re: Anybody on the OT climb Everest?

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There is a guy that went up to base camp recently, can't remember his name though. Somebody will.

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Yeah, some guy on the travel board was posting live updates of his climb. I didn't really keep up with the thread.

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Read Into Thin Air by John Krakauer. It’s so good

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The read The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev. It is not as well written but Krakauer is the best modern adventure writer. What it does do is provide a counter-point to the tracking Krakauer gave him for his part on the mountain in '96. Ani (RIP) was a consummate professional and one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. The mountaineering community is smaller (smaller back then) and everyone knows everyone and I never heard anyone have a bad thing to say about Ani. He did more than could be expected from a human in '96 but it did promote a lot of discussion about the lengths a professional guide should go to in order to save clients (even with other companies) on the mountain.

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How many 8000 meter peaks have you climbed?

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I have been on 5 and summited 4: Everest, Cho Oyu, Annapurna, and Lhotse. I do not count summiting Shishapangma though I made it to what 95% of people consider the summit and count as a summit. The last 10 vertical meters is a knife edge cornice about a 100m long that is dangerous as all hell. To do it you almost have to do a cheval, some may do it on foot on the side but they are truly nuts. A cheval is when you put one leg on each side of the knife edge and shimmy up, I think it is French for on horseback or something. The Nepalese Sherpa Nirmal Purja that did the 14 Summits movie probably did not summit Shishapagma at least they did not show it on film. This is a picture of the cheval to the summit.



When I arrived at the summit there was much heavier snow pack on the cornice and there were already deep cracks in the now, it was going to cleve. I accepted what almost everyone counts as a summit because I just didn't have the balls that day. There have been several climbers that HAD to go back because they couldn't live with not making it to the true summit. I just lived with it but don't count the summit.

You posed the question, has anyone on a message board climbed a large mountain? You would like to know about their experience and what their motivations were.

You then claim to watch television about people doing such things. You lastly state that you workout and claim to “get it” but you feel you may be doing too much as In sacrifice for having a family.

You still would like someone to tell you a story

What movie did you watch?

3 times. Never used oxygen.

Nope but I did summit Mt Driskill after acclimating at base camp for nearly two weeks. We finally had a window and made the summit. All I could do was stand there seemingly frozen in a state of euphoria as I gazed over maybe about 5 miles worth of unbridled Bienville Parish splendor.

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was fortunate in that both my wives understood me and neither one attempted to hold me back in fact both of them encouraged me to follow my dreams.

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Both of them huh....lol

Good friend of mine did Killaminjaro. Which I know is not Everest but still pretty awesome and more than I ever thought of doing.

He’s a big dude, 6-3 ish and just a mountain of a man. He busted his arse and lost almost 100 lbs before going. Wore a gps device that broadcasted his position so we could see his progress.

Not me, but I know a guy who did it twice.

He LED the second expedition because, in his words, the first time wasn't challenging enough.

You'd never know just looking at him how much of a badass he is.

He's a great guy, but if he ever told me he has killed a man I wouldn't doubt it.