High Crimes
I recently finished listening to a book on CD entitled High Crimes by Michael Kodas. The book was an eye-opening view of what Himalayan climbing has become, with the high cost and low training level of the many paying climbers creating situations where many get in over their heads, and guides and sherpas are loathe to put other climbers climbs at risk by mounting a rescue. Also, theft on the mountains is apparently a common occurence.
In my youth, I wound up pretty well steeped in climbing culture, and one point that was always said was that if another climber was in trouble, you did everything you could to mount a rescue. I believe I'd posted a story about the counselors from my camp helping with a rescue. I'm not sure, but think they dropped us kids at the bottom of the mountain with instructions to set up camp and prepare dinner, which we did. They scrambled up the mountain, assisted with a rescue, eventually carrying the victim down the mountain when the rescue squad members proved incapable of the task (they weren't climbers, were doing the best they could, but simply lacked the strength and skills needed).
The book convinced me that if you want to climb in the Himalaya, you should join a large, high cost expedition or better yet, just don't go. As for me, in my youth Everest and its kin were looked on as the prizes only for the very best in the world. I'm perfectly content to leave it that way. I have a knee that's not quite 100% and caused me to give up backpacking a generation ago, so unless I were to undergo surgery, I'm likely incapable of the work to attempt this. Still, the world of guided climbing has set itself up offering Everest and similar mountains as trophies for a lot of climbers of questionable ability.
Whether this is right of wrong, I can't really say, but I will compare it to the world I know, marathoning. Here's the key difference, if you get in trouble when running a marathon, you simply drop out, take a break and gather yourself, perhaps taking a gel to replenish your energy stores, and you live to run another day. In high mountain climbing, there are several things to consider, first, at altitudes approaching 5 miles, most people are unable to sustain life without supplemental oxygen, Second, even with oxygen, the rarified atmosphere means that simply walking can be a hard effort. Now, add difficult terrain, and you can likely understand that mounting a rescue at altitude without a large and very strong team is nearly impossible. Here's how to look at it in running terms - take a major marathon and instead of paying about $100 to run, or perhaps $300 - $500 including all costs, multiply that by several hundred times for a total cost of perhaps $30,000 to $100,000. Now, tell all the pace bunnies at the race that they need to walk away from their commitments and carry a runner around the course on a stretcher...And cancel the marathon for anyone who was planning to run with the pace bunnies. You now get some idea what a rescue does to those on the mountain - is it right?, is it fair? - you tell me.
In my youth, I wound up pretty well steeped in climbing culture, and one point that was always said was that if another climber was in trouble, you did everything you could to mount a rescue. I believe I'd posted a story about the counselors from my camp helping with a rescue. I'm not sure, but think they dropped us kids at the bottom of the mountain with instructions to set up camp and prepare dinner, which we did. They scrambled up the mountain, assisted with a rescue, eventually carrying the victim down the mountain when the rescue squad members proved incapable of the task (they weren't climbers, were doing the best they could, but simply lacked the strength and skills needed).
The book convinced me that if you want to climb in the Himalaya, you should join a large, high cost expedition or better yet, just don't go. As for me, in my youth Everest and its kin were looked on as the prizes only for the very best in the world. I'm perfectly content to leave it that way. I have a knee that's not quite 100% and caused me to give up backpacking a generation ago, so unless I were to undergo surgery, I'm likely incapable of the work to attempt this. Still, the world of guided climbing has set itself up offering Everest and similar mountains as trophies for a lot of climbers of questionable ability.
Whether this is right of wrong, I can't really say, but I will compare it to the world I know, marathoning. Here's the key difference, if you get in trouble when running a marathon, you simply drop out, take a break and gather yourself, perhaps taking a gel to replenish your energy stores, and you live to run another day. In high mountain climbing, there are several things to consider, first, at altitudes approaching 5 miles, most people are unable to sustain life without supplemental oxygen, Second, even with oxygen, the rarified atmosphere means that simply walking can be a hard effort. Now, add difficult terrain, and you can likely understand that mounting a rescue at altitude without a large and very strong team is nearly impossible. Here's how to look at it in running terms - take a major marathon and instead of paying about $100 to run, or perhaps $300 - $500 including all costs, multiply that by several hundred times for a total cost of perhaps $30,000 to $100,000. Now, tell all the pace bunnies at the race that they need to walk away from their commitments and carry a runner around the course on a stretcher...And cancel the marathon for anyone who was planning to run with the pace bunnies. You now get some idea what a rescue does to those on the mountain - is it right?, is it fair? - you tell me.
Labels: Everest, mountaineering, running
posted by Scooter at 5:23 PM
1 Comments:
Amen, brother. I'm continually amazed at the whole idea of "Wilderness Rescue". Once you're a certain distance from the road, you ought to be on your own; or at the resources of your party.
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