That'll learn those rich assholes.

Much as I enjoy the boiling undercurrent of class warfare, I can't get mad at the rich for climbing mountains.

I can.

The problem with Everest is that its open to amatures, over crowded, polluted, and Its been dine thousands of times.

At this stage, it's pure bragging rights, and not even original bragging rights. There's zero reason to do it at this stage other than showboating to the guys at Crossfit.

If they want to take the chance, who gives a shit?

If they want to take the chance, sure, and let us not weep over their percentage of horrible, lingering death on the side of a mountain. Fuckers died doing what they loved... a stupid, stupid thing.

The mountain god will suffer fools for only so long...

Most climbers of Everest are not "doing what they loved." A very small percentage are actually seasoned climbers anymore. Most of them are just rich people who effectively buy their way to the top by hiring more Sherpas than necessary to bring tons of oxygen with them, the empty canisters of which litter the mountain now. Climbing Everest is not easy and does require determination and capability....but the majority of the challenge past a certain point was the lack of oxygen, isolation, and resource management. These are now, largely, no longer issues. As a result, unprepared and inexperienced climbers are constantly dying up there because they simply are not capable of dealing with anything but the easiest of ascents and even when professionals tell them to come back or not tempt fate, they figure they can just power ahead with their expensive gear.
I'm not saying people shouldn't climb it or that doing it is not at least some kind of achievement, but the culture of Everest has now become very much poisoned by all of this.

Buying their way to the top is what they love tho

I guess I just don't give a shit about climbing mountains. Maybe if I gave a shit about climbing mountains, the idea of people climbing the highest one in some way that I felt was cheating would really bother me, but I don't give a shit about climbing mountains. I'm not envious when someone says they've climbed Everest.

Even if they are pampered and entitled and have no serious investment in their hobby, which I could probably be moved to a bit of anger over, it's nowhere near enough to outweigh the empathy I feel at 0:25ish of this video.

"If they want to take the chance, who gives a shit?"

Probably the poor fucks who have to risk their lives to come rescue you.

I'm torn on this because it does put some money into the local economy. But it's risky and as it becomes more and more accessible, more and more lives are going to be at risk.

This subject came up once before on a video about the trash now strewn about the Himalayas; I have never been more vehemently pissed off towards you guys(well, some, you know who you are), and as such have never been inspired enough to post on this site a monologue of infinite zest proportions but here we go.

How many of you have actually been to the Himalayas? I am a lower middle class white boy (so pretty fuckin rich compared to the majority of nepal, I'll give you that, but I worked my ass off for a couple years to save up. I spent 2 grand during the entirety of my trip, and could have easily spent half had I had the knowhow. you can live like a king there on a day) that was given the humbling opportunity to travel in India and Nepal for 3 months a couple of years ago. I didn't attempt everest, or even the base camp as I was smoking a shit ton, but I did take a trek through the Annapurna range, and BY GOD it was one of the most incredible experiences in my life. To see the scope of everything...Everybody should do it at least once. The most jaw dropping sights you will ever see. I did pay a sherpa 8 bucks a day, and you know what?
We got along. I know it might seem shocking, but I looked eye to eye with him as an actual human being despite being his big bad white employer. I will never forget sitting smoking some weed with him on a terrace, breathing in the first clean air I had had in a month; he looked at me and said basically this is fuckin IT without saying anything. Being there for that much time you wise up to who's genuine. I hope he's okay:(

Y'all seem to think that all these climbers are part of this ultra entitled gentry that climbs for bragging rights. You sound like fucking hipsters, "meh, everests already been done" Motherfuckers, nobody outside of the most vain deluded people is trekking to be unique or exploitive, they are doing it because it is a FUCKING INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE. And as much as I hate to say it those assholes are the ones doing the nepalese people (you know, the ones that you apparently care about) the biggest favor, because they are most likely to hear a Sherpa or hostel manager say a day and not bat an eye or try to haggle. The trash thing is repulsive, but not enough to condemn anybody really. One of the rivers in kathmandu was literally dammed up with garbage. Tourists didn't do that, at least not directly.

Mic drop.

"Y'all seem to think that all these climbers are part of this ultra entitled gentry that climbs for bragging rights."

Well, according to this web site it costs -100k per person to climb Everest: http://outdoors.whatitcosts.com/mt-everest-pg2.htm

It's probably a little cheaper now that Nepal slashed the permit cost from k to k per person: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/14/nepal-slashes-cost-cl imbing-mount-everest

When 'adventurer' types (Google Engineers) and other ultra wealthy are climbing, I think entitled might be a fair description. No doubt there are seasoned mountaineers climbing Everest, but we can infer that huge number of ascents in the last 25 years is pretty indicative of tourism effect.*

*See the graph on the Guardian article.

Word.

I'm also not rich. I spent two years of my life volunteering as a firefighter, from that I learned vertical rope techniques and rescue and when I left I got involved in caving. As a caver, I do a lot of mountaineering too, and have met the type of people who do it.

I live in Latin America and we're talking about a range of people spanning lower-middle class to upper-middle class. Obviously having disposable income helps because there is gear involved and you need to buy it, but the people who do mountaineering or caving will save up to buy what they need, sacrificing other things like going out boozing or watching films at the cinema. These are passionate people who love nature, the outdoors, who are generally not doing a shitload of hardcore drugs or booze, and who are mostly kind and considerate. There are also some assholes, but generally speaking they are nice people.

Hiking up high mountains IS HARD. While Mount Everest might be scoffed at by elite climbers who do K2, it is still one of the hardest hikes in the world. I can't do it, you can't do it, the people who do it don't do it on a whim. They plan for it, they train for it for years, so even if parting with the money is no big deal for a specific person, it still takes a high level of commitment. I also know many people have to obtain sponsorship in order to go, because they can't afford it, so not everyone on that mountain is rich. In any event, out of all the people on the mountain, maybe a few go through all of the physical conditioning and preparation and train for this for years and years because they have a small dick and want to show the world how great they are, but the vast majority of people are just individuals who enjoy nature, the mountains, and challenging their minds and bodies.

They know they can die, and sometimes they do. It's not a tragedy (the tragedy is the 4.000 + civilians whose lives were destroyed by the earthquake), but fuck you for cheering the death of someone just because they MIGHT have more money than you and because they have different interests than yours.

That's right, lick the ballsacks of our socioeconomic superiors. They sure appreciate your attention to their plight.

Haha, "licking the ballsacks of our socioeconomic superiors" apparently just means feeling the slightest bit of empathy when they die, or not actively cheering their deaths and having some vague understanding of why they do what they do.

Lot of sociopaths on this site.

And as stated, mountaineers dying isn't really a tragedy (well, it still is for those who know them), it's a risk that comes with the territory, but there's a difference between recognizing that and going "Fuck them!"

It's so cold in here!

Stars for you two.

what is going on?

https://youtu.be/Yam5uK6e-bQ

Why doesn't that guy have a jacket on? Is he drunk or something?

That is a shitty attitude to have about people you know nothing about other than that they've committed the grave crime of wanting to climb a mountain.

I find it hard to feel sorry for people who do stupid dangerous shit for their own amusement. I don't feel bad when BASE jumpers slam into the side of a cliff and get ground to hamburger. I don't feel bad when parkour enthusiasts snap their necks. I don't feel bad when stock car racers get crushed by thousands of pounds of flaming metal. I don't feel bad when rodeo riders get trampled by bulls. In fact, that last one kind of makes me smile in a sinister fashion.

I only feel sorrow for people who die doing dangerous shit for the sake of others.

You do realize that oftentimes the people who die doing dangerous shit for the sake of others are the same people who do dangerous shit for their own amusement?

I feel sympathy for them when the former happens. If they press their luck doing the latter, then I don't.

How many Sherpa were hurt?

I haven't seen any specific information on sherpas. A few leaders of sherpa organizations were quotes in a few articles, but none mentioned or were quoted mentioning any sherpa deaths.