Because Its There.

[jones jones]

The recent tragic deaths on Mount Everest must surely once again raise the age old question: “Why do it?” George Mallory who died on Everest many years ago made the now famous answer: "Because it is there."

However over 250 people have died “because its there” and most of their bodies are still on the mountain, some even used today as macabre “signposts.” Most of the deaths have been in the aptly named “death zone” which is above 26,000 feet where the oxygen level is too low to support life.

Climbing Mount Everest doesn’t come cheap either, for instance …

Gear—$10,000.

Only a fool would tackle Everest without the proper protective clothing so it wouldn’t be a good idea to be an El Cheapo. Wearing good quality mittens for instance will ensure that if you do reach the summit and make it back to base camp, you’ll do so with all your fingers and thumbs intact. If you’re a lady you will also have to buy a pee funnel. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination but think frostbite.

The Climb—$35,000 to $100,000.

A mountain permit begins at around $10000. You’re going to need a clan of Sherpa – porters, guides, cooks if you’re ever gonna make it to the top. With a hundred grand expedition you get your own western guide and Sherpa as well as bottled oxygen all the way through the Death Zone. None of these prices include your plane ticket to Nepal which will be between $1500 & $3500 depending on which class you travel.

Extras—$2,000 to $4,000.

Cell phone calls are pretty expensive depending on how often mom has to be kept up to speed; your Sherpa’s take home pay is a mere $3500 so if you reach the summit you’re expected to tip him $500; then you also need medical evacuation insurance starting at $500 (you don’t wanna know what evacuation by chopper will cost you if you have to foot the bill yourself.)

But those with more adrenaline in their veins than blood don’t look at climbing Everest in dollars and cents. They get their kicks from experiences like this and not from investing on the stock exchange. These folk live on the edge and when and if they reach base camp they start thinking about their next adventure.

After the 21 April tragedy in which sixteen Sherpa died, expeditions have been called off for the rest of the year. This hasn’t gone down too well with the well heeled westerners, many of whom will forfeit monies already paid, but what about the Sherpa?

They do all the really dangerous work and unlike their wealthy western employees who carry very little in their backpacks, they have to schlep all the gear as well as the bottled oxygen, which incidentally, the Sherpa do not use.

So I’m asking … Wouldn’t it be a wonderful gesture if all that forfeited folding stuff was divided up between the Sherpa who would have been involved in the cancelled

expeditions?

Just a thought.