Places that could use a Starbucks

[dalton99a]

Last edited Fri May 24, 2019, 12:53 PM - Edit history (2)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/three-more-dead-everest-amid-concerns-about-congestion-near-summit-n1009586
Three more dead on Everest amid concerns about congestion near summit
“Before you reach the summit you have to wait and every minute counts at that height,” said Krishma Poudel of Peak Promotion mountaineering agency in Nepal.


Climbers line up near the summit of Mount Everest on May 22. Many teams had to line up for hours to reach the summit, risking frostbite and altitude sickness. Project Possible via AFP - Getty Images

May 24, 2019, 6:52 AM CDT / Updated May 24, 2019, 7:10 AM CDT
By Saphora Smith

LONDON — The deaths of three more climbers on Mount Everest have raised concerns that a traffic jam of mountaineers near the summit is making the ascent even more treacherous.

Officials and mountaineering agencies confirmed to NBC News Friday that three Indian nationals died on Thursday while trying to climb the world’s highest mountain, which sits on the border of Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of South-west China.

Nihal Bagwan, 27, died after collapsing from exhaustion on the balcony area of the mountain where he was waiting in a line to reach the summit, according to Krishma Poudel of Peak Promotion, a mountaineering agency in Nepal.

Anjali Kulkarni, 54, and Kalpana Das, 49, also died while descending the mountain on Thursday, according to Mira Acharya, the director of Nepal’s Department of Tourism. Their cause of deaths is not yet known, she added.

The news comes after it was confirmed that an American man from Utah also died earlier this week having reached the summit and fulfilling his life’s dream, his children told NBC affiliate KSL-TV. Don Cash, 55, was a passionate climber who had left his job to join the "Seven Summits Club," — in which climbers attempt to summit the highest mountain on every continent.

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[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Isn't there someone or some organization that could actully

limit permits to summit?

Then there are all the bodies on the mountain.

[obamanut2012]

2. The governmnets sell the permits, and they are not going to limit anything

They make huge amounts of money from it.

People who climb Everest know there is a very real chance of them dying as soon as they enter the Death Zone. Literally no one is forcing them to risk their life -- they pay a huge amount of money to do so.

[csziggy]

4. I bet if they limited the climbing permits and auctioned them off the gov't would make more money

As would the Sherpas and everyone else involved. And fewer people would die.

But I am not a climber and lost my fascination with Everest years ago (even though I have had cats named Edmund, Hillary, Tenzing, and Tashi {named for Tenzing Norgay's grandson}.

[RichardRay]

3. Easy solution.

No more tours. No more guides. No more helicopters to Base Camp. Fair wages for potters and climbing Sherpas.

Problem solved.

[Codeine]

5. The entire economy of the region

is built on climbing. Nobody benefits from shutting it down with draconian rules like that.

[RichardRay]

9. Even the Goddess Mother of Mountains can't absorb this kind of use.

My suggestions will not shut down climbing on Chomolungma. Hey would restrict it to people who know what they’re doing. They’ll still hire porters (probably a lot more of them and definitely Sherpas). Note the inclusion of a fair wage for those folks. If the Nepalese and Chinese governments have created false economies they will need to address the problems, but it can’t go on this way.

[2naSalit]

6. +1

That needs to happen with a number of hot tourism spots that are getting trashed by having too many people going to them and others making a profit from it.

[dumbcat]

12. I don't think the people in the area are seeking a solution

I don't think they see a problem. A few climbers dying isn't going to affect their business. Quite possibly, if fewer climbers died, the activity might lose some of it appeal and demand would lessen. Not everyone in the world thinks as we do.

[Initech]

7. And that's why I'm not a mountain climber.

[edhopper]

8. The problem comes from the very limited window

when a summit climb is possible.

Almost 300 people have died climbing Everest. About 6% of all the climbers.

[FakeNoose]

10. Risking their lives to get that selfie

Maybe Olan Mills should set up a studio on the summit.

[Brother Buzz]

11. There may already be an espresso maker up there

Jon Krakauer, in his excellent read, Into Thin Air, mentions the wealthy socialite who paid a Sherpa to haul up her espresso maker. Jon didn't name her, but everybody knew who it was.


A word of caution: DO NOT READ INTO THIN AIR IN THE DEAD OF WINTER.

[Beringia]

13. That is absurd to see so many people in a remote area

[KG]

14. gee what's so special about it anymore if there's a line.