Don’t Climb Every Mountain
By FREDDIE WILKINSON, NYT
Katmandu, Nepal
ALL mountain climbs contain an element of risk. How a mountaineer chooses to approach that risk, using the sum of the physical, mental and emotional powers at his or her disposal, is the basic challenge of the endeavor. At its best, mountaineering rewards shrewd and independent decision making.
Sadly, events on the south (Nepalese) side of Mount Everest this season suggest that while the risks inherent in climbing the mountain have never been greater, a majority of Everest climbers are increasingly estranged from the decision-making process. Two intersecting trends are to blame: the rising number of people attempting the mountain, and the cumulative effects of global warming, which is slowly yet steadily drying out the Himalayas, resulting in rockfalls, avalanches and sérac collapses.
The sheer number of people courting Everest — this season, approximately 750 foreign climbers and local Sherpas, from 32 expeditions — has created a system whereby the entire climbing route is institutionally maintained. Approximately six miles of rope is strung up the mountain each April, secured by hundreds of snow pickets and ice screws. Sections of aluminum ladder are employed to span crevasses too wide to safely step across.
The principal organization responsible for this artificial trail is the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, a professional cadre of climbing Sherpas known as the icefall doctors. Although important decisions are generally made by rough consensus among expedition leaders, and often guides and volunteers will help with maintaining the route, a vast majority of climbers simply start at the bottom of the mountain and go where the ropes lead them.
(More here.)
Katmandu, Nepal
ALL mountain climbs contain an element of risk. How a mountaineer chooses to approach that risk, using the sum of the physical, mental and emotional powers at his or her disposal, is the basic challenge of the endeavor. At its best, mountaineering rewards shrewd and independent decision making.
Sadly, events on the south (Nepalese) side of Mount Everest this season suggest that while the risks inherent in climbing the mountain have never been greater, a majority of Everest climbers are increasingly estranged from the decision-making process. Two intersecting trends are to blame: the rising number of people attempting the mountain, and the cumulative effects of global warming, which is slowly yet steadily drying out the Himalayas, resulting in rockfalls, avalanches and sérac collapses.
The sheer number of people courting Everest — this season, approximately 750 foreign climbers and local Sherpas, from 32 expeditions — has created a system whereby the entire climbing route is institutionally maintained. Approximately six miles of rope is strung up the mountain each April, secured by hundreds of snow pickets and ice screws. Sections of aluminum ladder are employed to span crevasses too wide to safely step across.
The principal organization responsible for this artificial trail is the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, a professional cadre of climbing Sherpas known as the icefall doctors. Although important decisions are generally made by rough consensus among expedition leaders, and often guides and volunteers will help with maintaining the route, a vast majority of climbers simply start at the bottom of the mountain and go where the ropes lead them.
(More here.)
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