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 By Alissa Levy, CBC News Online
"I've talked to climbers who've been there and failed and their mission in life becomes to summit Everest. Something about that mountain is pulling these people back." There's no one answer to why people put themselves in this position. There are harder mountains (K2) and there are more beautiful mountains (Ama Dablam is often cited) but at 8,850 m, Everest is just so much higher, and therefore more difficult to summit without oxygen, it's a challenge climbers can't get anywhere else. "As I look around from the rock I am sitting on at Basecamp, I can see the magnificent landscape unfold before my eyes. There are so many unclimbed routes up so many mountains here in the Khumbu valley but they just don't hold the same draw that Mount Everest does." "Until last year I can't say I had ever interviewed a climber who thought he was going to die, who thought it was a real probability. Everyone thinks the risk is because someone else made a mistake or that it won't happen to them. That seems to be the attitude of most climbers. Now after the death of Ginette Harrison, the great American-British female climber, and the death of Alex Lowe, I've seen a little bit of an attitude change. Climbers are starting to think: 'if death got Alex and it got Ginette, and boy there weren't too many people better, it could happen to me.'" "The first body [I'd encountered] had left me badly shaken for several hours; the shock of encountering the second wore off almost immediately. Few of the climbers trudging by had given either corpse more than a passing glance. It was as if there were an unspoken agreement on the mountain to pretend that these desiccated remains weren't real - as if none of us dared to acknowledge what was at stake here."
In his diaries of his 2000 expedition Byron mentions his wife and son just about every other day - saying the hardest thing about the expedition is not the thin air, or the cold, or the dangerous weather, but being away from his family. George Martin of EverestNews.com has noticed a similar pattern with other climbers - the ones who have something to come home for are more likely to take a more conservative approach. They'll wait longer for good weather, prepare their equipment with extra care and be certain about their climbing partners. "I do see climbers when they get married, a number of them, when they take that step, become more concerned about the issues. Just getting married and having a life seems to have an impact on their concern for their own welfare." George Martin, EverestNews.com For the most important part of the climb - getting to the summit and back - climbers are on their own, but for just about everything else, teamwork is essential. Climbers who are counting on their own strength and wits to survive must also be willing to put trust in their fellow teammates. For climbers who think that the only way something will go wrong is if someone else makes a mistake, that trust can feel like a risky step. Each climber has to make a judgement call, not only on his or her own chances for survival but on the ability of their teammates as well."In climbing, having confidence in your partners is no small concern. One climber's actions can affect the welfare of the entire team. The consequences of a poorly tied knot, a stumble, a dislodged rock, or some other careless deed are as likely to be felt by the perpetrator's colleagues as the perpetrator. Hence it's not surprising that climbers are typically wary of joining forces with those whose bona fides are unknown to them."
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