Depends on the suit.. I am not proposing people wear a full EVA suit.. I am suggesting that we have the technology to overcome all the hazards of the climb except the falling into a giant pit part...

Cold and lack of oxygen should NEVER be an issue with modern tech.

Again, if this were 1911 I would be impressed .. as it stands, in 2011, it falls under the realm of stupid crap people do to achieve a false sense of self worth.

I'm equally impressed with Daniel Baraniuk...

That would kind of defeat the purpose. Why don't olympic sprinters drive Segways?
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I wonder where the line is, though. Compared to the earlier climbers, the modern guys have no problem taking light oxygen containers and using advanced heat-retaining materials. If they're taking advantage of technology, why would an Iron Man suit be over the line?

Olympic Sprinters are competing against each other and world records...

If people want to RACE to the top of Everest.. more power to them... just don't expect me to care... oh yeah, I also don't follow Olympic sprinting.. do you? does ANYONE?

So what are the rules? You can't wear a suit that provides temperature control? no oxygen? No clothes at all? no clothes manufactured after 1950? Only ropes hand woven in Paraguay? It's all so ****ing silly and arbitrary...

Where?

It just reminds me of a giant game of Calvinball...

Unless they are going up naked (which would be cool), I don't see why wearing super warm protective clothing is cheating. I can understand the not using supplemental oxygen argument more (but not much).

haha, good point... I assume he means their weight at sea level... but I think we could strip out a good deal of weight since we don't need a layer for micrometeoroid protection, nor most of the communications equipment, nor does it have to be entirely self contained.. etc etc

I don't know, it's pretty amazing to me that a human being can cover 10 steps (average person) in less than a second. HOW DOES ONE COVER 10 METERS IN UNDER ONE SECOND? It's mind-blowing stuff, man.

Ok, without using Google.. name the top 5 Olympic sprinters in the world right now?

It's interesting in a .. "wow that's kinda neat" then I never think about it again way... let's not pretend you FOLLOW it... anyway.. we're getting off topic...

By running really fast?

I can name 5 I know, but I don't know if they're necessarily in the top 5...

Usain Bolt
Tyson Gay
Justin Gatlin
Maurice Green
Asafa Powell

But you're right I don't follow it. I obviously watch the sprints during the Olympics and I try to check on the WC results.

You can use the suit to climb up Everest, but if you use it you have to sing the National Anthem next to every dead body you see in the Dead Zone, and you can only use ladders across chasms between the hours of 10 and 2.

So you can use suits, but you just have to follow the rules.

I don't watch sprinting, but I always assumed that they have some kind of suit on. Or they're that amputee guy and they've got those big springy leg replacements.

the difference is pretty simple. Yes, we have had advances in oxygen supplements and thermal clothing. Fine, so what. There is a seperate (very small) list maintained of people who ascended without oxygen help. Temperature is not the primary obstacle, and is still very difficult to deal with, so that doesn't really matter as much.

Climbing Everest should be respected because it is still often fatal, even today. It is still often fatal because despite all the advances, it still requires that you be in really good shape, and not make a major mistake, with a major mistake being very easy with a few seconds of carelessness, and the penalty of a major mistake being death.

I don't think anyone is suggesting we view these people with the same kind of awe as climbers from the 30's and 40's, but it is still incredibly dangerous and very impressive.

Old-school football players who wore leather helmets were arguably tougher and had to deal with more pain when playing, but that doesn't stop us from respecting the highly-protected athletes we have today.