As price comes down, risk goes up for Everest 'trophy hunters'
13 May 2018 7:20 PM GMT
Everest Base Camp: Everest is the ultimate mountaineering "trophy", but the rising number of inexperienced climbers attempting to tackle the summit are running huge risks to reach the top of the world. An Indian airline pilot, a builder from Ohio and a former online media sales executive are all waiting at base camp for a chance to scale the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain this climbing season.
They haul themselves up the same ropes to the top and face the same dangers of frostbite, avalanche and exhaustion –and yet they pay vastly different amounts for the privilege.
Cheaper fees means far more people can attempt a lifelong dream of conquering the world's highest peak, but there are grim predictions that an increasing number will never make it home.
Critics warn bargain operators –who have slashed the price of an Everest ticket to as low as 20,000 –accept even the most inexperienced climbers. Meanwhile, more expensive rivals, who charge around 70,000, have smaller teams and require proven climbing ability from clients.
"It's a huge goal and a dream of mine to stand on top of the world," said Matt Brennan, who runs a construction company in the United States, and paid US-based Alpine Ascents 65,000 to try his first 8,000 metre climb.
"I always wanted to climb the big ones and I felt that if I'm going to do it now is the time," said the 57-year-old, who set his sights on Everest two years ago after tackling North America's highest mountain, Denali, at 6,194 metres.
In the 1980s the Nepal government only allowed one team per route on Everest, which meant only a handful of experienced climbers with national teams or those with major sponsorship deals could get a foothold.
Since the limit was scrapped in the 1990s operators have crowded the slopes for a slice of the lucrative industry.
This year there are 346 paying climbers on the south side in Nepal -- just shy of the record 373 permits granted in 2017 -- and another 180 climbing from Tibet, foreshadowing a bumper year. Last year six people died.
Guy Cotter, who has been guiding on Everest for 27 years, warned that many new climbers lack experience.
"Nowadays people can go on the internet and buy the cheapest expedition onto the mountain. But there is no criteria for experience with some of these operators," said the owner of New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants.
"They are not mountaineers. They are just people who want to claim the prize of climbing Mount Everest. They are hunting for that trophy." Tenzing Norgay, the first man to summit Everest together with New Zealander Edmund Hillary in 1953, only reached the top on his seventh attempt.
Concerns about paying clients have haunted Everest since the dawn of commercial expeditions. Many predicted a turning point after 1996 when eight people died descending from Everest's summit, among them those with limited experience at extreme altitude.
"With enough determination, any bloody idiot can get up this hill. The trick is to get back down alive," Rob Hall –a guide that year –
reportedly said.
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