re: Anybody on the OT climb Everest?

Yes all of us

Beck Weather’s book was interesting too. When you say that Beck was a mess, did you mean physically or something else?

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I agree about Boukreev’s book. He was an amazing mountaineer and Krakauer gave him a bum rap because he did everything humanly possible while others rested in their tents.

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Two things:

I forgot to mention my anecdote about Ani while sitting around Lhotse base camp. I was wearing a pair of new (and expensive) Julbo glacier glasses. He gave me all kinds of shite about my "Wall Street" gear. He pulled out his glacier glasses that had cardboard side shields held on with electrical tape and they looked like he bought them at the Kazakhstan version of a convenience store (and he likely did) and he proceeded to list the summits those glasses had seen. It was clear by his attitude and by watching him climb he could have drug Hillary and Norgay to the summit with 1950's gear on.


Back to his '96 heroism. It is hard to describe how difficult it is to get someone off a mountain especially when you have already finished for the day and your brain has switched out of climbing mode. I have short-roped people down off mountains and it is hard to explain the anxiety of tying in 4' from someone you don't know and have no idea about their skill/experience or their mental and physical condition. I think it was '99 and my partner and I had finished the Liberty Ridge route on Rainer and were going back down via the "standard" Disappointment Cleaver/Ingraham Glacier Route when we ran into 3 guys from San Diego who were in a world of hurt. They were out of water and 2 were displaying symptoms of AMS one with possible HACE. They had just sat down and it was late in the day to be dicking around. One was missing a crampon and one had lost his ice axe. My partner and I roped them up, he took the worst guy and I took the other two. We gave them basically all our water and started short roping them down and a glacial pace (pun intended). The one in front on my rope was scared shitless and constantly whined he wanted me to take lead. I kept trying to explain I needed to be in back because if either of them fell I could see them falling and have a couple of extra tenths of a second to react and arrest the fall. Sure enough on one of the steepest and most exposed sections the front guy slipped and just as it pulled me down I was able to plant a good self-arrest, neither of them even attempted an arrest, if I hadn't been there they would both still be falling. My point being that wasn't Everest, they were in a lot better condition than anyone Ani saved, and the conditions were perfect that afternoon as you could see Oregon the sky was so clear. Even with all that my chances of not getting back down increased tenfold the second I clipped into those two guys. In that situation, it went from .1% to 1% on that day in May in '96 it was MUCH higher. The old-school code of the mountain was self-sufficiency and no climber would have second guessed us had we just walk right past them. This is another way that commercial climbing has muddied the ethics of mountaineering. Ani not only went above and beyond what any reasonable mountaineer could be expected to do but he was one of a tiny few (Sherpa included) that could have done what he did.

I know I keep rattling on about this but Into Thin Air and the Imax movie made by filming that summit season were what brought the actual ordeal of an Everest climb into the world's collective consciousness. That included making Ani out to be somewhat of a villain or anti-hero when within the climbing community he cemented his legend as a god just infuriates me. BTW Ani was awarded the Sowles Memorial Award for his actions on Everest in '96 it is the American Alpine Club highest award of valor and in scope and expectations is similar to the Congressional Medal of Honor.

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Just looked. Denali rises 18,000' from the mountain base. Everest rises 12,000' from the Tibetan Plateau. Alaska should be proud of Denali.

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If you look at topographic prominence Everest is first and Denali is third, I think Ancongua is second. I think even baby Mt Ranier is in the top 20. As a climber I always saw prominence as the oh shite factor because when you first see a mountain with significant prominence you get that sphincter-tightening moment as you consider what you have gotten yourself into.

Denali is no joke, the weather tends to be worse than Everest and the actual climbing is harder, just with more oxygen and less external dangers ie no Khumbu Icefall.

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Denali is no joke, the weather tends to be worse than Everest and the actual climbing is harder, just with more oxygen and less external dangers ie no Khumbu Icefall.

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I'm planning on climbing Denali in 2024.

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I'm planning on climbing Denali in 2024.

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I have no idea about your experience level but I always suggest climbing Aconcagua first. It verifies your body can handle the altitude before you take on the more technical climb of Denali.

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I have no idea about your experience level but I always suggest climbing Aconcagua first. It verifies your body can handle the altitude before you take on the more technical climb of Denali.

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I haven't climbed Aconcagua, but I have been to over 20,500 ft when I climbed Chimborazo and had no real issues with the altitude and slept fine at high camp at 17,500 ft. I know Denali is much tougher than Chimborazo, just using it as an altitude example.

I climbed Mt. Rushmore.

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Ancongua

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Anyone here "climbed" this one? More of a strenuous hike from what I've seen, but I've considered doing it