It would be like if I took the elevator in a 100-story skyscraper to the 67th floor and walked up the stairs the rest of the way to the top. Could I then say that I climbed that skyscraper?
You. An breath at 18,000 ft. The hard part is from there to the top. You probably go up 8000 ft just to get near Everest.
Sorry.
You can sort of breathe at 18,000 ft. The hard part is from there to the top. You probably go up 8000 ft just to get near Everest.
I once walked from 8,000 to 10,000 ft and suffered from Ox deprivation... yes, starting a climb at 18,000 feet is definitely still climbing a mountain.
I didn’t know there was an elevator up to the Everest base camp. I thought the climbers had to walk up there.
Ya’ learn something every day here at FR.
It would be like if I took the elevator in a 100-story skyscraper to the 67th floor and walked up the stairs the rest of the way to the top. Could I then say that I climbed that skyscraper?
From the nearest ocean to Mt. Everest is about 430 miles in a straight line, and much farther to walk there. Starting at sea level isn't really an option.
Also, climbers don't get to base camp by limousine. They typically walk there from much lower altitudes as part of the conditioning and acclimatization process.
The way it’s usually been done is for the climbers to acclimate themselves by trekking in to the base camp, a hike of over 100 miles. To put it in perspective, excluding Alaska, there’s no mountain in the United States that even gets up to 15,000 feet, so just getting to Everest base camp takes a climber higher than he’d ever go in the Continental US.
They have to “climb” to base camp. It’s not like there’s a taxi service.