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Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

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Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#101
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got it. The mountain in the background is the one you are talking about There's also a big camp right at the bottom of the picture on the soil next to the glacier. There are at least two dozen tents there.

Closer to 50 dozen, there are tents all around the bottom of the picture where the glacier thins out. I never realized how many people are actually climbing that mountain in any given season. How did anyone ever figure out how to climb that thing before there were satellites or planes? I don't even see how they are getting from the base camp up past the broken up glacier area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khumbu_Icefall

They walk up that thing, its called Khumbu icefall. Basically the valley glacier spilling out in slow motion. Its incredibly dangerous (as you probably surmise), even though its at the bottom. Since the ice is all cracked up, many people fall into the cracks. Believe the local sherpas do most of the work each year to find a safe route through that mess.

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#102
post #98

Looks like there's a few on the icefall. Follow the line of garbage, then up and across the fall. The only hard part is dealing with the inverted mouse movement on the interface. Why would they do that???

Actually the controls are "non-inverted", pull down to look down. Inverted is when you pull down to look up. Non-inverted is now very popular. Most first person shooter games that ship today have non-inverted as the default. I generally find people about my age and older (30 somethings) prefer inverted, but younger people vastly prefer non-inverted.

[deleted]

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#103
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since not everyone going up the mountain comes back down the mountain and there aren't clean up crews, tents can become garbage.

Yeah, probably a few more giga-pixels and zoom will reveal the bottle caps and cigarette butts in the snow.

Yeah, first thing I do after climbing a mountain is light up a ciggie.

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#104
post #98

Looks like there's a few on the icefall. Follow the line of garbage, then up and across the fall. The only hard part is dealing with the inverted mouse movement on the interface. Why would they do that???

Actually the controls are "non-inverted", pull down to look down. Inverted is when you pull down to look up. Non-inverted is now very popular. Most first person shooter games that ship today have non-inverted as the default. I generally find people about my age and older (30 somethings) prefer inverted, but younger people vastly prefer non-inverted.

My issue is that I am click dragging to move the view. I feel I should be dragging the image around, not aiming the camera.

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#105
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got it. The mountain in the background is the one you are talking about There's also a big camp right at the bottom of the picture on the soil next to the glacier. There are at least two dozen tents there.

Closer to 50 dozen, there are tents all around the bottom of the picture where the glacier thins out. I never realized how many people are actually climbing that mountain in any given season. How did anyone ever figure out how to climb that thing before there were satellites or planes? I don't even see how they are getting from the base camp up past the broken up glacier area.

Edmund Hillary wrote "High Adventure" about a year after his climb, and a it's a great description of just how things were done in those days! It's a very easy read too, in a boys-own-adventure style.

Speaking of aerial photos though, Over The Himalaya (http://www.amazon.com/Over-Himalaya-Koichiro-Ohmori/dp/09385...) has some staggering photos from the region if you like that sort of thing. Out of print, but worth tracking down.

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#106
post #89
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are far deadlier mountains out there than Everest. I think the current death rate is around 5%. Annapurna has killed about 35% of the climbers that attempted. It has gotten to the point where there are basically proven (about as much as you can for something so dangerous) methods of getting to the top. "Into Thin Air" is a great book on the journey (the very bad , and the good) to the top.

I always thought about doing Everest if I could ever afford it. You know, one those idle "I'll do that someday thoughts" we all have. Once I hit the "I could afford this" point I started researching Everest...read Into Thin Air, Dark Summit, No Shortcuts to the Top, etc., watched every documentary I could get my hands on, even talked with one of the climbers featured on the Discovery series that featured Russel Brice…

I had no idea that stealing supplies was so common! I really only heard on it -- and was shocked -- while listening to this talk (about K2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zkC9IMQmYA

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#108
post #52
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those looking: 1. Of the 3 mountains, look at the peak of the center one (Lhotse). 2. Below that, the right half is big chunky snow, and the left half is smooth, icey looking snow. 3. Look at the line where the smooth left half meets the chunky right half. - Halfway up that you can find CAMP 3. [You'll see little ant people marching up that centerline - follow them to their tents.] Also once you see CAMP 3, you a…

I couldn't find it because I couldn't comprehend the sheer size. I came to the the realization that HUMANS ARE TINY, no really, we're insignificant. Thanks for the pointers, never would have found them.

The best way for you, as a mere mortal, and not some semi-suicidal mountaineer to experience big mountains is to take the bus from Santiago,Chile to Mendoza, Argentina. The trip through the Andes is really awesome. Sometimes you'll see a mountain and have no idea how big it is and then at the very bottom you can just barely make out some ant size cows grazing. Looking down at the bottom of some of the switchbacks on that route is like looking out an airplane window.

Re: Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)

#109
post #77
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those looking: 1. Of the 3 mountains, look at the peak of the center one (Lhotse). 2. Below that, the right half is big chunky snow, and the left half is smooth, icey looking snow. 3. Look at the line where the smooth left half meets the chunky right half. - Halfway up that you can find CAMP 3. [You'll see little ant people marching up that centerline - follow them to their tents.] Also once you see CAMP 3, you a…

For anyone who is still looking: http://f.cl.ly/items/3w2j2h0a1a3h0M1K0i3l/ppl.jpg (you can only see the people at max zoom-level, they are really tiny)

You can also see a small tent city at the base of the on the grey part net to the ice flow at the bottom left of the. And some buildings on the right side of the image. But oddly no real roads, so I guess it's all air lifted in, or mule trains.
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