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Skiing Down Everest
dalibor writes: "Tired of skiing in crowded tourist resorts? Why not ski from the top of Everest, where you can enjoy virgin snow and ski for 4,000 meters? Davo Karnicar from Slovenia is the first to have accomplished a full top-to-bottom ski descent from the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest! The event was transmited live via the Internet. http://www.everest.simobil.si/" Yahoo has a great report.
The article mentions that he is a father of three. Does anyone else find it irresponsible that he, and any of the other everest climbers, would risk his life for a thrill when he has a family with young children?
News for nerds. I love skiing. I'm sure there's a ton of other people out there who read slashdot for the variety of news it carries, not because it is a website devoted to ridding the world of the evil empire microsoft (or sports for that matter).
What? I was there too - I rolled down from it last winter. Why didn't I see you?
Um, while I might be ruining a perfectly good marriage here, I'm forced to translate this sentence and hope, that your wife didn't say that to your mother, and told her and you that it was the slovenian way of saying hello. Basically, what is means is "You damned old woman" - and that's a slightly too literal of a translation. Call me if you need help in finding a good divorce lawyer. Dave
I wonder how much money and how many people risk thier lives to go rescue these idiots when they get lost/break a leg/get frostbit/get snowed under/get even less intelligent?
Well, this was one of several slovenian expeditions in last few years. A couple of guys stayed in the mountain. Nobody risked their life to save them. When you try to climb Everest and you don't come down, people tend to leave you there rather than stupidly risk their life trying to find you.
disclaimer: I might be right.
I absolutely love snow skiing - it is easily my favorite sport. But I see the original poster's point. Skiing anywhere is fairly dangerous and Everest is pretty nuts. :)
Don't forget the dead bodies.
Anyone who dies over 7500 mts generally isn't brought down. There are a couple of bodies on the South Col, a few on the North side and a couple more scattered about...
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Ever notice how the real Slashdot members like it, yet the Anonymous Cowards/Pubescent Moderators don't? Well, too bad. King's score of 1 beats out the combined score of the nay-sayers, which is: 0.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
You see I'd just say it has to do with their breeding.
--Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
or inbreeding, for that matter.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Well that explains why it was all icy and he had such a hard time.
-Chris
The article sez, "..the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest!"
Wrong! Wrongwrongwrong! Mt. Everest is the highest mountain. Denali (Mt. McKinley, to all you cheechakos) is the tallest mountain.
Everest is a mere 11,000 feet tall, a mineral midget in the mountain menagerie. No, Denali is definitely the dominant (word for mountain that starts with 'D'), at 17,000 feet (base-to-peak).
So, what's the rating on that ski, anyway? Double-diamond?
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
wonderful, another way for some multi-milloinaire to come along and buy his next little merrit badge, ( I skied down everest NO FEAR gear). Whats next? Corporate team building skiing trips? I wonder how much money and how many people risk thier lives to go rescue these idiots when they get lost/break a leg/get frostbit/get snowed under/get even less intelligent?
HA! I'd been ignoring you for months, so I wasn't aware of your new M.O. until today.
I must say, I'm very proud of you ;)
The Meaning of Life
great comedy company.
no but have you ever had sex while skiing? mmmm x-treme...
heh, I've grown sick of /., so now I'm just trying to troll/burn karma, much more fun than coming up with bullshit to post :)
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
If he lingers at the bottom of the mountain too long, does that monster come after him and eat him up?
It's not the tallest mountain, just the highest point on Earth (tallest mountain 'above sea level' even). The tallest mountain is Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. Everyone knows this... :) :) :)
-Chris
Give him a break. This is an interesting story.
Personally, I downhill ski. Alot. And I thought this was a very impressive story. One of the primary reasons I read SlashDot is because its different. What's wrong with a "different" story every now and then?
I have done a good amount of skiing that most people would qualify as extreme, and let me just say that climbing to the top is always the hardest part. The skiing is the reward for your climb and for your planning. To be honest, Everest probably wasn't that hard to ski. Being the tallest mountain in the world doesn't make it the steepest or the most difficult skiing terrain. I'm sure it was hard, but most people with a solid background in extreme skiing probably wouldn't have too hard a time with it. The hard part would STILL be the ascent. Climbing Mt. Everest, with or without skis on your back, is one of the most dangerous activities a human can do.
Intercarve Networks, LLC
Does anyone else find it irresponsible that he, and any of the other everest climbers, would risk his life for a thrill when he has a family with young children?
That's a damn silly question or statement. If having children meant the end of all challange and risk, having children wouldn't be worth living.
Just about the riskiest thing we do in normal daily life is to drive our cars and/or cross the street, and both of these are very risky in statistical terms despite the fact that we think of them as mundane. Are you suggesting that we give up such dangerous activities when we have children? Are we meant to tuck ourselves away in a cocoon?
For goodness sake. If anything, it's a stronger argument that one could increase exposure to risk if one were so inclined after having children, since one's genetic inheritance is then already released for posterity. Mind you, I don't buy that either. We're not here for long, so we have to make life worth living whatever our stage in life. That almost always involves risk.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Right - although "Biddy" or "Bitch" might be a closer translation than woman - and I was intentionally saying that to the above idiot rather than say "Dober dan" or "Dobre utro" or "Zhivio" or any other common greeting.
The poster was acting like a whining little bitch, and I called him on it.
Fawking Trolls!
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Jed Babbin
now the question is who will be the first person to free dive to the deepest part of the ocean =P~ the world is full of idiots =P~ why induce pain one to thier self inorder to say "hey i was the first to do it" thats like responding to a slashdot poast with the body "first" when ya are really the 3rd post im sure some one did it before but it was probally prehistoric, we should celebrate Uglug the caveman who really did it first cause a dinosaur was chaseing his ass... or maybe it was a prehistoic tux charging at 60mph
DD..III.EEE.TTT.U.U.X.X
D D..I..EE...T..U.U..X.
DD..III.EEE..T..UUU.X.X
DD..III.EEE.TTT.U.U.X.X
D D..I..EE...T..U.U..X.
DD..III.EEE..T..UUU.X.X
Shouldn't everybody know by know that Everest is a mere hill, the only *mountain* is K2
In Murphy We Turst
ehmm im slovenian the translation is close enough but its "Dobro jutro" and "Zivjo".
Hey, finding a dead body isn't that much of a feat when going down Everest - there is around 120 corpses that remain there. (source:http://www.everest.simobil.si/eng/everestt rivia.shtml)
Its the worlds highest graveyard..
...when's the lift going in?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Suprisingly, the Falls aren't the most dangerous part of the whole trip - it's if you can make it through the rapids that follow, and get yourself out of the whirlpool after that... You can still see barrel pieces in the whirlpool occasionally.
One woman took her dog with her down the falls, made it through the rapids, and was stuck in the whirlpool for six hours. Her dog found a hole in the barrel and managed to find enough oxygen to survive -- she didn't.
All I can say is, smart dog.
-k-
That's one of the sillies things I've ever seen here. I've yet to work with geeks that weren't into sports. Sure, not ALL off them, but most. One of the funnest things I ever did was go on a ski trip with two. . Generally participating more than the average set of fans.
On a somewhat related, note my Sonners kicked Texas' ass 63-14!
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DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
Crap! Shoulda previewed, I meant the Sooners (Oklahoma that is)
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DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
"Into Thin Air" and "The Climb" both, IIRC, described some pretty filthy base camps.
Perhaps things have made a significant change for the better in the past half-decade.
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
well... 51/52 weeks of a year I'm geek. One week is for downhill. Maybe you don't like it, but don't forget, it's very healthy....
:)))
Zumu
"getting on your binding, and go. Never mind about your company... eeerr... well, they can pay the funeral...
not extroverted athletes.
remember people, "sports is our enemy". it threatens the survival of our intellectual culture.
"lost two fingers to frostbite when skiing down Everest in a failed attempt in 1996." he may only have 8 fingers, but he has gotta have a big set of balls to make up for it. If I lost a few fingers skiing, I would prolly switch to a different hobby, like... tv
mmmmmmm Shiner Bock
What's up, guys? Going to start the Slashdot Sports Network now?
...going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
-Karl
How much would a ticket cost?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I can see a very lucrative hot cocoa endorsement coming out of this.
The skier was wearing a GNU range of Slackwear fashion ski clothing, topped off with a Redhat. To get up to full speed he Tux his poles behind him.
He would have gone faster but his off piste route was Apache one...
I'll get my coat....
ozric.net
This guy had to have a lot of tech working for him, ie His modified skis, clothing that would keep him warm but still allow him to ski comfortably, cameras that would work in that weather. (I'm on a 14.4, so I'm not gonna even try to see the video...) I
To write a haiku - all you need is the correct - number of syli...
I think I've been reading Slashdot at -1 for too long. After reading the Yahoo article and switching to the main site, after a couple of minutes all I could think was, "why can't I find a picture of the mystery frozen body they found?"
I think I need to get out more.
It is much more fun to waste your time doing something when you accept it for what it is: A waste of time.
Cheers!
Try doing this in Windows
"pr0n": An anagram of "porn," possibly indicating the use of pornography. - www.microsoft.com
The "trash" isn't as bad as you make it sound. It's oxygen bottles left from a few decades of climbing. No one wants to carry extra weight, so they'd just drop them when they were empty.
The Nepalese government with private sponsors (like Nike) now pay cash money to anyone who brings a bottle off the mountain, so the sherpas are carrying down well more than are being left. Most of the huge caches of spent bottles have already been taken down by sherpas who want to get extra money...
I'm an investigator. I followed a trail there.
Q.Tell me what the trail was.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
That must have been a pretty interesting ride. However, when I first saw the news item and read it, I could have sworn they were talking about skiing in Everquest!
No, the trash is as bad as he makes it sound.
The base camps are filthy: litter and human feces. It's freaking disgusting.
Really? Which team were you on when you went to Everest? While there was the occassional humorous bit of trash (frozen japanese candy from 1973) I didn't see any significant rubbish. And human feces is a strict no-no; every team has been responsible for carting it off the mountain for many years now.
I've got pictures of the sherpas carrying barrels of feces down from base camp -- not the guy you want to trip and spill his load!
Every team leaves a significant deposit as part of the climbing permit -- if they don't bring back their own trash and waste they lose the deposit. And you have to pay for a government official to accompany you for the entire time (not cheap) to verify compliance.
I'm an investigator. I followed a trail there.
Q.Tell me what the trail was.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
FIRST POST! Pol pa svizec zavije cokolado v folijo! (Translation: And the the hedgehog wraps the chocolate into aluminum foil ) You really should be slovenian to get the joke, but let's just say it's froma commecrcial for - chocolate, one that includes hedgehogs wrapping chocolate into aluminum foil and a geeky guy explaining that to a girl in a supermarket. As I said, you need to be slovenian to get it ;)
Sorry... I'm trolling, I know.
There is a pretty intense book about Everest. It tells the true story about the events surrounding the tragedy when famous kiwi mountaineer Rob Hall and American Scott Fischer died on a summit attempt on Everest in 1996. - We've got the big "E" all figured out. Legendary climber, Scott Fisher, circa 1995. Mother nature it seems, is not without a sense of irony. The book -- Into thin air. Jon Krakauer.
It happened in 1970, but no one in the mainstream was interested in using the film footage. Budge Crawley of Crawley films in Ottawa Canada took up the challenge. The film won the academy award for the Best Feature Lenght Documentary in 1976.
I (hereby) disagree.
--Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
Then it's irresponsible to be a race driver, a fire fighter, a policeman !
I bet you his children are damn proud of him..
We are talking about an exceptional man that achieved something that not everyone can..
Their histories are often as chaotic as you can imagine: bad family relationships, broken marriages, out of wedlock children with several different partners, bankruptcies and tax liens, multiple serious car accidents, drug and alcohol problems, fistfighting, and criminal records related to all the above.
Sounds like your typical Jerry Springer show. North American climbers are not "all the climbers".
Bruno Gouvy did it back in the early 90's, ON A SNOWBOARD... shortly after he died by falling in a crevasse in some alp region...
moo.
The popular spots in the Himalayas *are* getting worryingly filthy. I haven't been in tha Everest area (which btw isn't that hard to access; trekking to Everest Base Camp is hugely popular, it's only going up further that gets hard), but I've been in the Annapurna range, and I was apalled at the amount of junk that litters the paths there. The camp at Thorung Phedi (last stop before the Thorung La, at 4100m or so) is quite dirty. Of course, the view from there more than compensates for it ;)
Or what about the time Homer sledded down from the new top of Mt. Springfield using a frozen dead guy. I believe that was the "power sauce bar" episode.
Ti prekleta stara baba! (Ask a Slovenian to translate for you - my wife is, and I'm learning the language.)
Fawking Trolls!
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Jed Babbin
This just makes me think of the time Homer fell down the Springfield gorge. Doh DOh Doh Doh DoH doh :)
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I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Because I thought it was neat.
Guy skis down Everest, after having lost two fingers the last time he tried it, with a camera on his head, sees a dead body on the way down, another person who thought they had it in them but didn't.
You can't tell me that isn't neat.
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Michael Sims-michael at slashdot.org
... or rather a geek (my preferred term).
But I also play sports, I imagine quite a few of those here do.
I also find things other than computers interesting.
Strangely enough I even believe in God.
So remember, you do not define what a nerd is, nor what necessarily interests them.
Ad in classifieds: Pandora's Box (no box) $5
This looks like something that would only appeal to the super-rich, super-naïve, and the super-stupid.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Here it is.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
No, the trash is as bad as he makes it sound.
The base camps are filthy: litter and human feces. It's freaking disgusting.
If things are cleaner, it is only because there has been a strong effort over the past five years to clean up the mess of the previous thirty.
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
-pf
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You're right -- the popular trekking spots are fairly dirty, but the EBC is much cleaner than most anywhere else, in part because it's such a "special" place, and fairly remote compared to the standard trekking routes. The through-traffic isn't that bad, it's mostly the climbing teams who are there 24/7 for months on end that will generate trash, and they have a big financial incentive to not leave too much behind...
I'm an investigator. I followed a trail there.
Q.Tell me what the trail was.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
I snowboarded down it last winter.
Hehe, cool thanks!
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I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Oh no, not another smut page...
Phew. That was a close call.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
So, yeah, first top to bottom, but not first.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0073340
The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)
Documentary
"A Japanese skier ultimately dreamed of literally skiing Mt. Everest. He planned to ski some 8,000 feet down an icy glacier at a 40 to 45 degree angle, from the 26,000 foot level near the summit. This documentary chronicles this incredible feat and the tremendous task of climbing Everest itself. The narrator reads from the diary that the skier personally kept."
I don't see why so many people complaning about this story. For me is one of the best ones in a long time. Not that the other weren't good, they were, but this is diferent from the usual stuff the we re read here.
:-)
Just consider the fact that this story doesen't have any of the usual slashwords attached to it (:cuecat, echelon, linux, windows, NSA, DVD e etc). Isn't this great?
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"take the red pill and you stay in wonderland and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes"
[]'s Victor Bogado da Silva Lins
^[:wq
Tallest mountain in the world, and not only do we leave so much trash behind when we climb it that there are ongoing clean-up efforts to keep it from looking like the city dump, now we've got some guy skiing down it with a camera on his head.
I dunno, this just seems sort of disrespectful somehow.