Ed Viesturs: A Perspective on Everest

[@dougmurray4381]

Very thoughtful. Sherpas are the TRUE cornerstone....very well said

[@KartsHuseonica]

Excellent thoughtful and quality vid. Thanks for making and posting. Cheers, Karen & Art H.

[@CBF5star]

I like how at the two minute mark, Ed's trying not to laugh at the thought of helicoptering equipment, and most likely climbers, past the ice fall, to camp one.

[@sub4lifee]

I noticed that also. After mentioning bringing gear to camp 1 he also said it would greatly reduce the amount of trips the Sherpa would have to make in the icefall. It seems like a good idea and doesn't appear to take much away from the climb if they only bring gear from base camp to camp 1. The vast majority of people climbing the mountain don't bring up their own gear anyways. As long as people are not being lifted then it really doesn't change anything for the climber unless they are doing it alpine style. And it only greatly reduces the amount of trips through the icefall for the Sherpa. If people were being shuttled then I can see that taking a lot of the glory away from the climb. I actually just e mailed Ed to ask him what he meant by it taking away from the climbers glory of climbing everest, because to me it seems like it wouldn't.

[@CBF5star]

sub4lifee Thanks for the response. I see your point, for some people standing on the highest point on Earth is all that matters. For me, I think the ice fall is part of the mountain, and it shouldn't be flown over. With that said, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

[@sub4lifee]

I'm assuming from what Ed said in the video that only gear would be taken from base camp to camp 1. Nothing changes for the climbers if only gear is moved because most climbers don't move their own gear. They still have to walk through the ice fall to get to the top. I see the only thing changing is the # of passes the Sherpa make through it. A lot of people acclimatize on surrounding mountains and only make a single pass through the icefall. With this method, Sherpa could reduce the # of trips they make to 2 or 3 times instead of a dozen or so each season.

[@warshipsatin8764]

​@@sub4lifee in theory it would also reduce the size of the expeditions in human numbers and therefore its overall footprint on the mountain

[@zoltanszaszbenedek994]

Nice video and nice vibes from this "person". Good job !!!

[@jlsimonable]

nice kind words for the Sherpa commitment!

[@tredogzs]

Happened again 2015.

[@MultiMrMiles]

Eds cool, imo when doing this you must do it yourself- otherwise what youre doing there anyway- too many tourist noobs wanting to do very dangerous things.

[@hienhien1100]

Some segments in the video are stamped not adjacent to each other

[@lukkyluciano]

After these last 2 avalanches maybe using heli's to take the gear up past the Icefall is a good idea. A lot of people die in the icefall. A lot of them have been Nepalese. Even before the avalanche last year a good percentage of them have been Nepalese.. Sherpas have nothing to prove carrying your gear for you. Sherpas are the heroes of climbing.

[@hunterheppe9180]

Wouldn't work. The air gets too thin for the helos to work properly.

[@sinc650]

+Hunter Heppe It actually would work. A helicopter can get to about 20,000 feet and even rescued beck weathers from everest at 20,000 feet.

[@lukkyluciano]

A helicopter landed on the peak a couple years ago(it's on youtube). It's true the helis dont work as well but like sinc said they went to 20,000 to save Makalu Gau and Beck Weathers almost 20 years ago and technology has advanced an awful lot since then.

[@alvincay100]

+lukkyluciano The primary reason helicopters don't work up there is that they weren't designed to. 99.999% of helicopter applications are low altitude. Given that an unmodified helicopter got up past the ice fall to save Beck Weathers I can guarantee you that with modification it would not be difficult.

[@lukkyluciano]

Calvin Smith a heli actually landed on the summit in last couple years. Just to accomplish it. The video is on youtube.

[@michiganwoodsman2199]

Ed one thinh you said that really boggled my mind is that helicopter wasn't the beat way to get through the ice fall because its not True climbing and risk.. Were talking about people's LIVES HERE! People who want to see their moms and dads and children again. Climbing that mountain is dangerous enough and making it safer is an absolute blessing for the sherpas forced to work the mountain and the ding dong whites who want to climb for fun or simply because of Pride.

[@mandar.deodhar]

A foolish question may be but I still ask. If one is fit enough and has good amount of money, why cant he/she hire 10 sherpas carrying multiple extra oxygen cylinders and make climbing above 8000 as easy as possible and make it to the top?

[@jackso0926]

that's basically what they do.

[@Ramiro-k8f]

I WANT GO ONE DAY TO K2 AND EVERSET ....

[@lordOfSalem]

For the love of life, skip K2!