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The ultimate retro bolt?

deadbudgy

28-May-2013
8:22:55 AM

Plans to install a ladder on the Hillary step to 'ease' congestion and reduce risk to 'climbers'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/27/mount-everest-ladder-hillary-step

This doesn't seem good to me. Making the most well known climb in the world easier for the masses

JDB

28-May-2013
8:31:33 AM

Sounds like a logical solution...The Hillary step ladder

Let's face it, Everest has become the magnet for well-healed geezers who want Everest on their C.V.

Damn it, they should just install a solar powered escalator, then I can have a crack!

technogeekery

28-May-2013
1:23:26 PM

why not? Lots of ladders on the mountain anyway. Its not as if anyone is doing it with any "style"...

dalai

28-May-2013
3:13:49 PM

They better fix two ladders - one for ascending and another for descending, otherwise it will still cause a roadblock...

Macciza

28-May-2013
3:13:53 PM

On 28/05/2013 deadbudgy wrote:
>Plans to install a ladder on the Hillary step to 'ease' congestion and reduce risk to 'climbers'.

Bloody Maoist insurgent spurt mountainears . . .

Snacks

28-May-2013
4:07:13 PM

On 28/05/2013 dalai wrote:
>They better fix two ladders - one for ascending and another for descending,
>otherwise it will still cause a roadblock...

The recommended plan is to set up a Stop-Go lolly pop man (or lady) to manage two-way traffic congestion.

radson

30-May-2013
12:51:43 AM

Yeah often up and down ladders on Everest.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/radson/2467494718/

MattyB

30-May-2013
4:42:27 AM

On 30/05/2013 radson wrote:
>Yeah often up and down ladders on Everest.
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/radson/2467494718/
>
>

Bloody good (and bloody obvious) point there, Radson and Technog... ; ) After following the interwebz-hype on this proposition, I've been wondering what makes the ethical difference between a bunch of ladders down in the Khumbu Icefall, and one higher up?? Tons of pre-fixed ropes, being dragged on with jumars; people being short-roped year after year; rubbish and corpses galore; Sherpa's babysitting eminently unqualified 'clients', cooking their food, and setting up their tents; supplementary oxygen; altitude prophylactics... Some adventure...!

Not to mention the long-standing ladder on the most "difficult" technical section on the North side, yet that didn't stop House and Houlding exploring the hypothesis that it was climbable. If Hilary had used a ladder on the step, like the Chinese did on the first ascent of the North side, then nobody at all would be questioning it. What a ridunculous amount of hype and rhetoric this mountain creates. Enough B.S. to get rid of Ueli for good, who I for one was far more interested in seeing his style and result - than the latest wheezing Japanese pensioner, or pimply teenager achieving another notch in the books.

I reckon there's a funny double standard going on, by looking it as *removing the adventure* etc etc... It's a natural progression, the slow and methodical conquering of the unknown, and it started with the first ascent, and every other bit of refining and removing of adventure that technical equipment evolution, and familiarity of a previously unknown environment brings. Nobody bitches about flying to the South Pole, because you've removed the adventure of walking there with a compass. Did shoes remove the adventure of climbing barefoot? Did the first roped climber lose the thrill of free-solo? etc etc...

The genuinely qualified will always seek out true adventure, pioneer previously unknown risks, and discover new frontiers, and thus unwittingly begin the process of dilution again for everyone else who follows in their path. At the end of the day, it's all subjective, adventure is in the eye of the beholder. Or something like that... : ]

martym

31-May-2013
11:21:05 AM

I showed a girl at work a picture of a well-known overhang overlooking the harbour bridge.
Her immediate response was "Can I pay someone to take me up that?"

Not saying that everyone who climbs Everest is just paying someone else to do all the work, you obviously need some skill and effort; but the mentality seems to be: "if you want it, you can buy it..."

IdratherbeclimbingM9

3-Jun-2013
1:16:35 PM

On 31/05/2013 martym wrote:
>I showed a girl at work a picture of a well-known overhang overlooking
>the harbour bridge.
>Her immediate response was "Can I pay someone to take me up that?"
>
>Not saying that everyone who climbs Everest is just paying someone else
>to do all the work, you obviously need some skill and effort; but the mentality
>seems to be: "if you want it, you can buy it..."

The best adventures can't be bought.
If they could then they wouldn't be worth buying, as true adventures have an element of 'uncertain outcome' involved.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

3-Jun-2013
1:18:27 PM

On 30/05/2013 MattyB wrote:
>I reckon there's a funny double standard going on, by looking it as *removing
>the adventure* etc etc... It's a natural progression, the slow and methodical
>conquering of the unknown, and it started with the first ascent, and every
>other bit of refining and removing of adventure that technical equipment
>evolution, and familiarity of a previously unknown environment brings.
>Nobody bitches about flying to the South Pole, because you've removed the
>adventure of walking there with a compass. Did shoes remove the adventure
>of climbing barefoot? Did the first roped climber lose the thrill of free-solo?
>etc etc...
>
>The genuinely qualified will always seek out true adventure, pioneer previously
>unknown risks, and discover new frontiers, and thus unwittingly begin the
>process of dilution again for everyone else who follows in their path.
>At the end of the day, it's all subjective, adventure is in the eye of
>the beholder. Or something like that... : ]

An interesting concept, that deserves further consideration...

pecheur

3-Jun-2013
1:56:22 PM

On 3/06/2013 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>
>The best adventures can't be bought.
>If they could then they wouldn't be worth buying, as true adventures have
>an element of 'uncertain outcome' involved.

Mikl's quite quotable on this.

However adventure is in the eye of the beholder and whilst I completely agree with MattB's comments, when you're inexperienced even a guided tour up a tourist route, say the "Coca Cola" (Marangu) route up Kili, is a great adventure because they don't know if they'll make it to the top because they'll never have been to altitude before in a strange country with rubbish hospitals. For a lot of people I met in the comfy huts there this was the scariest, most out there thing they'd done, who am I / are we to judge?

Also I'd never experienced as many people coming down from a mountain encouraging others to go make it up there*. Those people were genuinely elated to have made it and wanted others to make it too. To them they've succeeded on their challenge and it was their "best adventure".

* There was certainly nothing like that at EBC which is the only comparable high spot I've been to with lots of foot traffic.

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