What is it with middle age people and Everest?

Mr Bump

Mr Bump

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Roland Yearwood, 50, from Georgiana, Alabama, died near the summit on Sunday but no further details have been released.

Vladimir Strba, 50, from Slovakia, died on the mountain on the same day.

Australian Francesco Enrico Marchetti, 54, from Queensland, died on the Chinese side of Everest.

Didn't it used to be have an affair, buy a motorbike or a silly two seater sports car?
 
Loads of 50 year olds attempt the mountain. Most people of all ages fail to reach the summit for various reasons.
Nepali officials want an age limit of 16 - 76 to be set for climbing Everest. It has been climbed by a 13 year old and an 80 year old.
Prior to the 80 year old succeeding the oldest "summiteer" was 76 years old.
A few days ago an 85 year old died at base camp. He was the same guy that made the summit when he was 76 !

Climbing Everest - got be much more adventure in that than dodging about on a bike or a car.
 
arclight said:
Loads of 50 year olds attempt the mountain. Most people of all ages fail to reach the summit for various reasons.
Nepali officials want an age limit of 16 - 76 to be set for climbing Everest. It has been climbed by a 13 year old and an 80 year old.
Prior to the 80 year old succeeding the oldest "summiteer" was 76 years old.
A few days ago an 85 year old died at base camp. He was the same guy that made the summit when he was 76 !

Climbing Everest - got be much more adventure in that than dodging about on a bike or a car.
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it just seems to me uber macho and money kicking in but each to their own i guess, there were all climbers of sorts but why everest, one final do or die swan song ?
 
Most likely they think they are invincible and have a point to prove to themselves and everyone else

" Look at me I can clime Everest " Opps ! NOT :(
 
Not for me, walked up from Hebden Bridge to Heptonstall on a hot day, bloody knackered out and needed two pots of tea to recover (slice of date and walnut cake helped too)

Lived in London most of my life now moved to Cambridgeshire so purely a level ground person
 
Mr Bump said:
but each to their own i guess
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precisely. Im sure the answer is 'cause its there'a bit like people who jump from planes, fly gliders, technical dive etc and any one of the adventurous things people do. Its human nature. I guess if we all though like you we'd still be in caves scared to step into the next valley
 
"#99 - Kick it."?
 
Over the hill, you mean? After 50, it's a slippery slope...
 
As of 2012, approximately 200 people have died attempting to climb Mount Everest, out of about 4,000 climbers. About 60 percent of those deaths resulted from falling or from an avalanche, but some people also died from exposure, exhaustion, heart attack and altitude sickness.
 
It costs a fortune to climb it, I'm sure when they get to that age they can afford it but previously they had a family or a lower paying job or whatever reason. Or maybe they don't want to be away from home whilst their child is still young, there's lots of reasons to wait until you're a little bit older
 
Mr Bump said:
Roland Yearwood, 50, from Georgiana, Alabama, died near the summit on Sunday but no further details have been released.

Vladimir Strba, 50, from Slovakia, died on the mountain on the same day.

Australian Francesco Enrico Marchetti, 54, from Queensland, died on the Chinese side of Everest.

Didn't it used to be have an affair, buy a motorbike or a silly two seater sports car?
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Probably because at that time of your life you have had a family, children grown un, have spare cash, trying to get fit and this gives a reason to be fit and also proving to one self he or she still physically capable and last of all, a challenge.

Getting a sports car just a way to splash to cash and perhaps feel young, but climbing Everest would give a sense of achievement like no other I would have thought.
 
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While I think that people who jump out of planes, climb up the sides of buildings or throw themselves off bridges attached to a bit of rope are more than a bit loopy, I do actually get the whole Everest thing.
It's the highest point on Earth and to stand up there, literally on top of the world where few human beings have stood before you must be amazing.

And it's so commercialised now that with enough cash it's become accessible to everyone, not just elite climbers.
Of course they know the risks, they even climb past human remains on the way up, but the whole guided trip thing gives a false sense of security and it's probably a case of 'that's something which happens to other people, not to me'.
 
Just natural selection.
And with the collapse of Hillary Step, easier to summit than previously.

And it may be the highest, but it is supposedly a far easier ascent than K2.
 
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I looked at Ben Nevis from the bottom a few weeks ago, it was very pretty with snow on the top but after a friend climbed it years ago and got to a ridge where the wind was that fierce you couldn't breathe if you turned your head into it that's as far as I wanted to go, but without adventurers we'd still be living in caves so I salute their bravery / stupidity, delete as applicable
 
viv1969 said:
Just natural selection.
And with the collapse of Hillary Step, easier to summit than previously.

And it may be the highest, but it is supposedly a far easier ascent than K2.
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The report I'd read said it was now more dangerous to summit without the step?

I do kinda get the want to climb it. I'd love to go base camp. But to climb it, you must have to be prepared to never come back down. Everyone knows how dangerous it can be, surely? I'm sure it's not an endeavour taken lightly.
 
KitsuneAndy said:
The report I'd read said it was now more dangerous to summit without the step?

I do kinda get the want to climb it. I'd love to go base camp. But to climb it, you must have to be prepared to never come back down. Everyone knows how dangerous it can be, surely? I'm sure it's not an endeavour taken lightly.
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I've done the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal which gets you up to just under 18,000 feet ( I highly recommend it - do this or the Everest Base Camp one - I heard that is more up and down over valleys than Annupurna which is gradual up and down). I wanted to climb for a while after that (you can walk the circuit with no skills though some people do get killed by avalanches) but realised I was not really up to it - was very jealous of meeting people who were going up. I'm one of those weird people mentioned above who has skydived, bungy jumped etc and fully understand why people want to do this.

I expect a lot of people do this as mentioned above post grownup kids and more disposable income. If you do this, you have to believe you will do it. I'm sure I've read a lot of the danger other than factors out of your control (eg avalanches, altitude sickness) is continuing gone to reach the summit when you should turn back - you still make the summit but don't have enough time \ energy to make it back down. You've maybe spent years preparing, spent a fortune, have the mindset you will make it (you have to have some sort of willpower, it's clearly not easy), maybe slightly oxygen deprived and make the wrong decision, you tell yourself you can do it etc.

When I did my walks read interesting books The Climb and Into Thin Air. Gives an interesting insight into how it can all go wrong.
 
Can't see the attraction in mountain climbing at all. It's there, so what?
 
akr said:
I've done the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal which gets you up to just under 18,000 feet ( I highly recommend it - do this or the Everest Base Camp one - I heard that is more up and down over valleys than Annupurna which is gradual up and down). I wanted to climb for a while after that (you can walk the circuit with no skills though some people do get killed by avalanches) but realised I was not really up to it - was very jealous of meeting people who were going up. I'm one of those weird people mentioned above who has skydived, bungy jumped etc and fully understand why people want to do this.

I expect a lot of people do this as mentioned above post grownup kids and more disposable income. If you do this, you have to believe you will do it. I'm sure I've read a lot of the danger other than factors out of your control (eg avalanches, altitude sickness) is continuing gone to reach the summit when you should turn back - you still make the summit but don't have enough time \ energy to make it back down. You've maybe spent years preparing, spent a fortune, have the mindset you will make it (you have to have some sort of willpower, it's clearly not easy), maybe slightly oxygen deprived and make the wrong decision, you tell yourself you can do it etc.

When I did my walks read interesting books The Climb and Into Thin Air. Gives an interesting insight into how it can all go wrong.
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My wife has done the Annapurna circuit, and it's something I'd love to do. Waiting until the little one is a bit older though so we can take her. The Inca Trail is high on the list too.
 
KitsuneAndy said:
My wife has done the Annapurna circuit, and it's something I'd love to do. Waiting until the little one is a bit older though so we can take her. The Inca Trail is high on the list too.
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Sounds like two cracking adventures (y)
 
I'm fascinated with mountain climbing but would never attempt it myself. The thought of having to bivouac in the freezing cold and dark on your own thousands of feet up scares the bejesus out of me. Hats of to those that have done it and those that lost their lives trying.
 
KitsuneAndy said:
My wife has done the Annapurna circuit, and it's something I'd love to do. Waiting until the little one is a bit older though so we can take her. The Inca Trail is high on the list too.
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Why not combine both and do Salkantay?

It's like the Inca trail (ends in the same place) but tops out at a little over 6,000m. I'll admit since it was basically walking I didn't realise how hard it was going to be.

https://salkantay.org/

And yeah, I try to be cool about Machu Picchu and say how it looks just like the photos but really, it's not a bad experience ;)
 
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