Any mountain climbers in the house? (1 Viewer)

I saw the Imax movie EVEREST the other day. It is a fascinating documentary.

One thing that they mentioned that I did not know is that it takes weeks of slow climbing (wit a lot of time at camps along the way) to acclimate your blood to the thin air. They said that if someone was dropped off at the summit by a helicopter, they would be unconscious in minutes and dead shortly thereafter. Thankfully the air is so thin that helicopters cannot even fly that high....
 
I can only imagine, I do weekly hikes on top of Vail Mountain which is 11,000 feet, and I've done some 14,000 foot climbs this summer, and let me tell you, it makes you feel like a complete fat ass, no matter how in shape you are. I feel like I take three breaths for every 1 breath I would on the East Coast. Altitude is a bitch, esp. when you are talking about Everest at 29,000 feet, I can't even fathom that shit. And I guess neither could those guys in those pics...
 
I read this about 10(?) years ago. riveting stuff.

Into-Thin-Air.jpg
 
a few years ago, i took a trip to ecuador and had all kinds of crazy elevation experiences. when i got there (8500 ft to start), i was winded walking up the stairs to my hotel room. after a few days, i took a jeep into the mountains and hiked for a few days between 12,000 and 15,000 feet, which kicked my ass. then, i took buses from a village at 15,000 feet to a town by the ocean (a miserable, all-day affair). the next day i started running along the beach and must have sprinted for 5 minutes straight without even feeling winded. it was crazy, but the effect wore off after a few days at sea level, and i was back to my normal, out-of-shape self. this has nothing to do with climbing, though... so sorry for that.
 
wow those pics are crazy!

why someone would choose to do that and pay a ton of dough i'm glad not to know.
 
I find mountaineering and Everest fascinating, from characters like this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Messner whom I really admire to the more personal stories of people who have died or suffered terrible experiences climbing mountains (see Touching the Void, for example). I've never really done any mountain climbing myself. I've 'bagged a few Munros' and climbed the odd peak in the English Lake District but they are just moderately difficult hikes.
There was a good series of documentaries on BBC 4 a while back coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first ascent. In relation to the OP, one mountaineer said (it may have been in relation to the story of the dying woman who asked not to be left) that he felt that, under those circumstances, while you couldn't have possibly gotten the woman down, people could (without seriously endangering themselves, or at least no more than trying to get to the top anyway) have abandoned their ascent in order to spend some time with her in her final moments. He felt that's what they should have done. I suppose it's a tough decision to make up there though. Another American woman died attempting to go up without oxygen despite never have been at anything like that altitude without oxygen. She died leaving a young daughter behind. It seemed incredible foolhardy and selfish to me.
 
i say the same thing to my wife when she asks why i sit on the couch and drink beer in front of
the tv every nite.

but i do agree that it's a dumbass thing to do if you've got kids.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top