Quote:
Originally posted by masraum
I just don't get the desire to climb a mountain that's so high that you can't breath and you have health issues from the thin air. I think approx 10% of the people who try to scale that mountain die. So if there are 10 in your party, odds are good (or bad depending upon your viewpoint) that one of you isn't coming back.
Those odds are a bit too crappy for my taste.
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The ratio of 1 to 10 is for those who successfully reach the summit vs. those who die. Lots of people try for the summit and fail, but don't die. But damn, 185 people have died trying to get up and back. That's a lot of deaths for a reacreational activity.
The odds for climbing K2 are much worst btw. And K2 is only attempted by hard core moutaineers. There is a cottage industry that has sprung up around getting to the top of Everest that brings out a lot of Walter Mitty types and kills them.