Sherpa scales Everest record 17th time ('Appa')

AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/16/07 | Binaj Gyrubacharya - ap

[angkor]

Climbers still get surprised by the weather and die but apparently not nearly so many now as in the past.

I agree. The 1996 disaster was precipitated by a freak storm and failure to go down in time, which slowed and even halted the descent. But it was altitude sickness that killed them.

[angkor]

But from what I’ve read, K2 is absolutely brutal even compared to Everest.

The nasty exposure on Everest Southwest Col route begins at 23-25,000 feet. The exposure on K2 begins at the very beginning, and never stops. That's what I've read.

[angkor]

But from what I’ve read, K2 is absolutely brutal even compared to Everest.

I forgot to mention, Mt. McKinley (Denali) in Alaska also has a brutal rep for a couple reasons.

I'll just cut this from Wikipedia:

Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest. Even though the summit of Everest is about 9,000 feet (2,700 m) higher as measured from sea level, its base sits on the Tibetan Plateau at about 17,000 feet (5,200 m), giving it a real vertical rise of little more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000 foot plateau, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet (5,500 m).

The mountain is also characterized by extremely cold weather, and by an unusually severe risk of altitude illness for climbers, due to not only its high elevation but also its high latitude.[2] At the equator, a mountain as high as Mount McKinley would have 47% as much oxygen available on its summit as there is at sea level,[3] but because of its latitude, the pressure on the summit of McKinley is even lower.[4

[dennisw]

[JB in Whitefish]

“piece a cake.. eh?

Any climber on the forum ever climb a big ‘un?”

Uh....yeah.....

But I PROMISED not to kiss & tell.....!!!

[sagar]

“But until Europeans came along, none of them had ever been to the summit of Everest?”

Europeans weren’t climbing any of the Alpine mountains either. And they are like ten times shorter than the Himalayas.

Americans weren’t climbing Mt. McKinley until the the 20th century.

The point of climbing a mountain such as Everest before it was technically possible and economically viable? Why would any sane individual risk climbing a mountain for no reason? At least, for the Sherpas, the mountain means business — so they climb or assist tourists/climbers.