CindyAbbott wrote:Yea, I think we have all agreed that it is OK to disagree (or rather respect other peoples' points of view).

My personal vote is: Go Cindy.

You may be subject to the strangest sort of bias; you don't look like you have a disability; there is no obvious prosthesis, missing limb, blindness, etc. If you go the speaking-engagement route, be sure to let the audience know how serious is your condition. More than that, I hope you have a long remission, or a cure.

FortMental wrote:
I'm a big fan of F1 racing.... would I pass up free tickets to the Daytona 500?
I could eat caviar and truffles everyday... would I pass up a free meal at Chez Panisse?
I'd ball a supermodel every day... would I pass up a free roll with Demi Moore?

Everest should not be used with this comparison. The height does not make it anywhere near the best. Much like Denali and Aconcagua the standard routes are generally a goal of the non-climber.

I agree, if you go to Everest with the mindset that it is a circus you will certainly find a circus.

But for those new to the Himalays and open to a more broad experience, the amble up to base camp, Sherpa culture, living amongst Nuptse, Changtse, Lingtren, Khumbutse should temper some of the cynicism surrounding the climbing of Everest from the South.

I do not think it is elistist in any way to point out the current wierd unusual situation/ disconnect that exists with Everest. It does not exist in any other sport or time.

Imagine if someone bought a spot in the Boston Marathon(ot Tour de France), trained with a professional trainer(guide) for several months and then finished in the bottom of the pack even with a respectable 3 hours versus the 2 hour 6 min record. How on tilt would the world have to be for that person to be able to go out and get speaking gigs for $ 50,000 an appearance. This is an odd situation in a sport where most of the elite climbers are unknown.

This thread seems so weird. The people who have been to Everest with one opinion and those who have not, with another. I guess it's to be expected.

The Nepal Himalaya are a magical place with the most stunning mountains on this earth. A pilgrimage any climber should make.

It's true that the ascent of Everest has been dumbed down technically In 2008, there were fixed lines up and down. A subcontractor put in the lines and ladders through the icefall.

That said, from an endurance standpoint, it's still quite a feat. The view? What any climber would die for.

If you have a problem with crowds, there are plenty of places in the Nepalese Himalaya where there is nobody. Where you can have the craziest, lonely, most technical ice you could want. In among the greatest mountains on earth.

Once again, my heartiest congratulations to CindyAbbott and best of luck to her and her husband on Aconcagua in December.

Thanks to kerryob for an intelligent response to an obviously baited original post.

And for those whose excuse for minimizing the accomplishment of any Everest climb is to say they either don't like crowds or think Everest is a mere hike, why don't you show us what you're made of on K2!

Dingus - when I think about it - you are right about the original Golden age of climbing. This has always been a strange sport where you individually could buy a certain amount of fame but I can't think of that in any other sport.


I guess there always will be climbs that impress the public and ones that impress other climbers.

On a somewhat different note, it's pretty pathetic that there are people, and lots of them, willing to pay to be motivated.

Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

This thread is so frkn stupid!

Who gives a fly ratsass if you summitted Everest, Horner's Nose or the pimple on your grandmothers ass.

What matter's is the process of what you head out and climb. Not the summit's name.

My Everest is only be one single pitch of A5+ and/or WI6+... etc

Just go climb, be safe, clean up after yourselves and enjoy it, regardless of what it may be.

The dude below never came near Everest but has my fullest admiration for doing climbs harder than 99% most can do.... without the physical extremities below his knees!



BTW: He is one hell of a motivational speaker as well.

Not convinced here. Who cares what other people think (and im not picking on you, only using your quote as good launching point)? Isn't the experience an inward-looking event? Are we really climbing mountains to impress girls at the bar or compare the size's of our proverbial d1@ks with eachother? Climbing is all about your own experience in the mountains. The reason we talk about it with eachother is not to beat our chests and say "look what I did!" It should be, in my humble opinion, to share experiences, knowledge, and have a few laughs. Anything beyond that isn't classy. Stay classy people.

I agree with you. Climbing for me is an entirely personal experience. However, reading these forums it's quite clear that climbing is exactly what you've questioned for a lot of people. I mean this thread, to some degree, is questioning people who go to Everest for attention/fame/adulation/whatever (which there's obviously an element of) on the one side. On the other side you have people banging their chests (implicitly or explicitly) about how superior what they, or someone they know has done, to what the weekend warrior "flatlanders" do on the "tourist routes" of "tourist mountains" like Everest/Aconcagua/Denali, etc.

For the record...I have a small d1@k, but you won't hear about my personal accomplishments at my local climbing crag and whatever mountains I may choose to climb in the future. I mainly use the site for scoping out places I might like to go to in the future. So my point is that yes, I and evidently you think climbing is a personal experience, but there are a lot of others who clearly - at least by their interweb actions - don't.

Here some more folks that never came near the summit of Everest, yet are, in my book, some of the boldest climbers to have ever walked this planet....

Dingus Milktoast wrote:Yup!

Its all part of the grand illusion eh?

Cheers
DMT

Only if one allows and then accepts it to be.

[quote="butitsadryheat"]Beautiful photo. Amazing detail in the high res version. Amazing that you can see all the tents. Looks crowded, but plenty of room at the same time

Thanks butitsadryheat.