Anyone ever climbed Mt. Everest or trekked to Everest Base Camp?

[stevenpensacola]

After first reading "Into Thin Air" over ten years ago (and about once a year since) I've been intrigued with Mt Everest...not enough so that I would endure the cold/suffering/risk required to climb the mountain...but would love to be able to safely visit some of the more prominent sites on the Mt.

I was hoping the IMAX film which came out several years ago would have done a better job of showing some of the more prominent landmarks on Everest.

Anyone on this board ever attempted Everest. or trekked in the region?

Watched an interesting movie on Netflix via the Wii the other week...Blindsight...about a group of blind kids from a school for the blind in the region who attempted to summit a peak adjacent to Everest with the blind American climber who climbed Everest.

http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/

 

[Hillbeans]

After first reading "Into Thin Air" over ten years ago (and about once a year since) I've been intrigued with Mt Everest...not enough so that I would endure the cold/suffering/risk required to climb the mountain...but would love to be able to safely visit some of the more prominent sites on the Mt.

I was hoping the IMAX film which came out several years ago would have done a better job of showing some of the more prominent landmarks on Everest.

Anyone on this board ever attempted Everest. or trekked in the region?

Watched an interesting movie on Netflix via the Wii the other week...Blindsight...about a group of blind kids from a school for the blind in the region who attempted to summit a peak adjacent to Everest with the blind American climber who climbed Everest.

http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/

I think that would be a dream trip! I always watch the shows on TV that cover the Mt. Everest climbers.

My best friend who lives in Europe is going for a 2 week trek to base camp in Nepal, I think April 1st - 15th. She's been planning it for over a year, apparently it's very expensive and requires a lot of planning and training. I will ask her for all the details when she returns, I feel as if i'm going to live vicariously through her!

I say go for it, it'd be a trip of a lifetime i'm sure.

 

[Pakey]

I travelled to Tibet earlier this year; that's the closest I'm ever going to Mt Everest. I was at an elevation of 14,300 and had terrible altitude sickness.

 

[stevenpensacola]

I think I would like to trek to base camp...just not sure I would want to pay that much to be potentially uncomfortable the whole time.

Even getting there is an ordeal...

fly to Kathmandu...then fly to another locale...very scary runway...from this point on, believe the only ground transportation is on foot or yak...no cars, trucks, or even roads.

Altitude sickness can be a real concern...

with many of the accommodations/food less than ideal.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

My husband's niece did it.
It's very, very expensive, she actually had a sponsor because she is a mountain climbing guide on Mt Rainier.

She said it was the most amazing thing she ever did, it took three to four weeks (I'll have to see if I can find her blog for the actual amount of time) and on her way to summit, she passed a hiker who did not make it, and had not been taken down by sherpas yet.
As amazing as it was, it was also a bit scary, and the coming down takes as long as going up with the acclimating at each altitude level.

Personally, I'll stick to Expedition Everest, which I was riding shortly after it opened, and shortly after her summit.

 

[tar heel]

Reading "Into Thin Air" totally and completely convinced me that I did not want to climb Mount Everest. I'd love to see it from a distance, though.

 

[DonkeyGreatness]

I want to climb Everest, reach the summit. But I'm probably going to wait till I'm about 50 or so. That way in case things go horribly wrong, I've already lived a great bulk of my life.

 

[Keira1387]

I just did a quick search and found that it cost about $25,000 for the climb.

 

[stevenpensacola]

wow...just watched an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" on Animal Planet...about three climbers who ran into trouble on Mt McKinley...

all suffered loss of digits...one lost part of his leg.

FROZEN AT 20,000 FEET
The Dilemma: Could you survive a fall off North America's highest peak?

When they approach the top of Alaska's Mt. McKinley — the highest mountain in North America — three British climbers are caught in a terrible blizzard. They take shelter in a crevasse, but there's no escaping the freezing temperatures. Frostbite takes its toll on one climber — swelling his face, forcing his eyes shut, and leaving him almost blind — and when morning comes, it's clear he might not make it down the mountain alive. They realize they must get down fast or watch their friend die. With their radio broken, the team has no choice but to send one man down the mountain alone to raise the alarm. But a terrible fall leaves him close to death. With their best chance of rescue gone, the climbers can only hope they'll survive America's highest mountain.

I'll just continue to be an armchair high altitude mountain climber.

no way would I subject myself to such misery on purpose....

 

[portocall]

Mountain climbing just isn't for me. I've been at sea level my whole life and although I would love to spend time in the mountains, I am certainly not going to climb them. I did love that book though.

 

[Carina]

My daughter has a trip to Nepal planned in 3 years. She will "see" Everest, but not go to the base camp. There is talk of her going to Annapurna Mt while she is there

 

[Judy from Boise]

I am friends with a physician who rotates to be the MD at the base camp clinic I think 6 months at a time. He is boarded as an ER physician, and credentialed as a hyperbaric specialist and a wilderness medicine expert. His name is Eric Johnson, I think he was featured in a documentary a few years ago. He has never made it to the summit because he has always come across climbers in need of assistance that ethically he didn't feel he could pass by.