This should be interesting...

From Alpinist Mag's FB page:

"Taking mountaineering to a new level" in a "Huge, Unprecedented Adventure," Under Armor is trying to break the record for shortest completion time of all the 8000m peaks. They'll be "climbing these mountains with with only Sherpa support"—by that they mean they'll hire 3,780 porters and a helicopter flying the climbers from base camp to base camp. Watch this video about the "most extreme event in 2014": http://bit.ly/18pswOv

And let the fun-poking commence."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMryDYYUaco[/youtube]

But it for the kids...the kids. We're climbing Himalayan peaks for starving central american kids I tell ya.

They need to fix their photos. Most of them aren't of the 8000 meter peaks at all. For example, the one at the beginning before you start is Ama Dablam, a 6000er. When the video near the start is Annapurna South (not Annapurna I), a 7000er. I even see photos of Mount Timpanogos Utah and various other places. Almost none of the photos are of the 8000 meter peaks, but of other peaks. Even the ones of the Himalaya aren't even 8000 meter peaks.

3780 porters? For real?

I prefer Patagonia for base layers. And they are all about the evironment so fuck human trafficking.

So who are the climbers going for these speed records? Is Ueli Steck gonna be one of them?

Hey it's Vitaliy!!!

I could do it with 3,760 porters..just sayin'.

There are plenty of questions to be asked (I have a number myself). When I posted this earlier today, I was just leaving for work, thus didn't have a chance to focus on the details.

I'm curious about the time frame and size (+ make-up) of the climbing team. Seeing as how a number of those peaks have a high fatality rate (iirc, K2, Dhaulagiri I, and Annapurna are over 20%), and how short the climbing season and especially the few "safe" weather windows are, it seems to me that trying to do it quickly may be foolish.

This site seems to indicate that the objective is to start in winter and finish in spring, so within a year. Apparently the record is seven years.

http://mission14.org/journal/the-mission/

It's worth noting that in a Google search that this thread appears higher than their official site. Probably meeting their first (and only?) objective?

Fuck these huge comercial expeditions

Has anyone ever peed on top of all 8000m peaks?

MoapaPk wrote:Has anyone ever peed on top of all 8000m peaks?

Tsk, tsk. If we're talking about body functions, why stop there? With over 3,500 porters up there, gaiters are going to take on a whole different use!
I imagine K2, Annapurna and Nanga Parbat are going to be claiming a few lives in this stupid endevour.

"We had five friends die in an avalanche..." And this is a good idea...how?

Maybe their solution to human trafficking is to make them all be porters.

Fu_k me, this is either a brilliant joke (a "piss take" as we might say over here) or something entirely different.

Where to start? "I'm climbing these mountains with only Sherpa support" says the fearless protagonist. "Only"? Surely he means "but with Sherpa support", added as a disclaimer.

And is it just me who finds the whole 'climbing to raise awareness of X' vaguely insulting and non-sensicle? Like eating apples to raise awareness of oranges? If you want to do something about human trafficking, focus on human trafficking - not climbing.

But perhaps I miss the point. As the website states - "Mission14 is not a mountain climbing expedition, it is a highly choregraphed tactical adventure". Add that it's a war against evil, and they could get GW Bush to be a member.