Climbing Everest these days just seems to be the quintessential activity for people that have lost site of what really matters in life. It's where you end up if you never grow out of the idea that life is a competition you can win.
Climbing Everest these days just seems to be the quintessential activity for people that have lost site of what really matters in life. It's where you end up if you never grow out of the idea that life is a competition you can win.
Some people like climbing mountains, including Everest. It makes sense to follow your interests in my opinion.
My phrasing was weird but I'm actually speaking from personal experience here. I haven't climbed Everest but I've pursued other activities to extreme limits, e.g. running 100 mile high mountain races. These activities are all fun and have intrinsic rewards, but a large number of people doing them (my prior self included) were really in it for the external recognition of having done it. Everest seems to be the epitomy of that. I'm sure there's lots of people quietly climbing Everest just because it's there, but there's certainly very many doing it because of the name Everest and because it's the highest.
It makes sense to think about consequences.
https://nepalmonitor.com/2025/03/19/nepal-overtourism-everes...
Search your feelings, you just think mountain climbing is dumb / invalid and whatever activities that you like are valid. Let people do what they want. If Nepal wants to further restrict quotas, they can do so.
I have no feelings about climbing but feelings against environmental pollution.
Climb as much as you like but clean up the waste you create.
I don't climb at all but I do care a lot about people getting to do what they want with their lives.
Dis you read my link?
What about the Nepalese people?
They want to do something other than clean up the tourists' mess or even their bodies.
What about other climbers and their staff who get endangered.
Do you also care for allowing people driving drunk?
Yes, fully agree that the Nepalese people should be able to do what they want as well. If that means closing their country to tourists, that is fine. However, they aren't doing that so presumably they are doing what they want. Based on the link that you provided they have made some changes. I don't see any relationship to drunk driving here.
I suspect you are un-conflicted in the sense that you aren't simultaneously compelled to climb Everest but are holding back due to the environment impact. Staying home or going to the movies might be fine for you but not necessarily everyone else. If you do travel / do other things you probably don't worry about the environment impact much - because you are doing "valid" stuff that you happen to like.
There are both kinds. There are passionate mountaineers that want to reach the tallest summit, with varying degrees of “rules” about it that matter to them. There are also a group of “tourists” that want it for, what appears to be, other reasons.
Some special forces guys, record summit Everest time… let me guess, one is an SAS sniper with numerous recorded kills in Iraq or Afghanistan… but clearly he can’t talk much about it, he just needs you to know it… maybe some mi5 action in there… this is tailor made for a “bro-tube” channel.
I think theres more to it than just ego. I find myself watching Everest videos on Youtube (shout out Michael Tracy's channel).
Ive never done mountaineering but I become fascinated by these stories of people on the mountain and sometimes wonder if I could do it. I definately never will, theres lots of other things id rather invest my time in but I can definately see the allure and why people become obsessed with doing it.
If you're interested in Everest, I loved Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer - it's absolutely fantastic and available on Audible. Then last week I discovered Everest on Netflix, which isn't great but it's based on the book and they do a good job showing you the route and distances between the camps with CGI.
Anyways, after all that I have zero desire to ever go near Everest or any other risky mountain climb.
The yt channel I mentioned (link below), is half dedicated to speculating ifMallory and Irvine first summiited everest in the 24' expedition and the other half is dedicated to proving that Krakauer is lying in his book. Michael Tracy is some lawyer that really doesn't like Krakauer's account of 1996 and has some interesting points, I recommend you check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/@michaeltracy2356
IMO this is a reductionist take that is often peddled around Reddit. "Anybody can climb Everest, it's not that difficult", etc.
Personally? I think it's a pretty cool achievement and is _the_ mountain to climb for a reason. I'm with the other commenter here. Chase your passions.
Maybe it’s time to stop being so egocentric
https://nepalmonitor.com/2025/03/19/nepal-overtourism-everes...
It's similar to how many people clutch their pearls about abandoned gear on Everest.
Many of the neighbouring countries -- including Nepal, India, Tibet, Bangladesh -- are effectively open-air garbage dumps, where rivers and fields and cities are just awash with discards and garbage. In environmentally critical places where it massively impedes with the life of millions.
In a relative sense I just do not care about some infinitesimal amount of discarded air canisters on a lifeless rock at 10,000 feet. It seems like misdirected envy when people suddenly super care about that. In an ideal world they would leave only footprints, but in the grand scheme of things it just does not matter. Cue another "OMG look at these air canisters some rich guys left at 15,000 feet!" articles.
It's a bit like how the anti-AI cadre have taken to suddenly being incredibly concerned about the energy usage of AI. Despite everything else, it's AI that's going to heat the planet. They never cared about data centre power usage when it was serving their big tiddy goth anime GIFs, but if it's AI suddenly they lament this outrage.
For the record, the two base camps on either side of Everest are at about 17,000 feet. 15,000 feet won't even get you started.
> is _the_ mountain to climb for a reason.
Is this the case in mountaineering circles, or are K2 and Annapurna the peaks to be respected?
I never said it's not difficult. Please see my response to the other commenter.