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MisterE
Social climber
Cinderella Story, Outa Nowhere
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 28, 2011 - 08:33pm PT
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They used supplemental oxygen and had sherpas fix ropes on Lhotse while they were climbing Everest.
I am curious what folks think about this.
It seems to me that forgoing the pure alpine style for "glory" lessens this accomplishment, but it is quite a push, nonetheless.
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/everest_and_lhotse_in_less_than_21_hours/
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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May 28, 2011 - 09:29pm PT
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Kinda like flashing a 5.14 after doing a shoulder stand.
Now someone will need to do it unassisted.
Uli? Where's Uli? Oh, I think he's there. This might inspire him.
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skywalker
climber
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May 29, 2011 - 01:29am PT
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Aghh...To what end? I have climbed the diamond car 2 car in 19- hours 198 times. But I always had only one great friend with me each time and never had to pay her/him.
Cheers!
S...
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altelis
Mountain climber
DC
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May 29, 2011 - 09:07am PT
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Not that the pure physical feat isn't remarkable, but the Climbing article linked says "21 hours between summits". This is certainly not 21 hrs from base to base, which is kinda what it sounded like at first.
Still, thats a hell of a lot of altitude gained/lost in 21 hrs!
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK
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May 29, 2011 - 09:19am PT
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Impressive. If I met them I'd be glad to buy a beer and hear the story.
Yet I'm easily impressed and will buy just about anyone a beer and listen to how they got their car out of the mud last Wednesday too.
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
Swimming in LEB tears.
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May 29, 2011 - 10:54am PT
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If you don't think climbing anything is done for "glory" much of the time then you're in denial.
Now, obviously, had they done it without fixed lines it would be friggin amazing.
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steve shea
climber
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May 29, 2011 - 01:21pm PT
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Hopefully this little stunt will fade into well deserved obscurity. Not even close to Loretan's round trip of the Hornbein Couloir in 40 hrs or Messner's solo 3 WEEK RUN across the himal. The south side of Everest, S Col route is not much different than a ranger/naturalist tour in Jellystone Park.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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May 29, 2011 - 01:38pm PT
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I'm with Coz on this.
Be nice, I have known this "kid" since the day he was born (Santa Cruz) and all BS aside, in the climbing world of today with fixed ropes to Heart on the Salathe, friggin sport route bolts proliferate on once sacred walls and celebrity speed climbing events on El Cap with all the hype of Hollywood what is there to be so anal-lytical about. It's not like Everest is a virgin. The rules went out the door years ago. If you want to draw comparison to Uli then perhaps everyone should stay home.
Fire away!
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OR
Trad climber
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May 29, 2011 - 01:57pm PT
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Can you imagine planning this around camp. "So we are going to try and summit Everest and while we are there you guys fix lines on Lhotse so we can Jug them when we get back down. Then notify the media for a press release and a photo op when we are done" they would have been laughed out of camp bitd. I really hate whats going on over there.
Everest ...producing motivational speakers year after year out of "climbers" who could not tie into the end of a rope without a locking biner and a guide...
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steve shea
climber
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May 29, 2011 - 03:16pm PT
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OR that's exactly what goes on. Only not in camp but thousands of miles away, way early in pre expedition planning. Not all, but many of these expeds are funded based on a "first". First to ski, first to snow board, first woman, first ... These firsts become a vehicle the sponsors then can hang their hats on and use it in post expedition hype to recoupe expense money and or advertise. But these firsts are manufactured and to me quite meaningless in the context of what has already been done in good style. This was not good style and not newsworthy. But I have to confess I have taken part in these extravaganzas. I have worked for ABC, BBC, ESPN, several Breashears films so I have seen first hand what a crock it is. Selfish really...let's see what can we do to get the sponsors attention so we can get a free trip to Nepal or Tibet. It's even worse, we got paid. All this while the sherpas risked their lives for our pursuit of BS. To the general public this is a big deal. It's not! The only thing it is really good for is the economy of Nepal and especially the sherpa families. Pardon the rant, I guess I'm too traditional. But I'm jaded. I'd much rather climb a 7000 meter peak in good style than ever go back to an 8000 meter peak and have to use O's and all the other attendant BS. I'm not strong enough nor motivated enough to want an 8000 meter summit because of what I would have to give up to get there.
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TYeary
Social climber
State of decay
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May 29, 2011 - 08:23pm PT
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Ho Hum........
TY
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Guck
Trad climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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May 29, 2011 - 11:36pm PT
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Why stop flying in Lukla. Just take a heliride to the South col. Don't forget yout espresso machine, and have a bunch of sherpas unroll miles of ladders to the summit. Where do we stop?
Climbing a mountain is just that. Go through every step to get to the summit on your own. There are no Bonatti or Messners left in this world. Just a bunch of high altitude media seeking tourists that usually do not even have the ethics to pick up their junk from the mountain! This "event" is not worth mentioning.
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MisterE
Social climber
Cinderella Story, Outa Nowhere
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Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2011 - 01:03am PT
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Bruce, thanks for your working-man's perspective. It makes the jaunt a fun one, leaving the lessening of it for others.
I can't help but think of Goran Kropp (RIP) riding his bike from Norway as the alternate perspective.
Thanks for all your thoughts - I learned something from this.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 30, 2011 - 01:33am PT
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Perhaps we need a thread slagging motivational speakers, and their alleged feats. The current fad here is people "climbing" Kilimanjaro, for some worthy cause or other, and making a big hoorah about it.
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steve shea
climber
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May 30, 2011 - 12:07pm PT
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That is my point it's a "goof" all right. The sherpas risked their lives, fixed lines and hauled cylinders for a goof! As an aside do you know that most members do not even haul their own O's. Typically the sherpas do it along with the rest of the kit for high camps. The talent then comes along and "clips in". The sherpas on many of these goofs are merely cannon fodder to launch the talent to the summit. Loretan and partner had no sherpas, no lines, no O's that I saw. They had an LO, a kitchen boy and their girl friends. Did the Hornbein, went home. Now that is style. I don't know Mike but he did it in style he is comfortable with, good for him I guess. I know that super alpinism on the highest mountains in the world can be done in good style. It is being done in good style but it is really only meaningful to a climbing audience...no press, no dough! Look at the South Ridge of Gyachung Kang. It's on the border between Everest/Pumo Ri and Cho Oyu. It's just few meters under 8K. That line is a giant Himalayan Walker Spur, has a very high pucker factor and has been done in style. That is news, that is impressive.
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steve shea
climber
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May 30, 2011 - 03:50pm PT
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Yes Bruce on each one of my trips I felt more and more as though I was selling out. By the time of my last I had come a full 180 on my views of exped climbing. On one trip a close sherpa friend was killed in a serac avalanche right behind me. He left a young wife and four children in Thame. It was this type of experience coupled with the massive expense and logistical nightmare of moving people and equipment that turned me around. The good news is that there are a lifetime of really high quality lower altitude things to do without all the BS. Now I know of a peak on the Nepali/tibetan border that would blow your socks off and if anyone is interested...
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Scole
Trad climber
San Diego
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May 30, 2011 - 10:10pm PT
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I totally agree with Steve Shea. There are very few climbers on 8000 m peaks today, mostly just rich guys wanting the trophy to hang on the wall behind their desks. The mountains suffer, and the people who live below, while they make a little cash from expeditions, suffer and die on a regular basis.
There are so many beautiful mountains to climb in the world. Why not pick goals for their aesthetic value, not the numbers attached to their summits. On my two trips to Nepal I was disgusted with the state the mountains are left in by climbers, who seem to care only about tagging the summit and leave their garbage, along with their dead, or near dead, friends behind in order to secure their momentary places in history.
Go explore,do something different: Climb things you only saw a picture of in a book. Remember, climbing is about the adventure.
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Guck
Trad climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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May 30, 2011 - 11:03pm PT
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Scole, you are right on the issue. The South col is a dump despite several expeditions not to the summit, but to the col to clean it. The participants have my admiration, as they are devoted to the mountain and not to the trophies. I will never forget having to cut out pounds of frozen fixed ropes on McKinley, just to be able to reach the ice or rock. Trophy climbers are just selfish pigs with no respect for their environment!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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May 30, 2011 - 11:18pm PT
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Having lived with the Rolwaling Sherpas and seen their standard of living go from some of the poorest in the world to middle class in one generation thanks to Mt. Everest, I have a different take on all this. Yes, the Sherpas are exploited, but if there was no guided mountaineering, they would still be living in dark and freezing-cold hovels eating 12 lbs. of boiled potatoes a day because they were too poor to buy rice. 25% of their children would die and their life span would be mid 50's. And quite a few of them would die in the mountains from cutting hay on steep cliffs with no climbing gear, avalanches, bridges breaking and so on. That was life in the good old days in 1974.
I say let the tourists struggle up Everest, for them it is a big deal. Chomolungma herself doesn't seem to mind. In fact the, the goddess who lives on Everest, Miyolangsangma, (not the mother goddess of the earth as fashioned by westerners) is the goddess of wealth and has richly blessed the Sherpas through the main means possible - climbing on her flanks. So they believe, and so they pray to her.
Of course the Himalayas are still dangerous especially for the top rated climbers who try them in alpine style. Enough big names have died doing that, the Sherpas don't have to worry about losing their jobs any time soon. And if you want to pay them all your money, there are many remote places in Nepal where no official would even know you're there. Of course if you get in trouble, you're on your own though that too may change since well known Himalayan climber Simon Moro is working now for Swiss Air Rescue in Nepal.
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