Everest Climbers Line Up for Shot at Darwin Award

It's not really a challenge anymore.

The entire routes are completely mapped out for you now and the only real issue is your lung capacity.

 

If it's not a challenge, why don't you try it?

In any case, it's not lung capacity, it's resistance to altitude sickness. Sometimes, even highly-fit people just cannot take the altitude. I remember watching a show on Everest where this guy tried to climb, who pretty much was number one in any endurance event. However, he got violently sick every time he went into the death zone. Most people need to try it to know if they have the skill or not.

 

You are kidding me right?

Why in the world would I want to go up a freezing mountain?

I have no desire to know what my limits are.

The ONLY reason I would ever be on top of that mountain is if the rest of the world is under water and that's the last place left to stand on.

 

There are a whole host of human activities I need explained to me on those grounds. Bungee jumping, base jumping, Parachute jumping, (Note I came close once but then I thought the damn plane was on fire), walking atop the levee and peering over the river side at the raging flood among others.

 

Theres still places in Canada and Russia that have only been mapped by plane. Perhaps even in the US.

I would (and hope to) explore there before taking what is essentially a guided tour of Everest.

It does seem to have become a fad.

 

It’s all relative. What to you is a “mindless risk” is not to someone else.

 

Is there a dividing line? I wonder about risky professions like driving race cars or test piloting military aircraft. My father-in-law was a USAAC/USAF test pilot and by his own count flew some 150 different military aircraft, including prototypes. He didn't come across as a risk-taker.

 

Quick question. Where is the line to go back down? They can't all possibly fit up there and if that is the only way up and down then they have a traffic jam. Is there another route they aren't showing?

 

Obviously. I was a beach lifeguard and some people think that is too risky.

 

Maybe some of those people should get into fighting Ebola in the Congo. From what I've been hearing lately the biggest thrill would be to get out alive.

 

I'm talking about the old days. In all honesty, I don't know what kind of equipment they have now. Seldom was a lifeguard faced with trying to rescue someone without equipment, so it's not quite as bad as it might be if you had to physically approach without floatation devices.

I was cured of a two-wheel wish by people driving four wheels turning left coming in my direction.

 

So, 1 death for every 13 climbers, which is a 7.5% chance of dying. However, your car accident death statistics seem to be off by at least a factor of 10 and compare apples to oranges. From what I can tell, the LIFETIME death rate is about 1 in 570, or about 0.2%, whereas the ANNUAL risk is 1 in 45,000, or 2e-3%. Since most people drive every day, the DAILY risk is 365 times less than that. Thus, getting behind the wheel of your car every day is BY FAR LESS RISKY than climbing Mount Everest.

https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-mortality-risk

However, I agree that people have a general tendency to misjudge risk. For example, the risk being killed by a foreign-born terrorist is 1 in 46,000. Yet, we killed 100s of thousands of middle Easterners to reduce that risk, with a high chance of actually increasing it with an illegal war.

On the other hand, the risk of dying through assault by gun are 1 in 360. Yet, we do nothing about that. Why? Because politicians feed on our fear of the unknown, i.e. foreigners.

 

Perhaps thrill isn't the objective at all- rather, it is the facing the biggest challenge of life, to prove yourself TO yourself.
It is accomplishment, the belief in self and the ability to overcome difficulties that makes one person stronger more confident than another. I'm old, but I've done a great many things in my life that people thought were crazy.

Very few were not carefully considered in risk and possible consequence in advance, or done without the benefit of knowledge and experience. Some were foolish, show-off stunts that should not have been done, promoted perhaps by immaturity. But the knowledge that you can rise to and meet a challenge that is beyond most people is a very powerful thing to own; and it inspires people to do great things that can benefit all of us. If we were all drones.... never daring to go beyond, to reach higher- the entire human race would be the equivalent of a termite colony. This is not to say that there are not plenty of stupid stunts with high risk, but that some risks are worth taking.

I always felt I didn't want to die thinking I had never really lived, and that always involves some risk. No regrets.

 

I have to add that I've known a number of people who have had that same class and passed, but also a few that failed the course repeatedly....

 

Tibet and Nepal make a fair amount of money off the permits, which go for $10,000 each. And the Sherpas get jobs out of it. They have little incentive to limit the number.

 

We're not always good at assessing risk. As you pointed out, driving a car across country is way more risky than flying. The people afraid of flying, even though they know flying is safer, are sill afraid.

I wonder how many of us would rank these correctly...

The odds of dying are probably much lower for an experienced climber not taking unnecessary chances.

 

You're no doubt correct in many cases. There's probably both motivations involved at the same time for some folks.

There are all kinds of risks. Expressing your opinion to a boss like Trump can be a problem, even if he says he wants to hear it.

 

For me, the marginal benefit was limited, so I didn't put money into a ride and pretty much gave it up when I got married.

 

But of course, when he is the boss- he's there to make the final call. If your opinion isn't helpful, or your attitude is ugly, you shouldn't expect it to get a great reception.
If I come to sell you an idea and start by calling you an idiot, what are the odds on my closing the deal??

Not sure what that has to do with Everest climbers. Don't think Trump has spoke to that one...

 

I never quite understood the "extreme challenging yourself to feel good about yourself" concept. I don't need to climb a mountain or jump off a cliff to feel good. I guess it's an inner issue with needing a bigger and bigger adrenaline rush...like a drug. Put yourself through pain, anguish and threat of death or extreme injury? Sorry....don't get it. Putting your life in danger to feel alive?

Won't stop anyone from doing it, but parents who do that **** are fracking irresponsible aholes. I know a couple. They hand their kids over to the grand parents every few months while they go cliff diving, sky diving and do other extreme sports. Adrenaline Junkies. Don't understand exactly why they had children. Not sure if I envy or pity them, hehe. To not care about risking so much so often and still go about your days. I wonder if they're both on meds or see psychiatrists weekly.

 

Interesting chart. Something we often do is fail to keep things in perspective. When we do- it changes our priorities and understandings considerably. Good post!

 

There are certainly irresponsible people, but many who do extreme things do them very well- and such people usually have very sharp minds.
We have a well-known billionaire in our community, on the top ten list. CEO of huge corporation. I've been friends with a couple of people close to him. He loves to kayak whitewater rapids- and I mean the big stuff, which has zero appeal to me. As he got older (passed 70) his board of directors- and his insurance company- convinced him that the risk to the company outweighed his passion, and told him to quit. While that is a high-risk sport, the guy was just damn good at what he was doing, and I think he got a special kind of reward that doesn't come from financial or business success. That sport, like many others, is a challenge of your own skills. No competitors except the white water, nothing to gain. I never wanted to do that, and not for any fear of water. I stuck to safer things, like kissing sharks and killing rattlesnakes bare handed. Arrrrgh!

Better an adrenaline junkie than a drug junkie.....

 

All those people dying of drug overdoses aren't addicts, so I think that stat is a warning to us all that we should be careful if and when we're taking drugs, legal or otherwise.