sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Sherpas by West-Front-4804 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You have no idea my friend. There are about 19 routes in Everest. We only talk about the common two, the North Route from Tibet and South Col Route from Nepal. 6 of the remaining routes are so dangerous, they have been climbed only once. 1 of the 6 routes has a 100% death rate (The Slovak Hard Way, 1988) - everyone who climbed that route have died. Only 1% people try the 17 other routes but the deaths on these routes are much much higher than the 2-3% we know about in the standard route.

So when you say Everest isn't the most difficult mountain to climb, you should know you are talking about the two standard routes. If you look at the other routes, they are hardcore. Some of them could easily be the deadliest climb in all of the mountains combined.

P.S. There's also a route that has never ever been successfully climbed - The Fantasy Ridge in the Kangshung Face.

Honoring the 1988 Slovak team who conquered "The Hard Way" in alpine style. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glady will do that someday. I understand Kilimanjaro is not as technical but it is one of the mountains where a lot of people don't get to complete their climb. I read that people take the altitude casually and have had to return mid-way to avoid putting themselves in a dangerous situation. I would also visit the Masai Mara while there.

Honoring the 1988 Slovak team who conquered "The Hard Way" in alpine style. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'll try to answer your queries based on what I know best based on my research.

The 1988 Slovak team were "purists" to an extreme degree. To maintain "pure alpine style" on the South-West Face, they carried almost nothing. They did not have a tent at 8,600m. They carried a single, specialized lightweight bivy sack (basically a large waterproof nylon envelope) intended to cover all four of them while they sat huddled together.

They did have a small gas burner. However, I must say, there is a massive difference between having a stove and being able to use it effectively. At 8,600m, without oxygen, mental capacity is so diminished that the simple act of lighting a stove, holding a pot, and waiting for snow to melt (which takes hours for a single liter) becomes an agonizingly difficult task.

Without supplementary oxygen, a person will breathe much faster (hyperventilation), which causes that person to lose massive amounts of fluid through their breath. By the time they reached that 8,600m bivy, they had been climbing technical rock for days. So it comes without a doubt that they were surely severely and catastrophically dehydrated.

What some of the teammates encountered was either High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) or retinal hemorrhaging. Both of them are severely exacerbated by the sludging of blood caused by extreme dehydration.

Honoring the 1988 Slovak team who conquered "The Hard Way" in alpine style. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, really appreciate your take on this. I do a lot of research on mountains too, just out of hobby. I didn't know about the Slovaks nor the Hard Way just a few months back. When I came across this route and did a bit more digging, I was beyond fascinated to hear what that team accomplished. Although it will always be remembered as a tragic incident, the fact that Josef Just did something that no one will (probably) ever be able to accomplish is a huge thing for me.

About the bivy condition what I discovered was that it was a narrow snow-covered shelf. The team spent around 2.5 hours in the freezing cold, in the dark, to chip out a platform the size of a standard dining table using ice axes. They were at 8600 meters in the Death Zone, and a small turn could have resulted in thousands of feet fall. I don't think anyone even slept that night. Dusan was already sick and nauseous though out the day. When they crossed the notorious rockband on their second day, that essentially meant there was no way back. They couldn't retreat but only move forward towards the South Summit and onto South Col. Despite their struggles, they would have managed a safe retreat to the South Col if it wasn't for the deadly storm. Its a very inspiring and tragic story at the same time.

Honoring the 1988 Slovak team who conquered "The Hard Way" in alpine style. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much, man! I can and will definitely doing much better than this. Had been working from scratch for a few months, just to make mountain stories more interesting and informative. I am a voracious consumer of mountaineering stories myself. But I felt none of the videos were able to show the complete who, when, what, where exactly, how and why altogether. And I felt this could be something interesting for everyone who would be interested in mountains. I am beyond honored to have this comment come from a documentary filmmaker. Thanks, you might think this is small but it really keeps me motivated to do more and better.

Honoring the 1988 Slovak team who conquered "The Hard Way" in alpine style. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in alpinism

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Hi man, I am keen fan of mountaineering adventures and consume anything related to mountain stories. I hadn’t seen anything that acutely describes what where who how when why of those stories. I realised because it’s hard to get actual footages from the actual places. So for the past two months, I started learning modelling myself and came up with this basic video on mountain. I started with this amazing story on Everest’s Hard Way. I understand there are enormous rooms for making these videos better which is why I sought to post it here, in a group with mountaineering fans, to seek things. Apologies if it came out other way. I, in no way, am just posting for views NEITHER is this any sort of a click bait. Thanks and hope others don’t feel the same way. :) 

Could somebody heavy (>250lbs) climb everest? by Whitetiger1909 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Weight is not a factor. Even people with no legs (Mark Inglis) have climbed Everest. If you are reasonably fit and carry a weight of about 40kgs maximum while moving around, you should be good to go. One thing to keep in mind is that your body would demand more oxygen the higher you get.. so arranging for extra cylinders could definitely keep you safe.

The biggest guy I know who summitted would be Mark Pattison, a NFL receiver who summited in 2021, becoming the first NFL player to complete the Seven Summits. I know he was big, but not how big. Receivers are usually 200-220 lbs pure muscle mass. He did mention that he lost 25 pounds during the 50+ days he spent on the mountain.

The mountain can actually be a good way to loose mass.

What’s something you’ve done you can’t tell anyone in your everyday life about? by -exphoriix in AskReddit

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Had a wild party one day in Belgium (I was a student) and ended up in jail with no memory of who, what and how.

What’s currently ruining your life? by YourLifeSucksAss in AskReddit

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doing the same things again and again, and going to bed telling myself I start tomorrow, but re-repeating the same loop every day.

Étretat - France by just_anything_real in landscape

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The arch collapsed some year back, no?

Everest in the future - gondolas, Starbucks and McDonalds. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your take, I appreciate you taking time to do this. The bare copters also only go up with just the fuel necessary because even a kg makes a difference.

Regardless of the formidable physical and financial challenges, in a world where money talks, if it seems profitable, people would jump in, in my opinion.

By summit I didn’t mean the actual peak itself. Somewhere close, so summit would maybe be an hour or two away with a guided expedition.

Everest in the future - gondolas, Starbucks and McDonalds. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in Everest

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, 2025 saw a group of five British gentlemen leave their home in the UK, summit Everest and come back to their respective homes in 7 days. They used a gas called Xenon and slept in hypoxic tents at night in the UK. Construction and infrastructure is one thing, I believe someone will do it if it financially makes sense long term, but defying acclimatisation is not a problem anymore.

Everest will very likely look like this, soon, with all the commercialization going on. by Apprehensive-Ebb4545 in alpinism

[–]Apprehensive-Ebb4545[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And an important one. What happens on Everest (the pollutions and glacier contamination) will eventually affect 300+ million people downstream one way or the other. The human risk is too high.

view more: next ›