Quote from: Mr Larrington on 11 September, 2020, 12:32:46 pm8,848 metres.A few decades back there was a big furore when someone claimed that K2 was actually higher than Everest and many people, including quite a lot of dead ones, wondered whether they’d climbed the wrong mountain. And the people who were making money out of guiding wealthy idiots up the Yak Route breathed a sigh of relief when the numbers were rechecked and K2 was found to be really titchy after all.You have about a 29% chance of dying attempting K2, whilst you have about a 4% chance of dying attempting Everest. K2 isn’t known as the savage mountain for no reason.
8,848 metres.A few decades back there was a big furore when someone claimed that K2 was actually higher than Everest and many people, including quite a lot of dead ones, wondered whether they’d climbed the wrong mountain. And the people who were making money out of guiding wealthy idiots up the Yak Route breathed a sigh of relief when the numbers were rechecked and K2 was found to be really titchy after all.
I seem to remember reading about a mountain probably 20 or so years ago which at one point had a 50% fatality rate for summit attempts but the guy was planning a different and hopefully safer route. Possibly called anapunia and translated as the Harvest Mountain.
Quote from: Wowbagger on 11 September, 2020, 01:32:17 pmA few years ago, I cycled across the Cairngorms in the company of JenM of this parish, and friend of hers, NOTP. One night, in Tomintoul hostel, we shared a dormitory with a chap who had climbed the Old Man of Hoy. I suspect that that is a much more exclusive club that those who have climbed Everest.Have you seen this? A blind climber leading all the pitches of Old Man of Hoy.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jb7tP.S. I’ve led the Old Man of Hoy. It’s about E1 / E2 in UK trad grades.
A few years ago, I cycled across the Cairngorms in the company of JenM of this parish, and friend of hers, NOTP. One night, in Tomintoul hostel, we shared a dormitory with a chap who had climbed the Old Man of Hoy. I suspect that that is a much more exclusive club that those who have climbed Everest.
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.
Quote from: ian on 11 September, 2020, 02:58:02 pmQuote from: Cudzoziemiec on 11 September, 2020, 02:48:33 pmThe reason that the highest mountains are mostly in equatorial regions is because snow weight compresses the rocks. So the lower the height of the snow line, the taller the mountain has potential to be. Snow also erodes rock of course. So we can expect some other mountains to get higher with global warming. Maybe.The theory of plate tectonics, despite seeming fairly obvious now, was widely disparaged for many years (it was first suggested in 1915), it wasn't until the late 1950s – early 1960s that it started to gain support (with newer seismological imaging techniques).As a geologist (retd) I should know for sure, but I thought that the plate tectonics hypothesis began to be accepted as proven after magnetic mapping of the Atlantic showed up the north/south reversal stripes either side of the mid Atlantic ridge. Sea floor spreading was the only way to explain these phenomena, and hence the movement of the plates. This all came to pass only a few years before I went to Uni, and whilst it was accepted by then, it was a bit of a revelation. IIRC, the magnetic mapping was a side-effect of wartime activity by the Navy, and carried on after the war.But since I can't remember what I did last week, my memory could be defective on the subject. I could look it up, but, I can't remember where.........
Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 11 September, 2020, 02:48:33 pmThe reason that the highest mountains are mostly in equatorial regions is because snow weight compresses the rocks. So the lower the height of the snow line, the taller the mountain has potential to be. Snow also erodes rock of course. So we can expect some other mountains to get higher with global warming. Maybe.The theory of plate tectonics, despite seeming fairly obvious now, was widely disparaged for many years (it was first suggested in 1915), it wasn't until the late 1950s – early 1960s that it started to gain support (with newer seismological imaging techniques).
The reason that the highest mountains are mostly in equatorial regions is because snow weight compresses the rocks. So the lower the height of the snow line, the taller the mountain has potential to be. Snow also erodes rock of course. So we can expect some other mountains to get higher with global warming. Maybe.
Ref the Anchorage earthquake thing - https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/quake-shook-geology-alaska-1964
Honestly, it looks like a grim experience, crowds of mostly rich kids being traipsed up a dangerous mountain by weary locals who need the cash.
Quote from: ian on 11 September, 2020, 02:12:31 pmHonestly, it looks like a grim experience, crowds of mostly rich kids being traipsed up a dangerous mountain by weary locals who need the cash.Yeah the queue to get to the top can be a real pain.Also Brain Blessed has been to the top of Everest, I have seen the film Flash Gordon staring Brain Blessed. Tenuous enough?
He was probably got within shouting distance of the moon
Quote from: Lightning Phil on 11 September, 2020, 03:31:52 pmQuote from: Mr Larrington on 11 September, 2020, 12:32:46 pm8,848 metres.A few decades back there was a big furore when someone claimed that K2 was actually higher than Everest and many people, including quite a lot of dead ones, wondered whether they’d climbed the wrong mountain. And the people who were making money out of guiding wealthy idiots up the Yak Route breathed a sigh of relief when the numbers were rechecked and K2 was found to be really titchy after all.You have about a 29% chance of dying attempting K2, whilst you have about a 4% chance of dying attempting Everest. K2 isn’t known as the savage mountain for no reason.I'd imagine you are more likely to catch covid 19 on Everest.
I once went to a lecture by Sir John Hunt at the Royal Geographic Society. He hasn't climbed Everest, but knew people who did.
Quote from: Gattopardo on 12 September, 2020, 02:37:15 pmQuote from: ian on 11 September, 2020, 02:12:31 pmHonestly, it looks like a grim experience, crowds of mostly rich kids being traipsed up a dangerous mountain by weary locals who need the cash.Yeah the queue to get to the top can be a real pain.Also Brain Blessed has been to the top of Everest, I have seen the film Flash Gordon staring Brain Blessed. Tenuous enough?I don't think Brian Blessed actually summited. I could be wrong.
Quote from: Tim Hall on 12 September, 2020, 12:11:05 amI once went to a lecture by Sir John Hunt at the Royal Geographic Society. He hasn't climbed Everest, but knew people who did.He led the successful 1953 Everest Expedition. So knew a bit more about it then just knowing a few who did.
And, in tenuous claims to fame, I have a mate who has guided up Everest twice, and nearly had his nuts sued off following the disappearance of a client in one of his company's (but not his group) groups.