Madness! Why Do They Do It?

[fountainhall]

This certainly qualifies for my photo of the week. Taken by Mountaineer Nirmal Purja, it shows around 320 climbers stuck in a jam perched in the ‘Death Zone’ close to the top of Mt. Everest. Worse, in the middle of the photo there is only one fixed line and so those going up have to give way to those going down, all the time depleting their precious oxygen. To me this photo sums up one meaning of the word madness! Little wonder sadly that ten have already died near the mountain summit this last week.


Photo: Project Impossible/AFP

[Asia Traveler]

I could not agree more.

[Captain Kirk]

I grew up with the notion that even attempting to climb Everest was for the most elite mountain climbers on the planet. What is it now? A tourist destination for folk eager to take a selfie at the top of the world. I find the picture sad more than mad. Amazing to think that when you look up to the sky and see a plane go by that Everest is probably somewhere around that height. Too scary for me.

[Jun]

Why do they do it ? Some for the achievement and others for the bragging rights.

It seems completely crazy to risk one's life and then have to sit in a queue to get to the top. With a backlog of other climbers like that I guess the pressure not to hang around on the summit must also spoil the experience.

[fountainhall]

There was another famous logjam on Everest in 1996 when a major storm hit suddenly. I think 8 climbers were killed. It was somewhat extraordinary that an iMax film crew was following one of the teams. The resultant movie “Into Thin Air” although a tragedy looked stunning on iMax screens. The more recent movie “Everest” also based on that tragedy was also shot in the iMax format. On that size of screen and in that clarity both really bring out the enormous complexity and danger of climbing any major mountain, let alone Everest.