31–40 of 48 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the difference between "rich conceited asshole doing it for ego" and "adventurer doing it for humanity"? At the end of the day there's no practical benefit, only that person's experience.
What? Are you saying the people that colonized Europe didn't give any practical benefit to humanity?
Being the 4000th person to summit Everest.
These things are not equivalent.
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> I really feel sad for these sherpa that have to work as care givers for these unprepared losers from the west (most of them seem to be) that just want to impress their kin back home. Do you climb mountains? It's hard to explain the motivation if you don't do it yourself. Most people I know who have done big climbs are not trying to impress their kin. George Mallory answered the question why with "Because it's there…
That's not the kind of people I'm referring to, I was talking about unqualified "climbers"[1], like those cited by John Oliver or some of those of the Rob Hall expedition. [1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147998/Mount-Evere...
Take the Alps for example. On one day in the summer of 1979 12 people died on climbs around Chamonix, which is a single valley. It was a beautiful day with ideal climbing conditions around much of Mt. Blanc. I remember it well, because I was in the valley watching helicopters bringing down bodies all afternoon.
Most of the deaths were on the Tour Ronde. [1] The uppermost of 3 climbing parties fell on a steep couloir and took out two parties below them. Perhaps the first party was unqualified but the second and third parties?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_Ronde#Events_and_incident...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the difference between "rich conceited asshole doing it for ego" and "adventurer doing it for humanity"? At the end of the day there's no practical benefit, only that person's experience.
What? Are you saying the people that colonized Europe didn't give any practical benefit to humanity?
A. Climate change. Most of the problem with the mountain is not tourism per se, but global warming.
B. How the locals need better and more varied economic opportunities, education, etc.
The author is founder of The Apa Sherpa Foundation: https://www.apasherpafoundation.org/
Then: " is really dangerous. Very few people have done it. It requires a lot of capital, and your health and life may be in danger" Adventurers, explorers, inventors: "The risk is worth the reward. We must push the boundaries of human reach and understanding further" Now: " is really dangerous. Very few people have done it. It requires a lot of capital, and your health and life may be in danger. But not because the a…
If you wanted to spin this constructively you could talk about how we could move more sherpa responsibility on to the climber or in a self-sustainable system. Nothing wrong with that but please don't generalize all Mt. Everest climbers to be rich assholes. For most people, it would be among the hardest thing that they did in their life. Also, generalizing everyone as evil is a fast way to lose audience with people with whom you want to bring about a change.
Then: " is really dangerous. Very few people have done it. It requires a lot of capital, and your health and life may be in danger" Adventurers, explorers, inventors: "The risk is worth the reward. We must push the boundaries of human reach and understanding further" Now: " is really dangerous. Very few people have done it. It requires a lot of capital, and your health and life may be in danger. But not because the a…
It's still a huge and I mean huge physical achievement to have summited Mt. Everest. Sure, 1000s of people do it every year but it doesn't make it easier for you. Its the same when people decide to do anything that's been done before (open restaurants, have relationships, run marathons, etc.) If you wanted to spin this constructively you could talk about how we could move more sherpa responsibility on to the climber…
"My Sherpa set up the tent" is a weird thing to say. Like "the Japanese made us some sushi" or "my Finn started the sauna".
Mostly because probably more than half of HN pulls six figures or more, and sprinkle in some bonuses and stock options to match.
Yeah, money, money, money... Oh, boo! Boo, I say! Boo all that money!
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This is more like “rich westerners chasing FOMO feels”. I have a hard time supporting politically that we owe deference to a minority experiencing shallow novelty and calling them life dreams, given the externalized costs foisted on society as a whole. There are peaks closer and the difference in sensory experience is marginal. This is just “more money than I can spend so I’ll shovel it a little at everything.” Which…
It's more that Everest is the highest peak in the world. If there was another mountain 10m higher than Everest, Everest would get 5-10% of the traffic it currently does. How many people know the second highest mountain in the world? It's K2, most people have at least heard of it. How about the third highest? Kangchenjunga. Never heard of it, had to Google it. So for people who want a recognizable achievement, Everest…
The article says so many people are doing it, the techniques are so well known, there’s little new info to glean in the activity itself, so it’s basically Xbox achievements for people with excess money as far as my subjective take on its value.
Our economy is so ridiculously hung up on gamifying FOMO and statistics to satisfy yet another gameified endeavor in financial economics.
And we rip tons of resources out of the ground each year to support our generation diddling their novelty button.
All I mean is I’m pretty done supporting the marketing BS of a bunch of aristocrats.