http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/world/asia/everest-deaths/index.html?hpt=hp_t1This is summit season. As there are most years, there are tragic deaths. As always, I can't decide whether the deaths were easily avoidable (don't try) or admirable for trying something very few people do. Climbing Everest would probably be at the top of more lists than anything else when it comes to human achievement. I ran four marathons in my younger days and there is no comparison whatsoever.
You will note that they died on the way down. Edmund Hillary himself, the original, said (paraphrased, and overstating the case to make a point) that any idiot can get to the top of Everest. The tricky part is getting back down safely. There have been climbers who were literally within sight of the summit, a couple hundred meters maybe, and made the decision to turn back because they thought the additional time and approaching cold, darkness, and elements would make the descent unacceptably risky. That must be a very hard decision to make considering all the preparation that went into the attempt. But compare it to the alternative. Now there is unsentimental good judgment IMO.
Are there any mountain climbers among us? We seem to have about everything else.
