Göran Höglund (Kartläsarn) Follow Tibet Mount: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kartlasarn/6453848769
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
You know, there was a point when I became obsessed with snow-capped mountain chains.
This was shortly after visiting Washington state in 1997, and being amazed and greatly impressed by all of the snow-capped mountains that we were able to see while there. That included what was still most likely the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen, when we ate at a restaurant (no idea what the name is, or if it is even still there) right on the banks of Puget Sound. On the other side of the water, the jagged peaks of the Olympic Mountains rose high, blanketed in snow that was bathed in the soft pink light of dusk, mirrored in the waters of Puget Sound.
Truly inspiring!
The unbelievable beauty of the Pacific Northwest that we were blessed with on that trip made me feel ready to move out there myself, and take in the beautiful mountain views on a regular, everyday basis.
Of course, unfortunately, that never happened.
However, the dream of moving to some remote mountain locale, and being blessed by the amazing views and perspective that mountains offer, remained.
For a while, I began to entertain the possibility of taking trips to go mountain climbing, although I knew that it would certainly be difficult.
But the years passed, and that, like so many other dreams, kind of went away.
Then I read a book by Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air, about an ill-fated expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1996, when it ended up that 12 people were killed in an unexpected storm while there.
In that book, I learned that mountain climbing was not at all what I had long believed it would be, and expected it to be.
Here's the thing: you look at those mountains, especially when you see the snow-capped peaks rising above an obscured base, looking for all intents and purposes like these peaks are floating on air, It seems so clean, so pure. When you are in a mountain range, you take some deep breaths, and it feels so refreshing. All of that leads to an impression that nothing could be so wholesome, so inspiring, as climbing a mountain.
Then I read Krakauer's account of the trip, as he mentioned how people died, including the two leading guides from the opposing teams. He also mentioned how common it is for people to die while climbing, and how dead carcasses along the routes had become landmarks by which climbers take directions. He also mentioned in one book (I think it was a different book, but I could be mistaken) how there was one Italian climber who was climbing an infamously treacherous cliff and, somehow, died while midway up there. He was hanging from a rope, and sometimes, swaying in the breeze, for fully two years.
This, combined with the descriptions of the injuries that many on the Everest expedition of 1996 faced (and I'm talking about those who survived at this point), about severe frostbite, and the reports from Nepal last year about some of the survivors getting their limbs cut off from similar cases of frostbite, and any lingering desire to climb mountains pretty much dissipated.
Suddenly, it seemed enough to admire them from afar.
Now, with a storm having killed a record amount of people (at least to that point) in the fall, and with this earthquake surely causing that record to be surpassed this time around, it is all the more reason to be very wary when it comes to scaling huge peaks like this. Krakauer was saying, I believe, that mountains with an elevation of 26,000 feet or more were the most prestigious to have climbed, but they also provide a certain measure of danger as well, obviously.
Still, the tourism industry for Mt. Everest, as well as the other top peaks, are soaring. So much so, that it is causing "traffic jams" as you ascend, and problems with litter along the way in overcrowded camps. Not exactly the idyllic mountain getaway that you expect, huh?
And the landmarks to confirm directions or where you are sometimes really are not pretty. Krakauer mentioned what this article discusses as well: the corpses on the mountain, and these include pictures.
Open the link if you wish, but be warned that the images are indeed graphic.
A Graveyard at 26,000 Feet: The Tragic Fate of Those Left Behind on Mount Everest by Mark Newton, April 24th, 2015:
http://moviepilot.com/posts/2878383-the-horrifying-secret-of-mount-everest-will-make-you-never-ever-want-to-climb-it-and-i-don-t-mean-the-height-real-life-horror?utm_source=fb-stream-post&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign
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