JCC Mount Everest

Without in any way minimizing the terrible tragedy for Nepal as a whole, the latest Mount Everest disaster highlights the back-to-back years of high avalanche death tolls. I don't know if this is the first time the base camp has been hit hard, but 18 deaths this year surpasses last year's avalanche toll, making it the worst Everest disaster in history, the year after the second worst Everest disaster.

It's too bad Nepal had to deal with evacuating injured from the base camp along with all its other problems.

an overview of this year's avalanche.
last year's tragedy

The 2014 event of course became known as the start of a sherpa rights/improved working conditions movement. Hard to imagine how much working conditions can be improved, but the death benefits are a bit better now!


The Atlantic's 2014 statistical analysis of Everest deaths (mostly Sherpas, mostly avalanches)
The famous 1996 disaster

YouTube has a slide show of many of the corpses still littering the sides of the mountain. There are other videos of course showing all the other litter littering the sides of the mountain.

I'd say close this puppy down for climbing tourism.

 

Is Juliet is taking the day off?

 

I'm filling in.

Also, the 1996 disaster is getting a new feature movie treatment after having been the subject already of the made-for-tv movie treatment as well as multiple documentaries and books.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

Can you make a Yellowstone volcano thread?

 

By my calculation, if the same ratio of Yellowstone Park visitors and ranger staff died each year as Everest visitors and sherpas, about 200,000 people would die every year at Yellowstone.

 

Good riddance if people stop climbing. They leave a bunch of trash and risk their lives just to ascend an extremely inhospitable rock.

 

My guess though is that the 2015 Everest climbing season is over. Base camp is a mess. Nepal has other things to worry about. Be a good time for a break.

Most of the Everest deaths are Sherpas in avalanches and climbers without the proper skills, which apparently includes nearly half of them, falling and dying of altitude sickness/exposure, etc.

It's a great kind of Darwin award thing, but there are so many more efficient and inexpensive ways to die.

 

And what about

 

there's a pseudo documentary/drama about the last major K2 incident on Netflix.

 

What's it called?

 

K2

 

lol

 

*blows brains out*

 

lol, sorry, it's called "Disaster on K2."

 

Ok, I was wrong again. It's called "The Summit." I rewatched it last night. It gets a bit confusing because of the fluid and sneaky unsignalled cutting back and forth between interviews, actual photos, actual footage, and dramatic reenactments. The first time it happened it was a huge "what the ****?" moment for me, but it eventually becomes clear where it's happening.