Graphic: A chronicle of all of the lives claimed by Mount Everest

National Post.com ^ | May 25, 2012 | Mike Faille and Andrew Barr

[canuck_conservative]

Interesting ...

[kabar]

No doubt an SUV played a part along with Mt. Everest. Cold-blooded killers.

[King_Corey]

Many “Big Talkers” here on FR say it is an easy climb, no real climbing. I’d say the numbers and % who die would disagree with that attitude.

Even at a relatively low area, the Ice Fall is wicked dangerous. Ice formations the size of skyscrapers that shift and melt and fall over. Go and play, and come back and tell me all about the EASY this mountain is to attempt.

Just plain crazy scary dangerous deadly.

[IronJack]

The graphic depicts the Southern Route, a shorter but more technically demanding summit. The North Face is an “easier” route technically, although “easy” it most definitely is NOT.

[Noob1999]

Back in the fifties, a neighbor - an executive at Doubleday - had Sir Edmund Hilary over to his house for the weekend.

What a fascinating guy!

[WestwardHo]

“A chronicle of all of the lives claimed by Mount Everest”

The mountain was just standing there minding it’s own business, it claimed no one’s life.
I worked at Shanta Bahwan Hospital, outside Katmandu, in 1972.
We were treating Sherpa guides for severe frostbite while guiding Everest climbers. The money was too good for poor men to pass up. They were not supplied boots or proper clothing for the conditions.
I don’t have much sympathy for adventurers that take risks they are not prepared for, and endangers others in the process.

[eddie willers]

The graphic depicts the Southern Route, a shorter but more technically demanding summit. The North Face is an “easier” route

I think most people will say you've got that backwards. (Once past the Khumbu Ice Falls, that is)

[Delta 21]

The Hillary Step !!??!! Very deadly, I’m sure !!

[TexasFreeper2009]

I think something can be scary, deadly, dangerous ... AND easy.

I am thinking of something like walking accross a steel Ibeam 50 stories above the ground with no safety cord or netting.

[Agamemnon]

I worked at Shanta Bahwan Hospital, outside Katmandu, in 1972.

I will be on a project detailed to the World health Organization through USAID and US Pharmacopoeia, "Promoting the Quality of Medicines" in Katmandu next month.

Have you been back recently and do you recommend a hotel there?

FReegards!

[WestwardHo]

Have you been back recently and do you recommend a hotel there?
Very sorry to say I have never been back.
It’s not the same place. A “hotel” cost a few rupees, slept on cots, sharing a room with nameless others...
I was able to rent a room from a Swiss woman, working for SAS. While with her, I met Heinrich Harrer of Seven Years in Tibet fame.
Hmm, I’m jealous. I hope you have a wonderful time!

[Ronald_Magnus]

"The Hillary Step !!??!! Very deadly, I’m sure !!" Climb all day and then you have to pass by HER?....God help them.

[IronJack]

That's not what I've read. The North Route was the one Mallory took on the first summit attempt because he and Irvine that it looked the most amenable. Nowadays, the only technically demanding portion of the North Route is the Second Step, where ladders have been affixed to aid climbers.

On the Southern Route, the Khumbu Glacier, the Kangshun Cornice, and the Hillary Step are extremely exposed, with the Kangshun offering a daunting vertical wall. No such obstacles present themselves on the North Route, although it covers a much longer distance.

Since most climbers who lose their lives on Everest do not die from falls but from the demands of high-altitude trekking, it is certainly arguable that the longer route is the more dangerous. But in terms of technical climbing, I believe the South Route is considered the more demanding.