(And yes, I know that Everest is not the most demanding climb in the world.)
Assume you had 6 months from today. Also, assume all costs and travel are taken care of, you had the appropriate leave from school/work to train and travel, etc. Also assume that you can use oxygen and have the support of the Tibetan sherpa guides (as many climbers do).
Yes.
Yes. I could do it with 2 months of training, including the acclimatization period. Have you seen some of the fatties that make it up there? The Sherpas do all the hard work.
After reading "Into Thin Air" I became a bit of an Everest junky for a few months.
Assuming you're in reasonable shape today, (i.e. can run a few non stop miles), I think success on Everest is pure luck. Genetic lottery. Some folks just tolerate altitude better than others. If you read enough accounts, medical issues are the common show stopper and they strike young, old, super fit, and average.
You didn't ask but weather is another crap shoot that will determine your fate on summit day.
It boils down to, "Do you feel lucky, Punk?"
yes, assuming the weather cooperated
Curious as to how many of the above top 5 posters have ever been above 20k feet? After 8 years as s guide on Denali, Everest, Cho-oyu, etc, I'd say that the majority that have flippantly answered "yes" are typically the types whose dead bodies are still up there.
Everest should be viewed in climbing like a racing a marathon is in running. Get a lot of experience a lower heights before moving up.
You need to know how to route find, handle ropes, crampons, feeding and keeping yourself warm in a tent in a raging storm, when to forge ahead and when to turn back.
it's not about training, it's about gaining enough experience in less risky climbing situations that you don't get yourself killed.
Pay attention wrote:
Curious as to how many of the above top 5 posters have ever been above 20k feet? After 8 years as s guide on Denali, Everest, Cho-oyu, etc, I'd say that the majority that have flippantly answered "yes" are typically the types whose dead bodies are still up there.
This^
My wife's brother in law may be the most experienced Everest climber in history and they just brought him down on a stretcher.
Why can't you just wear a heated pressure suit like they did on the moon? Don't tell me Everest is more extreme than outer space.
Pay attention wrote:
Curious as to how many of the above top 5 posters have ever been above 20k feet? After 8 years as s guide on Denali, Everest, Cho-oyu, etc, I'd say that the majority that have flippantly answered "yes" are typically the types whose dead bodies are still up there.
Oh please. Sure, the work of the guides and Sherpas is difficult and you must be experienced and in great climbing shape for that. But these fat cows that make it up there every year are basically on an exotic escalator ride to the top.
Holding a present 5K PR of 21 flat I'm going to assume that 6 months is nowhere near enough time to get me in alpine/mountaineering shape and nothing other than pure dumb luck would allow me to summit Everest
the biggest 'mountain' I have ever hiked was Wilson
I have no business on Everest nor even base camp there
There is no such thing as "training" to climb Mt Everest. FAIL
Bad Wigins wrote:
Why can't you just wear a heated pressure suit like they did on the moon? Don't tell me Everest is more extreme than outer space.
We landed on the moon?
The key is that I could use oxygen. With the use of oxygen and help with shermas, I think I could do it. Without oxygen, nope.
A fit, healthy adult could spend 6 months training at altitude and summit with the assistance of o's and sherpas. The key is to have a small group of well experienced mountaineers with you carrying provisions to enable you to move quickly up and down the mountain.
It mostly comes down to weather. In good weather anyone that is reasonably mobile makes it up and back down too.
No
No.
My body does not adapt to altitude well. I'd likely get altitude sickness.
Probably not. I did Denali many moons ago when I was younger, more handsome, and in better shape and I was coughing up blood. Altitude will kick your ass.
Pay attention wrote:
Curious as to how many of the above top 5 posters have ever been above 20k feet? After 8 years as s guide on Denali, Everest, Cho-oyu, etc, I'd say that the majority that have flippantly answered "yes" are typically the types whose dead bodies are still up there.
THIS!!
A colleague of mine has done many high altitude climbs and has been team MD for two trips on Everest.
He takes pains to point out that managing high altitude is NOT like aerobic exercise at sea level, where the key issue is getting rid of CO2, but more a matter of managing with VERY LITTLE O2. There is not necessarily a correlation between these two abilities. He found it was often the seemingly "fittest" person who had trouble.