Climbing Mt Everest has never been on my radar as a life goal. Without even knowing all the dangers and statistics, it just never had any appeal to me. Not. One. Bit.
This weekend, I found out my wife is a big fan of the psychology of high altitude climbing disasters. With my mouth slightly open, I listened to her talk about the crazy stories of the current K2 summit attempts happening.
When we got home, she paid for the 48 rental of Everest. Followed by a weekend marathon of an Everest documentary series.
So, everything sounds horrible.
The frostbitten loss of limbs and extremities. Horrible.
The air decreasing to 1/3 of sea level oxygen levels at an elevation called the “death zone” where the body is literally dying every minute you stay at that altitude. Horrible.
Mountain sickness, high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), and high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE). Horrible, horrible, and horrible.
There’s even traffic jams caused by slow & inexperienced climbers. I mean, you’re on a mountain and there’s traffic jam.
Anyway, there’s a point somewhere about how humans have a need to conquer challenges. For some people that challenge is to summit Everest.
After this weekend, I now have a lot of respect for anyone who has taken on this challenge. Regardless of if they were successful or not. I also will know that you’re crazy, but that’s okay. We’re all crazy in our own way.