

 

[Paradox]

Perhaps the wind blows backward? Doug

ie. the wind doesn't blow it sucks.

 

[percious]

I thought it very odd that everyone was harassing Tim to head down the mountain, and very little attention was paid to Gerrard. It seemed to me that Gerrard was holding Tim up, and perhaps Tim could have made it further had he passed Gerrard.

I found it amusing that Tim insisted on having the hand warmer placed in his boot. I wonder if it actually helped at all. Earlier in the series he was bragging about his "$900" boots!

When it comes to summit fever, I think that Brice should have called off his Sherpas if Tim wanted to go to the summit. He gave Tim plenty of warnings, and I think if Tim saw the Sherpas heading down he would be quick to follow. I guess I fit in the hard-love category of people.

I was fairly annoyed by the amount of coverage that was given to everyone asking Tim to turn around when the real climb going on was that of Mark Inglis.

I am very impressed with Mark Inglis. He hammered up that hill like it was a stair-master. I trust that he makes it down without too much trouble.

-percious

 

[Chip]

I was fairly annoyed by the amount of coverage that was given to everyone asking Tim to turn around when the real climb going on was that of Mark Inglis.

I am very impressed with Mark Inglis. He hammered up that hill like it was a stair-master. I trust that he makes it down without too much trouble.

-percious

On-Line @ Discovery.com or in that article I linked to I read the cameras froze and they weren't getting the footage of Inglis, I sure they were VERY disappointed by that.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Last Episode tonight @ 10pm

(Last Episode, Tonight / Tue 12/19 @10pm)

DSC — Everest: Beyond the Limit
The Final Cost

Struggling climbers suffer from Summit Fever and refuse to turn back as the summit is just a few feet above them. As other climbers descend many have serious frostbite. Climbers offer their final reflections on the expedition and the cost of Everest.


Tim