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They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

nytimes.com

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Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#71

Post by kamaal »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #53
acquisitionsilk wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the business school is silly enough to accept people based partially on the idea that they climbed Everest, perhaps he was right to treat the task of getting in to the place as essentially theatre.

Isn't most business success about convincing people to buy expensive tulips while you (legally) walk away with the money and leave them holding the bags, then rinse and repeat? Seems like he'd be the right person for the job. And then you wonder why so many young people flirt with communism or want to see the capitalist system burn to the ground. What's the point of ethics and hard work if those who just lie their wa…

>>Not sure if meritocracy has been on a decline, or that we're now just more aware of it due to the internet.

As an Indian, let me tell you, to accept something is wrong, and then just being fine about it, and just adjust your life to bad situations is how the fall of societies starts.

Eventually everything becomes fine and acceptable, and you learn over time to adjust yourself to everything, like every bad thing ever.

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#72

Post by lm28469 »

meindnoch wrote: post #12

Xenon is used by athletes to increase their endogenous erythropoietin production. As it's a noble gas, it leaves no trace in their body, so post-hoc detection of this doping method is impossible. But as a recreational climber, why bother with xenon? Just inject EPO.

> why bother with xenon? Just inject EPO.

As a recreational anything I'd say avoid wrecking your body to make some arbitrary numbers nobody will ever care about go up (or down)

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#73

Post by donatj »

avalys wrote: post #69
donatj wrote: post #64

Why does mountaineering need a future ? Mountaineering should just be done. Stop. The mountains have been scaled. All of them. We've been there, website seen what's to be seen. It's done, it's over. Just leave these grandiose wonders alone rather than destroying the natural beauty in the name of an ego boost.

Why do anything? Better to just sit on the couch.

There are plenty of things worthy of doing, spaces left to explore and discoveries to be made.

Destroying a natural wonder in the name of impressing your buddies doesn't fall under that.

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#74

Post by genewitch »

normie3000 wrote: post #49
yapyap wrote: post #34

What even is the point anymore of doing something like this if you cheat your whole way up. It’s like bragging about sailing around the world when in reality you did a cruise

A cruise around the world? What's the differentiator?

A cruise ship doesn't have sails and a sailboat does. That's the reason I got from the context.

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#75

Post by _joel »

meindnoch wrote: post #48
_joel wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Breathing in an inert gas is easier and much safer than injecting something into your body.

Casually breathing in an anaesthetic gas for prolonged periods is easier and much safer than injecting a widely used medicine? Are you out of your mind?

yea, thinking about it I've been inhaling too much Xenon myself...

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#76

Post by gosub100 »

donatj wrote: post #64

Why does mountaineering need a future ? Mountaineering should just be done. Stop. The mountains have been scaled. All of them. We've been there, website seen what's to be seen. It's done, it's over. Just leave these grandiose wonders alone rather than destroying the natural beauty in the name of an ego boost.

Everest in particular, should be shut down to climbers. It's a giant trash heap full of human waste and dead bodies. Usable only 2 weeks per year.

They should install a cable car or furnicular and let people go straight to the top any time of year. Tax it and give the money to the locals. Put a nice restaurant up there too. That would be cleaner and more practical than what we have now.

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#77

Post by tekla »

donatj wrote: post #73
avalys wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do anything? Better to just sit on the couch.

There are plenty of things worthy of doing, spaces left to explore and discoveries to be made. Destroying a natural wonder in the name of impressing your buddies doesn't fall under that.

I'm sure you are the arbiter of whats worth doing.

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#78

Post by donatj »

tekla wrote: post #77
donatj wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of things worthy of doing, spaces left to explore and discoveries to be made. Destroying a natural wonder in the name of impressing your buddies doesn't fall under that.

I'm sure you are the arbiter of whats worth doing.

Sure. Here's my full criteria: Is it a net positive for the world at large? It's worth doing.

That's it. Go out unto the world and do with that as you will

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#79

Post by dmckeon »

comrade1234 wrote: post #11

So they slept in hypoxia tents which activates the hypoxia-inducible factor molecule, but they also took xenon which also activates the molecule. So, it's not clear if the xenon actually did anything? Back during the 2000 dot-com boom crash I met a guy who got into a top business school in part by writing about the challenges of climbing Everest. He confessed drunkenly at a party to me that he'd never even left the U…

> hypoxic tents, which lower oxygen levels in the air

I wonder if the shorter time at altitude also reduced the chances of slower-to-develop high-altitude cerebral edema and pulmonary edema (HACE, HAPE). Some climbers have been sleeping in camp in small tubular pressurized tents to reduce daily apparent density altitude.

Re: They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?

#80

Post by hermitcrab »

lm28469 wrote: post #72
meindnoch wrote: post #12

Xenon is used by athletes to increase their endogenous erythropoietin production. As it's a noble gas, it leaves no trace in their body, so post-hoc detection of this doping method is impossible. But as a recreational climber, why bother with xenon? Just inject EPO.

> why bother with xenon? Just inject EPO. As a recreational anything I'd say avoid wrecking your body to make some arbitrary numbers nobody will ever care about go up (or down)

Given that the odds of dying on Everest are so high, a bit of ill-advised drug use seems like a minor concern.
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