Everest is an ordeal because the Nepalese government sees it as a cash cow and sell a reckless number of permits. The weather window for Everest is very short, which leads to very large groups converging on the mountain at the same time.
There are at least a dozen similar high altitude peaks in the area that are just as challenging as Everest but have a fraction of the traffic. The Chinese do a very good job of regulating mountaineering in the Himalayas from north side of the Himalayas. But the Nepalese government is very corrupt and takes people's money knowing that they are overcrowding the mountain and will cause casualties.
Also, in the world of mountaineering, Everest is kind of the Rock N Roll Marathon of mountaineering. It really is not a very difficult ascent compared to other mountains and people pay $60k+ to do it with oxygen and sherpas carrying everything. I have heard that peaks like Denali and Aconcagua are actually much more technical than Everest and real mountaineers prefer a challenging ascent over just trying to manage the extreme high altitude of a 25k plus peak. It is kind of the difference between running a really fast marathon and running a 100 miler.
Precious Roy wrote:
Everest is an ordeal because the Nepalese government sees it as a cash cow and sell a reckless number of permits. The weather window for Everest is very short, which leads to very large groups converging on the mountain at the same time.
There are at least a dozen similar high altitude peaks in the area that are just as challenging as Everest but have a fraction of the traffic. The Chinese do a very good job of regulating mountaineering in the Himalayas from north side of the Himalayas. But the Nepalese government is very corrupt and takes people's money knowing that they are overcrowding the mountain and will cause casualties.
Also, in the world of mountaineering, Everest is kind of the Rock N Roll Marathon of mountaineering. It really is not a very difficult ascent compared to other mountains and people pay $60k+ to do it with oxygen and sherpas carrying everything. I have heard that peaks like Denali and Aconcagua are actually much more technical than Everest and real mountaineers prefer a challenging ascent over just trying to manage the extreme high altitude of a 25k plus peak. It is kind of the difference between running a really fast marathon and running a 100 miler.
Nepalese govt just got overthrown and looks like it will now be democratic in nature. But they will still need the money from Everest tourism, about the only money they get from outside Nepal.
Going more or less straight up seems like it’d be pretty hard.
