That isn't entirely true, since I've hiked up a few in the Smokies in Tennessee or in the Wasatch range in Utah. But I've never had crampons on my feet, never been in the "death zone" and never held bottled oxygen in my hands outside of a laboratory environment.
Mount Everest is in the news since May is typically "climbing season" on the mountain, with brief windows of good weather before the monsoon season starts. There is also a short window in the fall, but this is much less active with unique risks.
Like a lot of people, I was introduced to Mount Everest, beyond the romantic knowledge of it being the highest point on earth, by Jon Krakauer's excellent book Into Thin Air. Jon's writing is engaging, making a reader vicariously experience things that will never be participated in. His books take a lot of flak from purists, many claim he writes more fiction than non. To those people, I point to a different sort of purist who proudly proclaims that Everest isn't even the tallest point on earth due to a technicality of physics.
The purists of any pastime do their best to denigrate anyone outside of their personal narrow window: You aren't a REAL Alpinist unless you {insert sanctimonious requirement here}.
I've read several other books by Krakauer, and his tale of Chris McCandless is also riviting; it was really this book which allows Chris immortality. Sean Penn is an asshole, but PBS's documentary is worth watching. Both idealism and degeneracy seem fun when young, but they are hard to keep up as a life time occupation. If McCandless hadn't died in a bus, he'd most likely be driving a minivan full of kids around the suburbs somewhere.
I do sometimes wonder if Krakauer's Into Thin Air would have been as monumental if it didn't end up being a very tragic year on Mount Everest. If hundreds of people climbed with minimal deaths, the book may have had to stretch the truth to be as engrossing. The many interpretations of the events from that year demonstrate that there are several realities to almost every situation, and a lack of oxygen creates even more.
Two parts of the story seem permanently stuck in my memory. There is the visual of Sandy Pittman (now Hill) being short-roped up the mountain by a Lopsang Sherpa, meaning she paid a fantastic amount of money to be dragged up the mountain, as much as she climbed it. The second was when Rob Hall was asked about the condition of climber Doug Hansen, he simply responded, "Hansen is gone." Such a short, tragic euphemism.
I admire people with the determination to pursue the pinnacle of a hobby such as mountaineering, but the images of crowds of people at base camp or heading up make it exceedingly unattractive - the National Parks of mountain climbing. Unquestionably this increases the risk which should come primarily from the feat itself, not from other two-legged animals. The unfathomable ability for the Sherpa to do what they do with little in the way of compensation or recognition is commendable - far more so than even the soul-crushing destructive power of office work.
The cost of Everest is also frightening, where a permit may be the equivalent of ten thousand dollars, with total costs for some approaching $100k. I am probably more envious of people who take on the lesser-knowns, but in a more contemplative environment. There have been some 7000 people who have climbed Everest, which is low by people who have stood on one small spot on earth, but it is still a crowded mountain top. It has since been removed, but an enlightening video previously on YouTube showed a French dude on the summit, talking absolute gibberish. His post-commentary suggests he thought he was being completely coherent when the video was shot and it was only after reviewing the video at a later time and lower altitude that he realized how close to death he probably was. Many write that the trip down claims more lives than up.
And Everest has had its share of death, with approximately 286 taking their final frigid breaths.
The four most recent deaths (as of 2016-5-23) occurred this year with a Sherpa, a Dutch Climber, an Australian and an Indian. The fate of a few more are still in question (since confirmed dead).
Jon Krakauer writes extensively about the risk of death on Mount Everest and that "there is no morality on the mountain" - lots of armchair climbers criticize this, but rescuing bodies always has lower priority over the living. Witness the cancelling of a search for a person who fell off a cruise ship in the comparatively placid Gulf of Mexico.
The dead on Everest can achieve some level of immortality, maybe even more so than if they become one of the 7000+ who summit. The dead on Everest have their own Wikipedia page. Green Boots, became a landmark, before he vanished. The Rainbow Valley is so named for all of the brightly colored remnants in one particularly treacherous spot.
I only partially comprehend the allure of Everest over the quest of mountaineering in general, but understand the more philosophical personal journey. The motivation toward a new personal experience shouldn't be diminished. I've read that George Mallory's "Because it's there." quote wasn't a proud chest thumping attempt at being profound, which is how it is interpreted today, but was more a paternalistic response to an annoying member of the press. I hope that is true.
Whether life becomes more real after a solo climb up K2 without supplemental oxygen, or after being short-roped up Denali shouldn't be for a virgin talking about sex to deliberate. With 7000 summits, climbing Mount Everest won't be anyone's ticket to fame and glory. If that is the hope, failure is predetermined. But if any quest is taken to further live the reality that much of what makes life worth living involves risk, then maybe mortality becomes ever so slightly more palatable.
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