[gasman]

I was invited to a slide show put on by a friends' father who was with Rob Hall and Doug Hansen in '95, the year before they both died. My friends father was offered a chance to return the next year at a reduced price but declined. Ironically, he died in a bike accident about 5 years later when he lost control of his bicycle bombing down a hill.

As he talked during the slide show it was quickly clear to me he had no clue about mountaineering . He had just done several guided trips up Aconcongua, Rainer and Denali and did what the guides told him to do. He was obviously a strong endurance athlete. But---what amazed me was that he was mad he had to turn around at the South Summit when Hall said it was time to descend at 2pm. He was also really mad at the Sherpas for not having broken trail fixed a rope to the summit.Really ? He amazingly concluded the slide show by saying he climbed Everest. No qualifiers. None. Just that he climbed it. I wanted to say real climbers have been known to say they didn't summit after turning around 10 meters from the top, but I was good and kept my mouth shut.

I suspect a fair number of the climbers in that photo were from a similar background and really didn't understand the danger they were putting themselves in. The guys I know who've summited Everest and other big peaks know the danger and try their hardest to avoid these situations. The summit season window is short and for most climbers having a chance to climb to the tallest point on the planet is irresistible.
I've been invited to climb in the Himalayas twice and declined both times because I had a young family at the time and no mountain is risk free.

It's sad to me to see photos like this as I know the litter at both the South Col and basecamp along with the human waste is destroying the area. I agree with the sentiment that the peak permit fee should be 5x higher. The economy there depends on tourism and it's really the only time of year that the Serpas and porters can make a decent wage.