<story><title>Everest through the eyes of a Sherpa</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ahelwer</author><text>Summiting Everest, as a tourist, is basically unimpressive and a strong indicator you&amp;#x27;re an empty box-checker. Any moderately fit person with $100k lying around can get short-roped or crawl up the fixed lines to the top while sucking down bottles of oxygen, endangering the lives of the people helping them on their way.&lt;p&gt;If you meet someone who has climbed Everest, don&amp;#x27;t validate their ego.</text></comment>
<story><title>Everest through the eyes of a Sherpa</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>RcouF1uZ4gsC</author><text>I remember hearing a talk by Ed Viesturs who was the first American to climb all 14 eight-thousanders&lt;p&gt;He emphasized that his rule was that going up was optional, coming down wasn’t and told a story of this one mountain climb where they spent weeks getting ready to the point where they were ready to summit. I don’t remember the details, but for some reason they were not able to get the start they wanted and it would be close to being dark by the time they got back from the summit. Instead of risking it, he aborted and came back the next year.&lt;p&gt;Sometimes knowing when to abort an endeavor is one of the most important skills.</text></comment>