Growing up, climbing Mt. Everest was a unit of measurement to explain how impossible a task was. So I was stunned to find out that Mandy Moore just did it! Not to the summit (29,029 feet above sea level), but to the Everest Base Camp (17,600 feet). I’m only specifying that because Mandy did on her Instagram so as not to take away from those who make it to the summit. Since the closest I’ll ever come to conquering Everest is looking at Mandy’s Instagram photos of it, I’m going to be impressed regardless of how far she went up. Here’s the photo she posted to commemorate her climb:
Her caption is so heartfelt, there is no doubt how much this meant to her:
There is so much magic in these mountains. They represent adventure in the grandest form and in a language all their own. The idea of standing at the base of the world's tallest peak with @eddiebauer, a brand that has been outfitting record-setting climbers since the beginning – from the first American ascent in 1963 (Jim Whittaker) to our guide @melissaarnot, the first American Woman to ascend and descend Everest without oxygen, is truly beyond my wildest imagination. Traversing this terrain has its challenges. Breathing at altitude, for instance, is not easy. One of the greatest gifts/lessons that Melissa simultaneously bestowed on us during this trek was the fine art of pressure breathing. It makes all the difference as you climb higher. It’s essentially a big inhale and a sharp, forceful exhale, like you’re blowing out a candle across the room, to open up your lungs, allowing you to use more oxygen, etc… Besides hydration and staying nourished, breathing is THE vital key in the fight against altitude sickness. It’s also a major takeaway that I will be employing back to the real world whether I’m in the midst of a tough workout or a weird day. Mind blown. So as we weaved around the Himalayas from 14,400ft-16,200ft-17,600ft: this particular technique was essential in propelling us forward. Needless to say, this part of the world holds a very special place in @melissaarnot’s heart so her willingness to share it, as well as her time, knowledge and endless trove of stories were so appreciated by all of us lucky enough to walk alongside her this past week. Her belief in our abilities to keep moving and ultimately make it to the base of the Mighty, Mighty Mt. Everest was so powerful. Spoiler alert: we made it!!! It’s impossible to be lucky enough to arrive at the foot of these mammoth peaks and not be attuned to the palpable energy of all of those who came before and lost their lives in these mountains. The wave of emotion: respect, reverence, appreciation….that washed over us as we took in the prayer flags and yellow domed tents of basecamp AND sat on the rocks regarding the chortens that dot the hillside of the Tukla Pass the day before, profoundly
Mandy’s a big hiker but it was reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro that made her thirsty to hit some new summits. She’s partnering with Eddie Bauer on The Juniper Fund and they are outfitting her for her climbs. She spent her honeymoon hiking all over Chile. On Busy Tonight in April, Mandy said she’d never been camping before she climbed Kilimanjaro. That’s a big feat for a novice. Also during that appearance, Busy helped Mandy *practice* the Everest hike by putting on packs and climbing on an elliptical (2:20 mark). It’s pretty cute. It is also the only way I’ll make any kind of climb myself.
It’s nice to read such a positive story coming from an Everest trip, considering how bad a year they’ve been having. I’m glad Mandy is focusing so much on preparing for the journey properly and emphasizing that the base camp and the summit are two very different animals. Not that they aren’t both big accomplishments, but one is certainly much more dangerous.
Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos
The other evening on the news they they were covering a man who died in the climb to the summit. And they also showed a picture with a line of climbers all in single file line. The line reminded me of the ants climbing up a hill. Apparently there is a small window of opportunity with good weather that makes the climb achievable, due to all the climbers, that window of opportunity is even smaller since it takes longer to get there. And the cost for a permit is $12,000. Yeah, the closest I will come to climbing it will be by pictures.
Yes, and not only that but the Nepalese government has issued something like 380 permits this year, and every climber needs to have at least one sherpa with them. So it’s closer to 800 people on the mountain in one season! I understand that Nepal earns a lot of revenue from the sale of those permits but at some point they could look at scaling things back a bit. Not only is it literally killing people, it’s got to be bad for Everest itself.
Also read that they will not scale back the number of permits.
It is absolutely crazy. And to see it, just baffles me more. I’m agreement with you: can’t be good for Everest. Sad they are putting lives at risk for the $$$$
it isn’t their fault if stupid ass westerners pay over $100k to try to climb a mountain in conditions that are unfit for human life.
@Lizzie, I have to disagree with you. While I do understand that some may not have the forethought to understand the dangerous situation they put themselves into, I do think the government has a responsibility to intervene. Maybe a limit would be a good idea. Because if the last thirty climbers are putting the rest in jeopardy, then I blame the government because they know better and can intervene. They could have waiting lists or up the price. No need to endanger lives to make more money.
Seraphina,
You realized Nepal is a very, very poor country whose capital was destroyed a few years back by an earthquake??
I am not sure they have as much agency and financial autonomy as you want them to have in front of 1%ers throwing money at them.
The people who should be more responsible are the climbers forcing their way onto Everest for a hobby.
It is sad to admit, but when their love of nature and mountain and desire to surpass oneself ACTUALLY means: overcrowding and polluting a very fragile ecosystem, threatening the lives of local sherpas, and literally walking over dead bodies, it is best to stop.
Nepal desperately needs the money, has little other sources of revenue, and every single person who attempts Everest knows what they are getting into. No one is wandering onto Everest off the street. They all know the risks. You have to pass multiple dead bodies on your way up! If rich idiots want to pay for the chance to die, I have zero problem with it.
What would be better is if the outfitting companies that support Everest climbs self-regulated and didn’t put so many at risk. Nepal can charge whatever they want for the permits, so they can just raise the rate to make up the loss of volume with a limited number of hikers. The onus is on the outfitters to stop knowingly endangering people by over-booking climbs.
The cost of the permit alone is $12,000. Most climbers on the mountain pay anywhere from $65,000-$130,000 (oxygen, equipment, guides, Sherpas, etc etc etc). There are some expeditions who will take anyone (no matter their experience) and provide only the bare minimum. Not surprisingly, the casualty count on those teams is usually the highest.
The government is corrupt and broken. They won’t stop issuing permits and they won’t set limitations on who is able to climb the mountain (literally anyone who has the money can go, you don’t have to have ever climbed a mountain before). It’s insane. Everest is now literally covered in trash (and the bodies of climbers who have died). There is absolutely no regulation from the government and no one on the mountain has any authority to set limits or make rules. Its a free for all.
If you’re interested, follow @nimsdai on twitter. He is the one who took the photograph of climbers lined up waiting to summit. He is an amazing climber who right now is aiming to summit the 14 peaks over 8,000 metres in 7 months (current record is 8 years I think). He talks about how he saw climbers unable to do even basic climbing techniques. It normally takes him 4.5 hours to do the last part of the climb and it took him 9 hours this year. He also talks about how he stood and acted as a traffic controller for 90 minutes because the route you see in the photo is the way up AND the way down.
I find it odd that people are laying a lot of the blame on Nepal’s government for issuing the permits. This is a perfect example of the climbers “knowing what they signed up for.” But, I guess the government should be the bigger person and save people from their own stupidity.
The whole things reeks of wealthy, colonialist attitudes in my opinion. Rich privileged people (a lot of white Westerners) coming to “conquer” the big, tall mountain. Risking the lives of sherpas (who are poor and do it for the money) in the process. Gross.
The photo shared on social media was really interesting. Mt. Everest has essentially become a tourist trap. Looked like Disneyland. I don’t get the fuss — risking your life, spending 100k+ for THAT.
The Nepali government is the only entity with the power to regulate the southeast side of the mountain. If there was a similar situation with dozens of people dying due to inexperience and overcrowding (not to mention turning the mountain into a literal garbage dump) in Canada, we would expect the government to step in and strictly regulate the permits.
That being said, I don’t blame the Nepali government. It is an incredibly poor country and you’re right, everyone on that mountain either knows what they are getting into or is willfully blind to it. However, there are a lot of ways that they could regulate the permits without decreasing their revenue because people are always going to be willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money to stand on the top of the world.
Interestingly, China controls the Northeast side of the mountain and does control the permits more strictly. But less people (and less inexperienced people in particular) attempt from that side because it is more technically difficult so they don’t have to deal with the issues to the same extent. It would be interesting to see how they would deal with it.
I’m not sure all the climbers really do know what they signed up for. According to the news, not everyone who signs up is experienced enough to do the climb, and some are needing help up which is adding to the traffic jam. Of course, the Napalese government isn’t responsible for stupid.
It’s between 35–100K in full total costs to climb to the top (summit).
Not to diminish her accomplishment, but my mother did that in her 60s. Just saying. Rock on Mom. She died in 2015 at 92.
Your mom was a badass.
Those exact words were spoken at her memorial service!
Yea, I’ve never been there or anything but I read that book Into Thin Air about another year on Everest where there were traffic jams and several deaths. Great book. I was left with the impression though that getting to be Everest base camp is not particularly difficult. I mean good for her and looks like cool trip. I like her a lot. I did, however, groan a little bit at the timing of this story- not a great time to be promoting everest this week. They have a lot of issues with crowding. Waste removal is also a huge problem.
But I just don’t get the appeal really. Not my thing. After I read that book, I thought why the hell would anyone want to do this? I feel similarly about marathons- I just don’t really get it, I must be missing whatever that human urge is, and I love exercise and the outdoors, not a couch potato.
I don’t understand spouses who put up with this BS. Bye honey, I’ll tell the kids you love them if you don’t make it back. Good luck. And then when these idiots die they are turned into legends.
It’s a physical and mental challenge. Not my cup of tea, but I get it. I would love to do a marathon, but as someone who has never run more than a 5 K, the challenge would be insermountable. One of my neighbors did the Boston marathon. She was out running rain, shine, snow, up and down the hills. She’s amazing.
My sister went up that far in college, I believe. It’s doable, but it is high altitude climbing and that’s always going to be an added challenge. Not to take away from your mom’s badassery!
You’ve got it – it’s not the same as climbing Everest, but higher up than “base camp” implies to most of us. My parents did several treks in Nepal in their 60s and enjoyed it immensely. They made life long friends in the treking group. My dad said every night he wished to be sleeping in his own warm bed, but every morning was so glad he was in Nepal enjoying the mountain top views. They really liked hiking! My dad elected to go with most of their group on a water raft ride instead, so he didn’t get the tee-shirt .
It’s so dangerous, that traffic jam left so many people in the death zone for way too long. The body starts deteriorating and dying. Way too many permits were issued and way too many novices went up. Tragic and preventable.
In the end it seems to be about greed isn’t it? Those permits cost thousands of dollars. It’s like they just gave them out like candy to anyone willing to pay not thinking about the consequences of too many climbers at one time. Not to mention only experienced climbers should be allowed up there.
Yes, and experienced and well-prepared climbers die on Everest on the regular too. It’s just inherently dangerous and the more people ascending and descending at once the more dangerous it gets.
I just read an article in the Guardian that details what others have said here: Everest has become a dangerous vanity pursuit that costs around 50.000$. That photo of people lining up to the top was just depressing. To me it replicates old tropes of imperialism and patriarchal conquest that do not do it for me. It’s not sustainable anymore to think of our country as a land to explore.
Couldn’t agree more with what you’re saying @Snowslow
I have no doubt her reasons for doing this were pure and sincere, but in this wake of climate emergency, I’ve had to rethink my travel plans. Can’t get behind this trend of exclusive/luxury travels, like going to Antarctica.
I agree with you, that line of people photo was depressing and made me feel anxious. And there’s lots of photos and reports of all the discarded equipment and other litter left by climbers.
I agree @Snowslow. There’s a reason why it’s usually white people pursuing these feats and not the oppressed. It’s rooted in colonialism and imperialism. People of color don’t have the need to conquer nature in the same way. For many of us, this attitude is antithetical to our cultures and experiences as colonized peoples.
That said, I’ve met and chatted with Mandy Moore for work, and she is a lovely person from what I can tell. I’m glad she made it safely.
An interesting story is the death of Michael Matthews. Brother of James Matthews who is married to Pippa Middleton. In 1999 he was trying to be the youngest British person to climb Everest and died there age 23 in a blizzard. His father subsequently sued the outfitting company and many others claiming that they were negligent, that they had promised “the best oxygen” supplies but didn’t deliver. In fact he claimed his son was the victim of manslaughter at their hands.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1443272/Tell-us-the-truth-about-our-sons-death-on-Everest.html
@tourmaline – thanks for the link. I knew the brother had died while trying to climb “a mountain,” but didn’t realize it was Everest. I know Pippa participated in a climb in the Alps a year or two ago (must have been more than a year ago) that was in memoriam of him and I remember reading an article at the time that was just like, “of course, James did not participate.” It made me wonder what he thought of Pippa doing it. He must have been supportive, but still scared.
Once they dropped the price of a permit from 25k to 13k you started to see more rich novices pushing to make the trip. The most recent death is from a experienced climber from Colorado. He’s done the highest summit on every continent and is well trained and experienced. And there was no crowd that day (the famous picture is from last week)
Years of experience. Made it to the summit and he still died on the return at the first decent camp. Even without crowds it’s a risky thing to do. Not to mention all those people have trashed that mountain and base camp with gear. And little of that money goes to the sherpas that make the big risks or their families. The government and the climbing companies pocket a lot of it. They really should raise the price of the permit and not issue as many.
Unfortunately doing the highest summits of the other continents does not qualify you for Everest in terms of experience, because they are all a fair bit shorter (Asia is the only continent with mountains over 7000m). To be ready for Everest a climber should do another (slightly easier) 8000’er. Unfortunately the others don’t come with the same prestige so people can’t be bothered to spend the time and money for that practice run.
I’m a big fan of horror. I’ve read many many scary books. But the most terrified I’ve ever been while reading a book was the night I read the final third of “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. I was camping, I was alone in a tent, and my blood was running cold. The book details an incident when several people died up on Everest. It is an absolutely terrifying thing, to be stuck up there. People die every year. And Jon Krakauer is such an affective writer, it scared me for life!
If you want some good true-life terror, read that book! I for one love nature and hiking but I have no desire to ever put myself in the position to get altitude sickness or anything like that!
But seriously, go Mandy! It’s very impressive.
I worked at a hospital in Dallas that Beck Weather’s worked at and I met him. This was about 5 years after his climb, so his face was still in the process of being reconstructed so most of his nose was still missing. Seeing all of his amputations and injuries was enough for me to never want to climb.
If you read krakauers book, beck weathers was one of the people who had no business on that mountain at all. A rich guy with no climbing experience relevant to Everest. And he was a flaming asshole who belittled the Nepalese staff.
Was he the guy left for dead?
I never read the book. I was actually warned about his face and what happened before I went into the pathology department, so that I didn’t stare. Can’t say that his injuries humbled him, but I didn’t spend much time with him.
Yes, arayasmom, left for dead twice! After being left on the mountain he stumbled into camp the following day. They got him into a tent and left him with tea, assuming he would die there. They were stunned that he was still alive when they checked on him hours later.
He was definitely a jerk, but I had hoped the experience would change him. I know he paid for the high rescue helicopter whose pilot was risking his own life to get him off the mountain, but he told them to take the other badly injured survivor first. I also know Beck’s wife was planning to divorce him, and I hoped it was all a wake up call for him.
Jon’s book and the IMAX film were enough for me. I sat in the theater with my popcorn and oohed over the view and felt satisfied. I appreciate that Mandy considers achieving base camp a success and isn’t one demanding to get to the top no matter what. People may say they conquered the mountain, but I totally disagree. The mountain may allow you to access its summit, but it is always in control and it always wins.
I felt the same way about Into Thin Air. Krakauer’s writing is so amazing. I felt like I was in a tent on the side of the mountain.
Krakauker also wrote Into the Wild and it’s a good read.
I remember sitting at the kitchen table one Sunday morning and the Fairbanks Daily News Miner gave the report and my husband asked, “Didn’t you and Scott drive by there like six times this past month?”
“We didn’t know he was there. No one did. He could have been rescued.”
I don’t know why people do the things they do but when you think about it, driving drunk, texting while driving and walking around the city with earbuds is more likely to get you killed.
Also, I had to go through Arctic Survival School in AK. I never want to climb a mountain and I never want to sleep in snow again.
Excellent book! That was enough to kill any fantasy I may have had for climbing Everest.
Just reading that book alone in my apartment terrified me! But what freaked me out even more was Into The Wild 😬. I was obsessed for a while with book and would force it on other people so I could talk to them about.
Just reading that book alone in my apartment terrified me! But what freaked me out even more was Into The Wild 😬. I was obsessed for a while with that book and would force it on other people so I could talk to them about.
That traffic jam has been happening every year. Too many idiots with no experience think they should be climbing Everest. I recommend the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaur. The overcrowding in the death zone was a problem in 1996 and it hasn’t changed!
I’ve been to Everest base camp on the Tibet side. Didn’t climb—it was part of a Lhasa to Kathmandu road trip—quite an adventure! Even at base camp you are 17000 feet above sea level. Breathing is like sucking air through a straw. I did a little 5 mile hike from the viewing place back to our lodgings. At the end of it my fingers felt like sausages and I kept fainting the rest of the night. We brought canned air with us—each can looked like a hairspray bottle. Each can gave you a few minutes of oxygen to perk back up. The Nepal side of base camp is a village, but the Tibet side was eerie and silent (in 2000!). The thing about altitude is that you don’t know how it will affect you. It has nothing to do with age or even fitness—just your own body chemistry. I grew up at 6000 feet in Colorado and the 12000 feet of altitude in Lhasa turned my brain to sludge. 17000 feet has half the oxygen of sea level. I felt so stupid and slow. I remember talking passionately with our travel companions about the folly of climbing Everest with a perfect view of the peak from base camp one morning. We all agreed that the climbing companies should promise people the mountain and NOT the summit. It’s just too easy to die up there, and most of the deaths are stupid and preventable. What’s worse is that the Sherpas have to risk their own lives to save these idiots with no climbing experience.
The Tibet side is a lot more limited with permits right?
Its hard to blame the nepal government here. It’s not a super wealthy country and they get a lot of revenue from the permits. Is it their fault rich people want to do this? I can certainly understand why they are just happy to take all the money they can get from it- it’s a short season to make most of their tourism money for the year. The waste disposal issues are a bigger concern but again it feels wrong to say this is the Nepalese government’s fault and not the people on the mountain. Some more regulation of the expedition companies would probably be ideal though- both regarding vetting clients and disposing of waste.
Never been camping before summitting Kilimanjaro is what’s wrong with this story. Beginners need to stay off these mountains until they know what the hell they’re doing. How about you take on some serious climbing beforehand, learn some skills, experience the scary part of climbing, have that accident that requires helping others down? Not enough Instagram attention for that? Hundreds of nameless guides are being put at risk for these selfie climbs and it’s totally irresponsible. No patience for this, at all.
Yes. I saw a YouTube piece on the Sherpas. Most of them don’t want to do it, but it is a living, so to speak. In fact, one third of the deaths on Everest have been Sherpas, which we hear little about. They bear the burden of compensating for the inexperienced. Is there insurance offered to the families when they perish? Smacks of exploitation to me.
Sherpas earn $2,000-$5,000/ season depending on who they work for. Some also get bonuses for reaching the summit and tips from clients they are guiding. It sounds like a ridiculously small amount, but the average monthly income in Nepal is only approx. $50, so it is seen as a prestigious and very high paying career. More Sherpa owned guiding companies have been starting to pop up over the last several years as well.
The families of Sherpas get insurance payouts if they die on the mountain. After the 2014 avalanche that killed 19 (I think, if memory serves me) there was a huge outcry among Sherpas and the amounts of insurance were increased by around 50%. They get approx. $17,000 USD.
It is exploitative and dangerous. Outside online is a good resource if you’d like to learn more.
Sherpa funerals are very expensive. The death benefit will generally cover the funeral, but no more.
The Sherpa people also believe that it is wrong to leave bodies (and trash) on the mountain. I think it’s time to leave it the hell alone. But people just cannot help themselves.
I’ve heard Kilimanjaro has some fairly easy hikes, no big experience needed? Everest is a different story though.
@ LNG I hear you and I am glad to hear that the families will receive some compensatio. But in a way I think what you say supports my position. The documentary I saw was a Bryant Gumble thing and it spoke only to the sherpas. The position taken by the sherpas, is that given the poverty and lack of jobs, how do you say “no”? They would rather not, but they don’t because of the money.
Oh I agree with you Pam, I just wanted to illustrate how much money they make in comparison to the average in Nepal. It’s one of those impossible to navigate situations – It is ridiculously dangerous work, but how can you say no to an opportunity like that when you are earning almost 10x what you could otherwise make in a year. Many Sherpas are extremely talented climbers and are uniquely suited to climb at high altitude. All of the summit records are held by Sherpas (24 times by a man, 9 by a woman), but there are also very young and very inexperienced Sherpas who should absolutely not be climbing, let alone guiding other climbers, but do it because they see no other choice.
The way Sherpas are treated in some guiding companies is clearly exploitative, but at the same time removing the decision to earn a living in that way would be pretty paternalistic. There are many guiding companies that treat Sherpas really well (Russell Brice is a good example).
Do the sherpas even use oxygen? How could they when they’re lugging all the shit for the climber?
They do use oxygen on the higher parts of the mountain. They fix ropes to the top and store extra oxygen up high for summit day, but most of the major lugging happens on the lower parts of the mountain where they set up camps and they don’t need oxygen there (need being a relative term – they are still working in an incredibly oxygen depleted environment, but most Sherpas are very high functioning at altitude in comparison to others).
However, even if they aren’t lugging a ton of gear, they are often physically helping to get the weaker clients up or down the mountain.
Amen. I am an experienced camper/backpacker and do occasional outdoor climbing. There is NO WAY IN HELL I am physically a good candidate for going up something like Everest. I am sure Kilimanjaro is a whole different ball of wax and maybe “easier” but FFS, there are plenty of state and national parks and forests right here in the US that you can get to more easily, that are way less crowded, and that will probably provide you with a similar challenge because you don’t have guides and porters to carry your gear and all that. As someone who takes leave no trace pretty seriously I find the entitled way these kinds of climbing tourists behave to be really offensive.
The most recent clean up effort brought down 11 tons of trash. The estimates are 4-5 YEARS of regular expeditions for trash removal just to clean the mountain. It needs to be closed.
I support this. Close the mountain for a few years, make the outfitting companies pay to have their waste removed, and then reopen with a more limited approach to climbing. I think the outfitting companies should bear the brunt of the responsibility for clean up, body removal/relocation, and regulation. I can’t fault a poor government for cashing in where they can, but the outfitters could show more common sense about their business. They know what they are doing endangers lives and the mountain’s ecosystem.
Yep. These rich a**holes need to leave that poor mountain alone.
I saw a clip of Mandy Moore on some talk show a while ago, she was talking about her climb to Mount Kilimanjaro. She talked about the poor sherpa who carried a porta-potty for them rich peeps to use. It was obvious she thought it was a funny anecdote. I found it tone-deaf and cringeworthy
Ugh.
ugh not surprised she said that, I started side eyeing her when I found out she’s BFF with Minka Kelly few years ago
Just came to say that one of my favorite podcasts just covered all the Everest’s deaths (My Favorite Murder). Good for her but yeah, it’s a bad time to start bragging about Everest. It’s a rich people hobby, everyone knows you can die and they STILL DO IT. Also I’ve just ordered Into Thin Air after all the recommendations here! Thanks!
If you like Into Thin Air there are several other accounts of the 1996 disaster that are worth a read too. David Breashears wrote one (he was filming for IMAX on the mountain when it happened) and so did Anatoli Boukreev (he was climbing as a guide and was involved in rescuing people. He was criticized for acting as a guide without using oxygen himself). Super interesting books.
There is also a great documentary called The Summit about a climbing disaster on K2. Everest is higher, but K2 is a much harder climb (and much less attempted), with a fatality rate twice as high as Everest. It’s fascinating. I do not understand the drive some people have to risk their lives to do this.
I haven’t seen that one, thanks for the tip Algernon! I’m going to see if I can find it.
Boukreev himself died in 1997 in an avalanche while climbing Annapurna.
Thanks for the podcast recommendation MFM is really good and funny!
One of the climbers involved in the book Into the Air wrote his own book disputing some of Krakauer’s claims. I have no idea who is more truthful but I’m inclined to believe Krakauer.
That was Boukreev. It’s also an interesting read. I’ve read both and think that they’re both accurate accounts, just from different perspectives. Boukreev was upset with Krakauer’s criticism of him for not using oxygen while guiding and pointed out that Krakauer stayed in his tent while Boukreev was out trying to rescue people. However, Krakauer wasn’t a guide. He was a paid client (and a journalist on assignment to write about the commercialization of the mountain) and he got himself off the summit and down to camp without assistance. It was his first time on Everest and completely unfair to him to expect that he would have the ability to assist with a rescue (in the dark during a punishing storm).
Boukreev was paid to guide people up the mountain and chose not to use oxygen. He rushed to the top and then rushed down to high camp because he was unable to stay at that high an altitude for long without oxygen. I agree with Krakauer that it was an irresponsible choice. However, Bourkreev then went back out and rescued several other people who probably would have died without him.
I did not read Boukreev as being critical of Krakauer for not participating in the rescue. I read it as him contesting that not using O2 was the problem. Climbing without O2 didn’t prevent Boukreev from rescuing 3 clients that were not even part of his expedition. And interesting, no clients of Mountain Madness (for which Boukreev was a guide) were among the dead (although Scott Fischer, the principal, died). So while experts may debate the wisdom of the use of O2 while climbing, the blame cannot be laid at the feet of Boukreev who notwithstanding that he was not responsible for their safety, risked his own life to save clients of another company. And Boukreev made a fourth rescue attempt of Fischer, however, Fischer had died by the time Boukreev reached him. Arguably, had Boukreev tried to rescue Fischer first instead of the other companies clients, Fischer may have had a greater chance of survival.
All that to say, having read both and a number of other pieces on the 1996 Everest Disaster, the criticisms of Boukreev seem misplaced.
The three he rescued (Sandy Hill, Charlotte Fox and Tim Madsen) were all part of his expedition. They didn’t die on the mountain, but they only got off by the skin of their teeth. Had Boukreev been using O2 he may have been able to stay on the mountain with his clients and get them down in the first place eliminating the need for the rescue. I think it’s irresponsible to guide without oxygen. You should be at your best when you’re responsible for other climbers.
That being said, I don’t lay responsibility on Boukreev. He wasn’t responsible for turning climbers around on time. That’s what would have avoided the tragedy. I also don’t think Scott Fischer should have allowed a guide to climb without oxygen.
And I believe Boukreev died the following year on a climb.
That was one of my favorite MFMs in ages!
Keeping in mind that there are no toilets and a lot of climbers get gastro problems.
Whoops, posted in the wrong spot!
I find her pictures tone deaf given what is going on this year (and what goes on most years) on Everest. It feels like she didn’t research the mountain and the controversies surrounding the mountain (trash, permits, deaths, use of sherpas) at all It’s made me think she is kind of a dimwit.
I don’t think that’s a fair comment. She recently revealed how abusive and controlling her marriage to Ryan Adams was. I see all of these things as taking her life back. The symbolism this must have signified for her is unimaginable. I also was in a very abusive relationship. I started doing small things like wearing my hair how I wanted to, etc and then did HUGE things as well. Things he tried to control or tell me I couldn’t do. I see this as a FU to Ryan.
“But it’s part of my joooourney” is not a good excuse for being a jerk.
I don’t see the connection you are making, but I am very glad she is no longer with RA. He seemed like he disrespected her from the start. That noted, her trip is sponsored – she is probably getting paid for it. Even people who have been abused can make tone-deaf decisions and she seems to have made several in connection with this trip. The picture of her friends and her jumping in the air is gross.
I just read an article about all of the deaths a couple days ago so this post from her is very tone deaf, IMO.
That doesn’t mean she’s a bad person, but she should’ve thought better of posting during a season where 11 people have already died.
The story about the deaths really did blow up this week, and I have to wonder if she was out of cell service and climbing for most of it. She might not have been aware of the wide spread reporting of too many climbers & deaths, etc.
I see your point, but if you can’t celebrate the climb, what’s the point? It’s a major undertaking. Is everyone who did make supposed to never speak of it in order to properly mourn the dead? That seems a bit silly.
I’m an avid backpacker and it blows my mind the amount of trash that gets left on Everest. It goes against everything a true outdoors person believes in which is to leave no trace. The goal is to experience the awesomeness of nature while leaving as little impact as possible.
My understanding of Everest is that it’s littered with empty O2 bottles and literal crap. If you can’t carry your gear down to camp then you have no business attempting to climb. When I summited Whitney (14,000 feet) the last ranger station gives you a poop bag so you carry your own crap back. Your waste will not decompose over a certain elevation so it is trash.
The partial pressure of oxygen on Everest is lower than the minimum we need for survival (50 mmHg) so if it’s going to be crowded, you’ll need O2 tanks while waiting in line to get up and down. The body is so weakened by the conditions that some Everest climbers unload anything that isn’t necessary to conserve energy. It’s mind boggling to me that it’s considered an accomplishment when you leave the environment worse off and put other people in danger. These inexperienced thrill seekers put other people’s lives at risk, mainly sherpas and experienced climbers, when they have no business being on Everest. Just because the mountain is there doesn’t mean you should climb it.
Agreed. Risking the lives of others and damaging the environment is NOT an accomplishment.
“Just because the mountain is there doesn’t mean you should climb it.”
George Mallory, possibly the first person to summit Everest, when asked why try to climb the mountain: “Because it’s there.”
He died on the mountain. His body was discovered a few years ago thanks to receding snow lines. He’s an old dry mummy now, so that’s what that attitude got him. But it is the reason people do this. It can be done, therefore it will done, and damn all possible consequences. People are the worst.
There’s a fantastic documentary called The Summit which is about K2 and the avalanche there a few years ago that killed a bunch of climbers. It’s likely still on Netflix. Anyway, the whole time I watched it, I was like ‘WTF is wrong with you people?!’. I will never understand the desire of rich entitled people to piss away a bunch of money being dragged up and down a dirty, garbage strewn mountain. Is your IG that important? Also, in that documentary, I learned that it’s the descent that is more dangerous because you’re tired and you just want to get done. Therefore, more likely to make mistakes.
At least K2 is relatively clean. It’s so much more dangerous than Everest, way less people attempt it and so the trash thing isn’t as big of a problem.
That’s true about the garbage on K2. I guess I just don’t understand the mentality.
The news and photos from Everest are heartbreaking and disgusting. There are photos of a dead body that people are filing past to get to the top, and apparently there are many more dead bodies that people have to step over to get there. We simply do not value a human life. For Mandy to post this celebratory photo is thoughtless and tone-deaf. People will do anything for attention, for their ego to say I climbed Everest, looky at me, and here’s a photo to prove it.
People have been climbing past dead bodies on Everest for decades. It’s nothing new, it’s just part of the deal.
Unfortunately, if a climber dies on Everest it’s almost impossible to bring their body down – you’d be risking other lives to do it.
Mandy Moore is part of the problem. Being ‘into hiking’ and attempting Everest are too very different things. Base camp is littered with garbage, feces, and rich Westerners who want to tick Everest off their ‘bucket list’. Not everybody gets to do EVERYTHING.
My godfather was a photographer for a film company and he went around the world taking pictures of natural wonders. He was very fit and well trained. He didn’t make it off Everest; his body is still there.
Everest is a privilege for people who have devoted their lives to preparing for it. Not for people with enough money to buy whatever they want.
i love your last line, that really says it all.
I totally agree
One of the men who died was an Irish college professor who texted his wife that he made it to the top and was coming home. They never found his body. I know it’s not for me to judge but all I could think of was yeah he made it, but he left behind a young daughter and a pregnant wife. It seems so selfish.
As for Mandy, there have been nearly a dozen deaths reported these past weeks and photos of climbers walking past dead bodies. How tone deaf to post a photo jumping for joy just to promote Eddie freaking Bauer.
It is selfish.
They wouldn’t be able to bring him down. He like many others are forever frozen up there. 🤷🏽♀️ Apparently they use the dead bodies as mile markers. Too creepy.
Look up “green boots” (warning: you will see photos. They aren’t grisly or anything, but you may find it disturbing).
Green boots is missing. Some think one of the sherpas moved him or threw him over the mountain. I just read a NYT article about an Indian crew that really really wanted to make it to the summit so much so that they ignored their guides advice to turn back, only one ended up living. The government paid to have them brought down and given a Hindu ceremony. So some do get removed but it’s grueling and dangerous.
The line to the summit says so many things. I’m glad base camp was her goal. Being in the dead zone too long because of a traffic jam is more than a slap in the face…body’s been dying for hours already.
I would never want to do that but good for her I guess. There are close to 300 frozen bodies all over that mountain. No thanks.
I’ve done a lot of reading up on Everest because I am fascinated by people who are so obsessed with something that might easily kill them. The My Favorite Murder podcast gals just did a segment of some of the bodies on Everest, there are over 200 littering the mountain (some are used as a trail marker like Green Boots). And many bodies that were buried for decades under snow and ice are becoming more visible due to climate change and melting snow.
I know this will never happen but climbing Mt Everest needs to be banned period. What with all the bodies and large amounts of trash, the mountain is no longer pristine and basically the Las Vegas of mountain climbing. Overcrowding, people being exposed to the death zone too long, and all the trash people leave behind, it’s like a circus. Yes I know Nepal is a poor country but how much of the permit money goes to the Nepali government? I doubt they use that revenue responsibly. Everest has really become a rich person’s vanity project at this point. I’m no longer impressed with people who have summited Everest, so many people have done it at this point. And many people who pass out or about to die get left behind by their teams because of the impossible conditions of trying to help someone down the mountain who can barely walk. It’s sink or swim up there. So I’m a bit annoyed with Mandy to be honest, she’s only helping promote the destruction of one of nature’s most impressive scenery. I think they could maybe keep base camp open, but no more summiting the mountain. It’s ruining the Himalayas.
…yeh but did she & her group bring their rubbish down with them cos really thats all that matters… I too have read ‘Into Thin Air’ & I got a terrible impression of people stepping over dead bodies for what? joining a queue!
That was my first thought too – I hope they took all of their trash with them.
I think Mt. Everest needs to close for a few years to try to remove some of the trash. When it reopens, I think they need to raise the price and force people to climb the old fashion way and actually, you know earn it. No more ladders, no more oxygen tanks, no more dropping in via helicopter, no more exploiting the Sherpa’s to do all of the hard work and the leg work to set you up for as easy as a climb as possible.
No more commercial climbing expeditions (sorry Mandy) and the authorities need to figure out a system to track who is leaving trash and then fine them heavily. Or better yet, make people pay a massive deposit and catalog everything they take up with them. They only get their deposit back if all of their shit is brought back down the mountain – and by shit, I mean their literal shit as well.
Climbers need the oxygen tanks, otherwise there’d be a lot more deaths than there are already. The reason climbers use oxygen tanks is because up that high they are literally depriving their bodies of oxygen. Especially in the death zone right before the summit. In fact, it’s considered foolhardy NOT to use oxygen tanks because humans are not supposed to breathe at that kind of altitude. You get disoriented, dizzy, and your brain literally starts shutting down. You start to hallucinate and your capacity to think clearly becomes very seriously affected. There have been people who have climbed Everest without oxygen. Many have died trying, had to turn back because the oxygen deprivation was killing them, or made it to the summit but died on the way down due to oxygen deprivation. The oxygen tanks are non-negotiable if people want to continue climbing Everest. Which is why I support a total ban on climbing Everest at all.
That’s kind of point. Ban the use of oxygen tanks and you’ve effectively put an end to all this nonsense. Although, there have been I believe close to 200 people who have reached the summit without supplemental oxygen. If the strongest and fittest among us what to give it a go without oxygen, let them try.
I don’t know, ban the oxygen tanks and you’ll probably just get more folks attempting the climb without oxygen, resulting in more deaths.
She looks so much like Connie Nielsen in that top photo!
I’m not really getting the hatin’ going on about her celebrating getting to Base Camp. I’ve known a couple of people who have gone and said it was a challenging hike and they felt a sense of accomplishment when they finished. Did people die attempting to Summit…yes.. but those folks knew the dangers when they signed up. It is horrible that their families are suffering due to their loss. This happens every year and the numbers keep rising due to inexperienced people having easier access to permits.
Ed Viesturs (he was there at the same time as Krakauer but on a different expedition) wrote an amazing book about his experience climbing Everest and many other summits. His biggest thing was that getting down is just as important as getting up. Summiting is only half the journey. Not enough people understand this.
I say good for her.