A record-setting Norwegian mountaineer has pushed back against claims that she could have done more to save a Pakistani porter who slipped off a narrow trail near the peak and died there after several hours.
But most mountaineers get by without having to hire people to carry their shit for them. Certainly people here in Colorado use guides from time to time, but i’ve never heard of anyone using a porter. Maybe i’m ignorant, but it seems like mountaineers only use porters in the himalayas because they are cheap and disposable.
Perhaps if you can’t summit a mountain without another human to carry your equipment then it should be ok to not summit that mountain.
If we’re talking about high altitude peaks, like the 14 peaks, most people that summit do it “expediation style”, which always includes sherpas and porters. Only very few people have accomplished climbing one of the 14 peaks “alpine style”.
Thanks for the terminology - that makes it easier!
Only very few people have accomplished climbing one of the 14 peaks “alpine style”.
I’m quite ok with that.
If the rockies were 28k instead of 14k then I still don’t think there’d be a situation where we hire poor villagers from the outskirts of Denver to put their lives on the line. I really believe the high peaks are summited expedition-style because the poverty makes that practical, which in turn allows many more people to reach the top
But climbing with an expedition is much more safe. There is nothing wrong with that inherently.
The real porblem starts when mountaineering just becomes a sick kind of tourism. Where people that are totally unprepared hire companies that will figurativly just carry you up a mountain like everest. I mean idiots like this..
I think I take more exception with the uneven make-up of the expedition team. If 4 americans want to form a expedition to summit K2 then I applaud that, all of them are committed to what they are doing and are choosing to take an extreme risk with no coercion. But when half the team makers are living in literal poverty and are only choosing to take the risk because they have few other options, that seems kinda messed up.
But most mountaineers get by without having to hire people to carry their shit for them. Certainly people here in Colorado use guides from time to time, but i’ve never heard of anyone using a porter. Maybe i’m ignorant, but it seems like mountaineers only use porters in the himalayas because they are cheap and disposable.
Perhaps if you can’t summit a mountain without another human to carry your equipment then it should be ok to not summit that mountain.
If we’re talking about high altitude peaks, like the 14 peaks, most people that summit do it “expediation style”, which always includes sherpas and porters. Only very few people have accomplished climbing one of the 14 peaks “alpine style”.
Thanks for the terminology - that makes it easier!
I’m quite ok with that.
If the rockies were 28k instead of 14k then I still don’t think there’d be a situation where we hire poor villagers from the outskirts of Denver to put their lives on the line. I really believe the high peaks are summited expedition-style because the poverty makes that practical, which in turn allows many more people to reach the top
But climbing with an expedition is much more safe. There is nothing wrong with that inherently.
The real porblem starts when mountaineering just becomes a sick kind of tourism. Where people that are totally unprepared hire companies that will figurativly just carry you up a mountain like everest. I mean idiots like this..
I think I take more exception with the uneven make-up of the expedition team. If 4 americans want to form a expedition to summit K2 then I applaud that, all of them are committed to what they are doing and are choosing to take an extreme risk with no coercion. But when half the team makers are living in literal poverty and are only choosing to take the risk because they have few other options, that seems kinda messed up.
That woman… how stubborn can you be?
How can you not realize the insanity of continuing when what takes others 20 minutes takes you 6 hours.
Could it have been some form of suicide?