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| Link to 'The Kathmandu Post' article. |
Today there were quite a few images of the crowds, lined up, clutching a fixed rope, trying to summit 'Everest'.
I was initially angered, but then saddened. This is NOT right. This is NOT right.
This is an insult to this mighty peak.
Where is the courage, commitment, adventure. You are going up clinging, desperately, to a fixed rope, across ladders, with sherpas at every turn to support you.
I was in my 20s and 30s a great Everest buff. I read many books on it & watched documentaries. See a picture of my now Everest library -- & I know that I have misplaced a few over the years.
Everest was first conquered, as far as we know, in May 1953, by Nepalese 'Sherpa Tenzing' & New Zealander (now) 'Sir Edmund Hillary'. There is still debate as to who was the first of these two to step foot on the summit with many now thinking it was Tenzing. May 1953 was just a few months before I was born.
When I was about 12, my adoptive father, an vociferous collector of books, gave me the 1954 book on that 1953 expedition by its leader "Sir John Hunt". I still have that book.
The early 1900s attempts, mainly British, to conquer Everest was the stuff of legends. They were profiles in courage. Inspiring stuff.
Now all of that has been degraded. Diminished. All for money. Shame.
It angers me ... but at the same time it makes me sad. Shame.
😔
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