Life Abandoned on Everest

Joe Seahawk · 02-11-2011, 01:47 AM

Krakaurs "Into thin air: really got me mesmerized by the stories, i have read several other books including "the climb" by Anatoli boukreev and a couple others by Brashears and viesturs. One amazing thing is Ed Viesturs (arguably the most accomplished high altitude mountaineer in history) sits 3 rows behind me at Seahawks games. First time I saw him i couldn''t help but tell him how amazed and impressed i was with his feats. He seemed suprised to be recognized.. pretty cool

This whole everest thing amazes me for some reason..

Silock · 02-11-2011, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Seahawk

One amazing thing is Ed Viesturs (arguably the most accomplished high altitude mountaineer in history)

Reinhold Messner might have an argument with that.

BTW, I'm not arguing with that. Just saying the argument is there to be made.

Joe Seahawk · 02-11-2011, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silock

Reinhold Messner might have an argument with that.

BTW, I'm not arguing with that. Just saying the argument is there to be made.

No doubt.. I'm kind of a homer...

Miles · 02-11-2011, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Seahawk

Krakaurs "Into thin air: really got me mesmerized by the stories, i have read several other books including "the climb" by Anatoli boukreev and a couple others by Brashears and viesturs. One amazing thing is Ed Viesturs (arguably the most accomplished high altitude mountaineer in history) sits 3 rows behind me at Seahawks games. First time I saw him i couldn''t help but tell him how amazed and impressed i was with his feats. He seemed suprised to be recognized.. pretty cool

This whole everest thing amazes me for some reason..

Pretty much here sans the great Ed Viesturs anecdote. I have a Brashears book sitting on my bookshelf that I have been intending to read and read the Krackaur ones a while back. Any particular ones you can recommend I read first?

Joe Seahawk · 02-11-2011, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miles

Pretty much here sans the great Ed Viesturs anecdote. I have a Brashears book sitting on my bookshelf that I have been intending to read and read the Krackaur ones a while back. Any particular ones you can recommend I read first?

Have you read boukreev "the Climb"? It's the 96 debacle from anotoli's viewpoint. Pretty interesting. " No shortcuts to the top" by viesturs is also pretty fascinating, that dude came close to dying several times.

Miles · 02-11-2011, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Seahawk

Have you read boukreev "the Climb"? It's the 96 debacle from anotoli's viewpoint. Pretty interesting. " No shortcuts to the top" by viesturs is also pretty fascinating, that dude came close to dying several times.

Thanks. I have been meaning to read The Climb for a while but kind of forgot about it. Will also pick up the Ed Viesturs book. I have also been meaning to read more about K2 which seems much more technical than Everest and I recall something similar to the Everest debacle happening in the 80's.

Joe Seahawk · 02-11-2011, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miles

Thanks. I have been meaning to read The Climb for a while but kind of forgot about it. Will also pick up the Ed Viesturs book. I have also been meaning to read more about K2 which seems much more technical than Everest and I recall something similar to the Everest debacle happening in the 80's.

This is a pretty interesting interview with Ed and K2. He says he got away with a really dumb decision. The reason he's still alive is because he rarely did stuff like this.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/the...-mistakes.aspx

CHENZ A! · 02-11-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Seahawk

This is a pretty interesting interview with Ed and K2. He says he got away with a really dumb decision. The reason he's still alive is because he rarely did stuff like this.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/the...-mistakes.aspx

This blog about "wrongness" is so interesting it deserves it's own thread. If you all have time I recommend the interviews with Bourdain, Posnanski, and Dershowitz as well. Very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing man.
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**notorious** · 02-11-2011, 03:16 PM

"Speaking of conservative decisions, I heard you once turned around when you were 300 feet from the summit of Mount Everest. Three hundred feet out of, what, 29,029?

Yeah. That was my first trip to Everest, and I was like—daaaaaaahhh! You know, there's the top, I could see the top, 300 feet away. But it was the obvious decision; all the indications were that we needed to turn around, and I just realized that I was going to have to go home and come back another year. And even though it was slightly frustrating, I wasn't disappointed. If I have to turn around because of conditions beyond my control, as long as I haven't given up physically or mentally, I don't call those failures. I can live with those."

It would take amazing personal strength to turn around 300 feet from the summit. No wonder that guys has scaled all of the 8000'ers.

HonestChieffan · 02-11-2011, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miles

Thanks. I have been meaning to read The Climb for a while but kind of forgot about it. Will also pick up the Ed Viesturs book. I have also been meaning to read more about K2 which seems much more technical than Everest and I recall something similar to the Everest debacle happening in the 80's.

Great read. I know the Bolivian Doctors wife that the book discusses. At the time he was the oldest to summit. He died on the way down under unusual circumstances....http://www.amazon.com/High-Crimes-Fa.../dp/1401302734

02-11-2011, 01:47 AM	#1
Joe Seahawk This place entertains.. Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Seattle Casino cash: $5484435	Krakaurs "Into thin air: really got me mesmerized by the stories, i have read several other books including "the climb" by Anatoli boukreev and a couple others by Brashears and viesturs. One amazing thing is Ed Viesturs (arguably the most accomplished high altitude mountaineer in history) sits 3 rows behind me at Seahawks games. First time I saw him i couldn''t help but tell him how amazed and impressed i was with his feats. He seemed suprised to be recognized.. pretty cool This whole everest thing amazes me for some reason..
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02-11-2011, 03:16 PM	#9
notorious Supporter Join Date: May 2005 Location: Who knows? Casino cash: $-1014116	"Speaking of conservative decisions, I heard you once turned around when you were 300 feet from the summit of Mount Everest. Three hundred feet out of, what, 29,029? Yeah. That was my first trip to Everest, and I was like—daaaaaaahhh! You know, there's the top, I could see the top, 300 feet away. But it was the obvious decision; all the indications were that we needed to turn around, and I just realized that I was going to have to go home and come back another year. And even though it was slightly frustrating, I wasn't disappointed. If I have to turn around because of conditions beyond my control, as long as I haven't given up physically or mentally, I don't call those failures. I can live with those." It would take amazing personal strength to turn around 300 feet from the summit. No wonder that guys has scaled all of the 8000'ers.
Posts: 88,594