If you had 6 months to train (starting today), could you climb Everest?

Marksch wrote:

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.

Yeah I agree. I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro a few years ago (which is 10,000 feet below Everest). The climb itself was incredibly easy but I got very sick at the top of the mountain and our guide made me do the full descent overnight to get me off the mountain. I was probably in the best aerobic shape of my life then too, but just couldn't take the altitude for whatever reason. Its a shame too because I always wanted to climb higher peaks but doesn't look like its in the cards based off that experience.

A 13 year old and an 80 year old have done it. A double leg amputee did it. A double arm amputee did it. A blind person did it. A person with one lung did it. Diabetics have done it. People with Multiple sclerosis have done it.

As a relatively fit 29 year old male with both arms, both legs, both lungs, working eyes, and no major diseases, I would like my chances.

Many, if not most of the people that you cite were dragged to the summit by Sherpas.

Dilllllll wrote:

A 13 year old and an 80 year old have done it. A double leg amputee did it. A double arm amputee did it. A blind person did it. A person with one lung did it. Diabetics have done it. People with Multiple sclerosis have done it.

As a relatively fit 29 year old male with both arms, both legs, both lungs, working eyes, and no major diseases, I would like my chances.

Try it wrote:

You're gamblin with death. Most people die trying to make it up. If you don't value your life then give it a try.

Yes you are basically gambling that the forecast for your day will be correct. If it is wrong you can in fact die up there. However "most people die" is ridiculously wrong. The success rate the past 10 years is 95%

Dilllllll wrote:

A 13 year old and an 80 year old have done it. A double leg amputee did it. A double arm amputee did it. A blind person did it. A person with one lung did it. Diabetics have done it. People with Multiple sclerosis have done it.

As a relatively fit 29 year old male with both arms, both legs, both lungs, working eyes, and no major diseases, I would like my chances.

Exactly. But that still doesn't mean we'd all face the chance of death. Going through the Khumbu icefall is a crapshoot and it has nothing to do with ability. Something gives way without warning and you're dead, even if you're Reinhold Messner. So it might sounds like I'm disagreeing with you, but I'm not. I'm just saying we can't all claim to know we could do it without acknowledging the very real risk that we couldn't for reasons outside our control.

darkwave wrote:

upper body strength. But..the skills and the knowledge take years to develop, and how well one tolerates altitude is a major factor.

Wrong. Just simply do what the guide tells you. You don't need any skills or special knowledge or upper body strength. Again, how much upper body strenght do you think the grannys that have reached the summit have?

Do what the guide tells you to do and get lucky with weather and anybody can do it.

Angry Willy wrote:

Many, if not most of the people that you cite were dragged to the summit by Sherpas.

Which according to the OP is perfectly OK for this hypothetical situation. No one, except a few of the more educationally challenged folks in this thread have said this is a solo, oxygen free attempt. That's a whole different scenario.

Nearly anyone that is reasonably fit can do this with guides and Sherpas doing all the hard work.

I friend of mine went to climb Mont Blanc in the Alps, considerably lower than the Himalayas. He's a tough guy, done a lot of mountain running etc. and by most standards would be considered a very very fit man.

He did all the pre-climbs to acclimatise etc. over the preceding week but didn't make the top because he just couldn't handle the altitude.

You just don't know until you try. Its a very different fitness to what's required for running.

Also, being a fatty probably helps rather than hinders to some degree. Gives you reserves to draw on when you inevitably struggle to eat properly at altitiude and keeps you a little bit warmer. Most mountaineers lose a lot of weight on an expidition.

britlad wrote:

I friend of mine went to climb Mont Blanc in the Alps, considerably lower than the Himalayas. He's a tough guy, done a lot of mountain running etc. and by most standards would be considered a very very fit man.

He did all the pre-climbs to acclimatise etc. over the preceding week but didn't make the top because he just couldn't handle the altitude.

You just don't know until you try. Its a very different fitness to what's required for running.

Also, being a fatty probably helps rather than hinders to some degree. Gives you reserves to draw on when you inevitably struggle to eat properly at altitiude and keeps you a little bit warmer. Most mountaineers lose a lot of weight on an expidition.

Your friend sounds soft, probably a good idea for him to stay away from mountain areas. Also 1 week isn't nearly enough time.

4% percent chance of death. I still like my chances.

Why did you pick Everest? Why with oxygen and Sherpa guides? What is the point of this thread?

The answer is that with 6 months training any moderately fit person "could" climb Everest with guides and oxygen. What would prevent them from actually being able to climb Everest is is all of the largely uncontrollable unknowns that go along with that - how their body reacts to altitude, weather, avalanches, earthquakes, etc.

With fitness, skill and ability you can reduce the risks associated with the climb and increase your chances of living - but there will always be an element of risk. Personally, I would only want to consider to try it after I trained for a number of years to gain mountaineering skills, been at altitude etc., and knew if I had any ability and if I could be self sufficient if things went wrong.

So, I guess no, I couldn't climb Everest as I would refuse to try after only 6 months of training as being too dangerous and not worth the risk that my lack of ability and experience would bring to such an attempt.

Climbing Everest is a totally overhyped achievement. It is extremely self indulgent to take on the challenge in the first place. There's an arrogance to climbing it; like the person sees themselves as super human. They're not at all. They merely have a lot of disposable income to throw away and a lot of spare time. And if they have family at home; they are incredibly selfish and self centred.

The fact that 80 year old man can reach the top says it all. It's not a physical achievement. A bit of luck with the avoiding altitude sickness and the weather cooperating, and you're up there.

overhyped wrote:

Climbing Everest is a totally overhyped achievement. It is extremely self indulgent to take on the challenge in the first place. There's an arrogance to climbing it; like the person sees themselves as super human. They're not at all. They merely have a lot of disposable income to throw away and a lot of spare time. And if they have family at home; they are incredibly selfish and self centred.

The fact that 80 year old man can reach the top says it all. It's not a physical achievement. A bit of luck with the avoiding altitude sickness and the weather cooperating, and you're up there.

Bingo, couldn't have said it better myself.

I will add it is now so routine it has been completely commercialized with competing for profit companies vying for your money that organize the tours, provide the equipment and the shirpas (guides).

I am still laughing at the poster a couple posts above about first "training" for a year before doing it.

Diana Ross was married to an old dude that summited. Arne Naess Jr.

The song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was not about him though.

He later died when he fell from a mountain of just the right height.

Do not forget the Canadian Nepalese lady that decided to climb Everest without any experience at all. She trained by hiking in the woods and climbing indoor rock climbing walls with a backpack. Sadly she got caught in a huge traffic jam at the top and by the time she summited had almost run out of oxygen, then not far from the top during the descent, the weather hit. She collapsed still above 8000m and froze to death. Without the the traffic jam or the weather, she probably would have made the descent.

People should climb it while carrying a short pair of skis and a parachute. At the top just slap the skis on and pull a Bond off the first drop off.

"But James, I need you..."

"So does England!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw77HagbeHM

Trivia: The guy who did this stunt was a 2:48 marathoner. A much better combo than grunting fixed lines and O's up and down Everest.

Nobody knows how they would react to the altitude until they've been to that level. So the people saying yes purely on basis of fitness are wrong.

Nobody on here could climb Everest without a rope system and that rope system us put in place by Sherpas & guides. They do the real climbing those paying climbers are just on piggy back.

Plenty of competent climbers can climb Everest without a "rope system". It is not that technically difficult. It's just an order of magnitude safer with fixed lines.When Messner did all 14 8000m peaks without ropes or supp. oxygen in the '70's it reinvented the sport. Imagine someone running 2:04 marathons on every major course throughout that time period and you might be close. Of course his PED was that he was probably pathological as well.

ukathleticcoach wrote:

Nobody knows how they would react to the altitude until they've been to that level. So the people saying yes purely on basis of fitness are wrong.

Nobody on here could climb Everest without a rope system and that rope system us put in place by Sherpas & guides. They do the real climbing those paying climbers are just on piggy back.