Why not sell individual permits and make it so expansive that it covers the rescue?
It's hard to put a price on the certain lives of rescuers that will be lost (given enough rescue missions).
Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
11–20 of 135 posts
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#12[deleted]
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
If nothing else, I'd imagine it's nicer for everyone else not to have to step over a pile of dead bodies to get up the mountain.
There's already more than a few bodies up there now. Some are a little famous, like the green boots guy. The bodies can't be removed. It's such an extreme environment. You can't really rescue people who are in trouble. At best, with multiple climbers, you can have someone else tell you that you shouldn't proceed, which might save your life. But if someone is already in trouble, you can't really help out, or you will…
> There's already more than a few bodies up there now. Some are a little famous, like the green boots guy. The bodies can't be removed.
The Times just had an interesting feature on Everest body recovery: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/18/sports/everes...
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#14Now ban Denali.
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
If nothing else, I'd imagine it's nicer for everyone else not to have to step over a pile of dead bodies to get up the mountain.
There's already more than a few bodies up there now. Some are a little famous, like the green boots guy. The bodies can't be removed. It's such an extreme environment. You can't really rescue people who are in trouble. At best, with multiple climbers, you can have someone else tell you that you shouldn't proceed, which might save your life. But if someone is already in trouble, you can't really help out, or you will…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Delsalle
I bet you could design helicopter that would be able to repeat this with much less effort
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#16Why not sell individual permits and make it so expansive that it covers the rescue?
It's hard to put a price on the certain lives of rescuers that will be lost (given enough rescue missions).
Just tell the climbers in advance they will not mount rescue missions for people who do not meet a minimum threshold of competence and preparation.
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#17Why ban solo climbing? If an idiot wants to do something stupid, why interfere with natural selection? And why waste money looking for them?
I haven’t read the current rationale but one thing I’ve read is that Everest is _crowded_. This is OK when everything is moving along ok, but when something goes wrong it can be catastrophic for the climbers in front and behind you. I imagine it’s likely that solo climbers have higher incidents of accidents on Everest than group climbers. As far as why waste money.. if you are asking that question in earnest there’s…
It's not just a waste of money. Climbing Everest, even with oxygen, produces permanent brain damage.
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#18Why not sell individual permits and make it so expansive that it covers the rescue?
It's hard to put a price on the certain lives of rescuers that will be lost (given enough rescue missions).
Its not that hard to put a price on it. As an avid mountaineer, I would attempt a rescue for a cool 10M USD.
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#19Everest is an absolute beast of a climb. Even with preparation and a full team, lives can be (and have been) lost. Going it alone, while remarkable, is extremely deadly and Nepal is doing the responsible thing by banning such endeavours. For other teams of climbers also, it's one of the more sinister (and perhaps annoying) things - when you're doing well on your climb, but your good nature makes you abort your effort…
It has no technical challenge from the standard "tourist" route and mainly presents economic obstacles, in that it costs as much as an SUV. Most people in decent health could train for a year and summit successfully. It is the mountaineering equivalent of reading an entire encyclopedia. Sheer volume of effort is all it takes.
Re: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's already more than a few bodies up there now. Some are a little famous, like the green boots guy. The bodies can't be removed. It's such an extreme environment. You can't really rescue people who are in trouble. At best, with multiple climbers, you can have someone else tell you that you shouldn't proceed, which might save your life. But if someone is already in trouble, you can't really help out, or you will…
> There's already more than a few bodies up there now. Some are a little famous, like the green boots guy. The bodies can't be removed. The Times just had an interesting feature on Everest body recovery: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/18/sports/everes...
This. The linked article's title is "Deliverance From 27,000 Feet". It's been posted on HN four times (see https://hn.algolia.com/?query=https:%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F... ), but I believe first post is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15951204
Although the main theme of the article is about the recovery of a body from near the summit, it has background information on when climbs can take place, and how the route to the summit is established every year.
IMO, it's a worthwhile read!