Chomolungma

[TiNi]

55 years ago today, marks Edmund Hilary's ascent of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth.

i was surprisesd to see that you need a permit that costs 25,000 USD from the gov't of Nepal to climb it. 

if you were physically capable, would you do it?

[Grampa]

He was named after one of the Clintons....right?

[IZ]

Why would you be surprised by the fee? 


If I had training and years of climbing experience, I'd climb it.

[ducpainter]

What for?

If I wanted to see litter...

I'd go to a city....or alongside any interstate in the country.

[Pakhan]

I would absolutely do it, but it is a bit out of my scope.  instead I have been considering the B.O.S.S. 7 day field course http://www.boss-inc.com/08courses.html

[ODrides]

What for?

If I wanted to see litter...

I'd go to a city....or alongside any interstate in the country.

+1.  No thank you.  Maybe I just don't like the cold.  Maybe I just like all my fingers and toes.  Maybe I just like spending my time outside of any place called the "Death Zone."

[TiNi]

i just read that Hilary estimated the mountain to be 29,000 feet...
amazingly close to the current reading of 29,035 ft 

[Bick]

if you were physically capable, would you do it?

Given the opportunity, in a heartbeat.

To Sir Hillary 

[akmnstr]

Given the opportunity, in a heartbeat.

To Sir Hillary 

A very cool dude that kept giving back but we should remember that he was not alone.  He was
with Tenzing Norga.

I'm not sure I would do it.  I'd like to Denali first. 

[rgramjet]

I would only do it if I could swing it sans Sherpas and supplemental Oxygen.  Also Id need to haul all my crap back down the mountain by myself.  Anything less and what would I really accomplish.

PS  I thought the thread was called Chromolungma.  How could I not check it out???   

[TiNi]

[cyrus buelton]

Actually, Everest is really the highest mountain on earth if you are measuring it from sea level.

Technically, a mountain is measured on its total height from the distance of the earth's core.........

[Tommy T.]

I have done Mt. McKinley and Mt. Aconcagua.  I've also done the French Ridge of Mt. Huntington (Alaska Range), soloed on Mt. Robeson (Canadian Rockies), and summited on Mt. Sneffells (San Juans) naked.  I have been in sufficient training and have sufficient skills to climb Everest.  I have chosen not to do so because logistics are a nightmare, the travel is daunting, the cost is exorbitant and the chances of success was, especially when I was at my best in the '70s and '80s, and still is rather small.

Mountains like Everest, even climbed by their more difficult routes, do not generally pose technical problems or require great mountaineering knowledge, just a few things like incredible endurance, considerable strength, fathomless motivation and (usually) a certain ego-driven ambition.

After participating in the first American ascent of the Polish route on Aconcaqua, and recovering a body from a prior American attempt on that side, I found it more to my taste to put on my rock slippers sitting in the front seat of my car in Yosemite and then challenge vertical granite where skill could often trump strength and cold dark beer was waiting in camp every evening.

Tommy T.

[CairnsDuc]

If the view was that good, they would put in a road or an escalator.

Till then, Meh!

[Tommy T.]

Actually, Everest is really the highest mountain on earth if you are measuring it from sea level.

That is true.  The mountain whose top is furthest from the center is Chimborazo in Ecquador.  It happens to sit near the Equator, right on the Earth's bulge.  It is however only 19000+ above sea level, the level from which mountain are almost always measured, and it is that heigth which determines the atmospheric density at the top, the typical weather conditions and all other factors that are of importance to climbers.

Except one, perhaps, relative rise:  McKinley does rise higher above the surrounding plane, higher above the permanent snow line and higher above the usual base camps than Everest or any other peak. 

Tommy T.