SummitPost.org

you wrote shekels... ha

Brainstorm? More like a windy drizzle......

Thanks for the wit and sarcasm... seriously. I am not being sarcastic.

The question is: Will you get the Everest experience? Will you have to put up with whiny rich clients bitching at you? Will you have to drag them up the slope when they tire? Will you get bad-mouthed in the press when they don't make it?

Ah, but they could go to the North side for that amount of $. You'll have to pitch your business on the time-saved aspect, not the $.

Catamount wrote:You should read Above The Clouds. Much better book.

http://www.amazon.com/Above-Clouds-Diaries-High-Altitude-Mountaineer/dp/031229137X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381349428&sr=8-2&keywords=boukreev

Another good book for background on the subject of guiding on Everest is "High Crimes".

From my experience on a few guided trips:

I'm thinking you might have to find some way to modify the stairmaster so the client can experience walking in crampons on an uneven surface. Its always fun to watch someone who's never tried crampons walk in them over a variable icy-snowy surface. And if you could simulate it on a significant slope/in below-zero cold/with wind/on aluminium ladders over deep crevases/and an O2-depleted atmosphere . . . heck, I might even pay to see that!

Meals - always fun to see how climbing noobies exist day-after-day on a continuous diet of oatmeal for breakfast, junk food throughout the day, and ramen (or overspiced freeze-dried foods) in the evening.

Don't forget you'll need to address the issue of repeat customers - which you want. The K2 idea does that a bit, but for the real deal, in the context of the original proposal - halfway through, shut it down. Tell the client they're not moving fast enough, their sats are too low, whatever, turn all the machinery off, tell 'em to come back next year. It seems to work pretty well for the services you're looking to emulate.

If your simulated mountain takes the lethal consequences completely out of the equation, the clients won't go for it. I think the demographic wants the thrill of risking death, without, preferably, the actual dying. But if your ice-warehouse is really safe, no one will care. We could take the Vertical Limit ride at Disneyland instead.

You need to provide the risk, without the annoying altitude sickness and smell of urine. It's like that Star Trek holodeck thing - it's a simulation, but you might get trapped inside and die for real. (I could never understand how they let that thing on board, it's the most dangerous piece of ship's machinery.)