Mt Hood - testing the limits: Is it a "guy thing" ?

[KurtNYC]

I'm not big on making alot out of gender differences so I am actually trying not to admit to this one but I have sort of an open question.

Is it just me or do guys have a thing about danger? Motorcycles, ice climbing, surfing, extreme skiing, skateboarding. These activities are dominated by men. There are female race drivers and general thrill seekers but the overwhelming majority are male. Is there something in the genes that clicks on about the same time as the urge to breed, something that drives males to tempt death? We are extras in the grand scheme of reproduction. The more expendable member of the human pair. We are drawn into this ignorantly like moths to a flame but rather seek out danger for its own sake, with knowledge of the risk. It is not the most rational drive. Darwin aside, it doesn't make good sense on the level of the individual.

But there is, ultimately, a reason "I climbed Mt. Hood" means something to those who have done it or those who would try but maybe that reason only really clicks with males.

[kiahzero]

1. Motorcycles aren't all that dangerous

At my motorcycle training course, there were roughly as many women as men. I don't think surfing or skateboarding are all that dangerous either.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. We are addicted to our own adrenaline and sex.

Men often can only be tamed by a woman - until that time comes, I believe that we are born with automatic self-destruct mechanisms - see the videos below:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2jf3eupPeQo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=viy9pWTGNys
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TokjJrMB9qs

[MrSlayer]

3. No, it's a dumbass thing.

Mountain climbing is one of the most pointless things you can do. As stupid as fashion but infinitely more dangerous.

[liberaltrucker]

5. Agreed

When or if I go to a mountiantop, which I'd love to do
someday, it'll be in a freakin' HELICOPTER

[janx]

8. Mountain climbing is not a dumbass thing.

The perspecitve with which you undertake it means a lot.

[sam sarrha]

10. bad weather, wrong time of the year, people die up there all the time .. they went up the NORTH

side of the mountain with an arctic storm on the way... all i can think of is that they had a death wish.

i grew up in the Sierra Nevada's.. weather was always a factor in everything we did in the winter..

[Vanje]

15. bull riding

Even more pointless.
even a real good ride dosnt look like all that much fun.

[MADem]

17. As stupid as fashion but infinitely more dangerous.

Well said, and so true!!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. Yes I agree

These guys did a very stupid thing and now they are all most likely dead. Where's the thrill in that?

[mwb970]

32. I hate to blame the victims.

But it does seem that they purposely risked their lives by making the climb the way they did. Whatever is in the DNA that makes people do that sort of thing, I guess I don't have it.

[flvegan]

26. How so? Or maybe the better question is, why?

Pointless? You mean like any sport? Any undertaking?

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. But not as stupid or pointless as football

After all, mountain climbers get to go somewhere new, not run back and forth in a hundred yard stretch.

[davepc]

4. Prehistoric man got his "kicks" hunting animals powerful enough to maim and kill him

I don't think the mechanisms that kicked in when they faced death, and avoided it, disappeared.

Since modern man doesn't have to face death getting his dinner, we substitute other activities to provoke the same emotional response.

[KurtNYC]

6. If testosterone and adrenaline were street drugs they would be illegal

If testosterone and adrenaline were street drugs, instead of manufactured by inside your body as they are, they would be illegal.

[sendero]

31. Well..

... testosterone IS a street drug, you can get it probably at most bodybuilding gyms, and it IS illegal :)

[janx]

7. Marketing and $$$$$$$$

XTREME sports.

It's not limited to guys. I've seen so much of it in the West, and I'm more than tired of it.

[angstlessk]

9. Here is an experience as a 'woman' climbing a mountain..not mountain climbing

but climbing a mountain in New Hampshire in the White Mountains. I had hiked and walked up the sides of a few mountains in W. VA and VA ...but I had not actually climbe (really walked up) a mountain. My boyfriend invited me to 'climb' this mountain...so I accepted.

We stared walking up from the base camp..and I quickly got out of breath...and thought..okay..I have to pace myself, cause stumbling up just aint doin it...I was able to keep up with him quite easily using my mind. We passed every other hiker on our way up. Then we got to the 'climbing' part..did not require ropes and such..just big boulders that needed to be climbed...I got out of breath pretty quickly there also..because it became a different type of exerction...but I was able to quickly 'pace' myself...again we passed everyone on the trail...we reached the 'summit'...so I relaxed every muscle and bone in my body...little did I know..there was a stariway to the 'summit house'..and since I had relaxed my body (I probably could have gone on another hour, had I not relaxed) I was forced to reach behind each thigh an raise my leg onto each step on the stairway...till I reached the top.

See women have ego's to win as well as men...it was not a real hard trip..but we almost ran up the moutainside..never stopping to enjoy the climb..

[janx]

13. "stopping to enjoy the climb"

Perfect!

I love to be outside, and I enjoy hiking, fishing, canoeing, and a myriad of other things, but I don't view any wilderness as my gymnasium playground.

Unfortunately, that is not the view of a lot of people today--the outdoors is a place to be CONQUERED, to be used as some kind of training ground or theme park. I hike, but I take my time. If I get winded, I slow down. I sit, occasionally, on the side of a trail or a stream so that I can listen to what's going on around me. I used to live in central/northern Colorado, and a lot of people ran past me up a western mountain, wearing IPODS or headphones and nylon shorts--they could have been running anywhere, really. They didn't notice their environment much. There were so many beautiful sights, sounds, and smells, but many people weren't there for that. Rocky Mountain National Park is like Disney World, and so is Boulder, Colorado and environs.

I still enjoy southern Colorado and also New Mexico, where I live now. If I make another move in my lifetime, it will be to Oregon or Alaska.

[Redneck Socialist]

11. A guy thing? By no means.

Check out the story of Karen McNeill and Sue Nott, two of the premier alpinists of our time male or female. Are there more men in the sport? Probably, but there are a significant amount of women climber and more every day.

Karen McNeill and Sue Nott, two of the foremost female alpinists in North America, are missing on 17,400-foot Mt. Foraker in the Alaska Range. The two women were aiming to make the first all-female ascent of the very difficult Infinite Spur (9,400 feet, Alaska Grade 6). They had planned to start up the climb on May 14, carrying about 10 days of food.

<snip>


McNeill, 37, from Canmore, Alberta, and Nott, 36, from Vail, Colorado, are two of the most accomplished women climbers on the continent. McNeill has climbed alpine routes all over the world; Nott has climbed Shivling and a new route on Kalanka in India, and has done the north faces of the Eiger and Grande Jorasses in winter. Two years ago, McNeill and Nott teamed up to climb the Cassin Ridge on Denali’s south face, making the first all-female ascent of the challenging route in very poor conditions; they suffered through three days without food and spent a night at the summit before safely descending.

Full story here:http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/mcneillnottmissing/

This is from a while back. Their bodies were never found. The route they were attempting is arguably the hardest climb in North America. You can get the full story in the latest edition of Outside magazine if you are curious.

[Vanje]

12. Way back in 1952, my dad made his first accent of Mt Hood

...with the Mazamas Mountaineering club. the leader of the climb was a middle-aged woman.

[blitzen]

16. My aunt was a middle-aged Mazama....

she climbed every alpine peak in OR and WA...probably climbed Hood over a hundred times, even well into her 60s.

[Vanje]

18. was her name.....

margaret?

[blitzen]

21. Yes!!! well, we call her Peggy

but I think that's a nickname for Margaret...

Her last name is Stone (although that side of the family originally was named Skonetzni).

Same person?

She's still living outside of Portland, although she can't really climb or hike anymore.

[Vanje]

25. Different mountaineering Margaret

Margaret Obertouffer passed away a few years ago. She and her husband Bill were long-time Oregon school teachers, sheep-ranchers, sustainable foresters, mountaineers and life-long raving liberals.

[blitzen]

27. i'll ask my aunt if she knows her....very likely does

they sound like cool people...i wish there were more raving liberal ranchers (although i suspect their numbers may be on the rise)

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. How do you accent a mountain?

Do you mean ascent?

[Wonk]

24. Móüntåîn

:-)

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. LOL

[Gregorian]

14. You want crazy? Here's crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jf3eupPeQo


PS- Humans have always done this stuff. We're just getting better. And more out there. This guy is dead now.

[AlienAvatar]

28. I saw that too

I like mountains and enjoy hiking and climbing, but this,... I don't know what to say except what you said. "This guy is dead now"

[Cleita]

22. Women like to do stuff like that too, however, when the

childbearing years arrive, it's the women who are mostly stuck home with the kids, while the guys still go off and do guy things. When I was a teenager, my dad was working in Chile very close to the Andes in the Atacama desert. He liked to go fishing and there was one river that he could do that. Also, getting to his favorite fishing spots, that were very remote and almost inaccessible, was an exercise in rock climbing and rappelling down canyons. I loved doing those things with him. Of course I left my high heels at home.

[Maiden England]

23. Uh, Girl here, rides, motorcycle.

Just to challenge a stereotype, its not always an adrenaline junkie riding one, mines a low fuel consuming way to travel and a way to see the country and make lots of friends. Please don't stereotype the motorcycling community with the thrill seekers. Of course there are those that ride sport bikes and like to ride to the limit, but its the first example you use and I'd like to educate others that some stereotypes are not deserved.

I'm also not sure how many have died skateboarding, or even surfing, and I'm sure the dangers involved in those sports are not quite as high as those climbing mountains in winter.

[Mojorabbit]

29. A woman here

who used to love to skydive.Can't do it anymore due to health reasons. Nothing like it when you open the chute and float like a feather. I also used to love bungee jumping. I don't think it is a male thing.

[H2O Man]

33. Nope.

Mountain climbing is often a "family" type of thing. I'd bet that my wife has climbed more mountains than most men. And so haven't the other women from her extended family.

[treestar]

35. It's cultural

There is something in our culture about pushing the limits, which has gone to ridiculous lengths, as we seem unable to do anything in moderation.

Throwing your life away doing something useless is no more for men that for women.

I thought men were supposed to try to impregnate as many women as possible, lol, now you have them expendable once they have fertilized the egg. Like a praying mantis.