Everest Madness

[minx]

i'm pretty sure i was drunk most of the time i was 20. climbing everest is probably a better use of time. i'm not sure it's more fun though.

 

hey whatever floats your boat right?

[glassgowkiss]

Alright, alright. Her dad Jerome is a really nice guy, and posts here fairly regularly. I think it's a great accomplishment at that age.

depends if she did it with oxygen or without. any peak in this day and age climbed with oxygen is just another wank fest- regardless of your age- period. and wether you are nice or a total asshole (i personally preffer to be the later one) has nothing to do with acompishment cryteria of high altitude climbing.

[Dru]

Is this a "new speed record"?

[Ed_Hobbick]

If she's having the most fun she is the best climber in the world.

[tread_tramp]

Alright, alright. Her dad Jerome is a really nice guy, and posts here fairly regularly. I think it's a great accomplishment at that age.

depends if she did it with oxygen or without. any peak in this day and age climbed with oxygen is just another wank fest- regardless of your age- period. and wether you are nice or a total asshole (i personally preffer to be the later one) has nothing to do with acompishment cryteria of high altitude climbing.

 

This thread is the fuckin wankfest. At 20 with just five years of climbing it's not like your going to set any standard that's going to impress this crowd of hardmen and college climbers. I think it is a great way to spend her time and her daddy's money.

[Kraken]

She accomplished something EACH AND EVERY ONE of you would GLADLY do if you had the time, money and ability. So shut up and quit bitching and saying her accomplishment is no big deal. It all boils down to jealousy and contempt. Give it a rest will you?

 

"Other than time, money, and general fitness, there's nothing challenging about slogging the seven summits. "

 

Bullshit yet again. Need I even count how many people die on these "slogs" each year? Oh yeah...easy.

 

I just find it so funny and disgusting how people are always trying to bring down others' accomplishments. Word to everyone...money may get you to basecamp, but it can't get you up the mountain. She did this herself. Give her credit where credit is due.

 

And everyone would love to stand on the top of Everest, no matter what you say. It's just bullshit. this entire thread of responses is bullshit. Just because YOU can't, you don't think anyone should? Come on.

 

I will admit part of her website is a little fishy, but oh well.

 

So I'm going to do Denali next spring from the West Rib for my first time on the mountain...is that cheap? You won't be doing it so it probably will.

 

Congratulations Danielle, you did a good job and i'd love to have your experiences. Being the same age as you are I really envy you and all that you've already experienced. You've lived what I am dreaming to someday accomplish.

It's neat taht it was a girl too who did this.

[tomtom]

Yes, the locals have a tendency to wrench their shoulders out of joint patting each other on the back for climbing the West Butt of Denali, something Danielle has done as well.

[Dru]

She accomplished something EACH AND EVERY ONE of you would GLADLY do if you had the time, money and ability. So shut up and quit bitching and saying her accomplishment is no big deal. It all boils down to jealousy and contempt. Give it a rest will you?

 

 

given the time and money (ability needed to jug up some sherepa-fixed lines while sucking 02 is pretty minimal) i would rate everest as pretty low on my list of things to do. i'd rather go to the karakoram, siguniang or garwhal with that much $$ and free time. there are also other people here who, apparently unlike you, danielle and annabelle, have enough imagination to think beyong a puff piece tick list.

 

fuck rainier and denali too.

[Kraken]

How sweet Dru. For myself though, when I climb, I don't want to do the "standard route." Am I a super-human climber? No. I just have faith in my abilities and do agree that getting to the summit of a mountain should be hard and involve some true climbing or steep sections.

 

That's why i'm not doing the West Buttress on Denali. I'd rather challenge myself instead of being positive i'd be able to reach the summit from the Butt.

 

Still, dudes and dudets...even with all the O's and sherpa support in the world, getting to the top of Everest isn't easy. If I do indeed get an opportunity to try Everest many years from now, I hope to attempt it without the use of O's. I'd rather climb other peaks in the Himalyas though I think before Everest.

[tread_tramp]

She accomplished something EACH AND EVERY ONE of you would GLADLY do if you had the time, money and ability. So shut up and quit bitching and saying her accomplishment is no big deal. It all boils down to jealousy and contempt. Give it a rest will you?

 

 

given the time and money (ability needed to jug up some sherepa-fixed lines while sucking 02 is pretty minimal) i would rate everest as pretty low on my list of things to do. i'd rather go to the karakoram, siguniang or garwhal with that much $$ and free time. there are also other people here who, apparently unlike you, danielle and annabelle, have enough imagination to think beyong a puff piece tick list.

 

fuck rainier and denali too.

 

And what with juggin them lines on 8k peaks she'll probably never find time to get any way near 25,000 posts on cc.com. geesh

[iluka]

While the age issue, self-aggrandizement issue and all the other stuff everyone is discussing above is interesting... I want to know if the Ritalin has any effect on her ability to perform/adapt to the high altitude

[erden]

Theodore Roosevelt said in 1910 during a speech he gave at the Sorbonne:

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of a great achievement; and who at worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. For those who have had to fight for it, life has truly a flavour the protected shall never know."

 

Then, there was this guy who rowed across an ocean single handed for the first time - John Fairfax, (First man to row an ocean single-handed, Canaries-Florida, 1969; first to row across the Pacific with Sylvia Cook, San Francisco-Australia, 1971-72) who said:

 

I DON’T think that those of us who have felt the need to climb a mountain or row an ocean have done it, or will do it, "because it’s there" but "because we are here." Without us mountains and oceans have no meaning by themselves: they "are there" and always will be but, for a very, very few, their presence inspires a dream of pitting our puny strength against their might, and to conquer not them but ourselves. The quest to prove worthy of an almost inconceivable challenge is our greatest reward.

 

To us it is not the final result that matters but how we measure up to our self-imposed task to confront and do battle with Nature at its rawest. And those who die in the attempt do not die in defeat; quite the opposite, their death is, in many ways, a triumph, the symbol of that indomitable human spirit that will break before it bends. To test what we are made of, that is our pursuit.

 

So it is not the opinions of the observers and critics that count, but the inward journey of the doers that give meaning to the experience.

 

We will always climb at the limits of our own mental and physical abilities as we progress through life, not necessarily at the hardest levels that may draw accolades from others, and that is the beauty of the game that we have chosen for ourselves called climbing.

 

Cheers,

 

Erden.

[ashw_justin]

Who could blame her? I think there are probably better ways to spend your time and money climbing than to do the 7 seven summits, but I'm sure it was fun. You can't expect her to be responsible for her publicity, that's the work of her sponsors. They are paying for the opportunity to aggrandize her. She on the other hand is out bagging peaks and probably cares very little about what's being said.

 

Records are BS. Being the "X" to do "Y" doesn't really mean anything, because climbing is personal. She's the first Danielle Fisher to climb seven peaks that she wanted to climb. And she was lucky enough to get the generous support and free time needed. Good for her. Hopefully she will remain interested in climbing and seek even greater challenges.

[Jens]

I didn't read the whole thread but I think it is an awesome accomplishment she did. And we have to congratulate a fellow WA climber.

____________________

As a sidenote:

What happened to that Englishman on Everest this year who had recently had quadrupple bypass heart surgery and told the climbing press that he was terrified of heights? Did he summit?

[glassgowkiss]

i just think climbing is about style. of course there are no comissions validating ascents. a lot of people argue that they climb for themselves. but when you start hype and marketing and money raising speaking circut you are no longer climbing for yourself. you are entering slippery slope of public domain, where criticism is a part of the game. i actually saw her speaking in b-ham at footworx. i was not that impressed.

i personally don't think jugging up fixed lines, that they were not set on her own and oxygen use are the 2 primary aspects in question. i don't think she would be able to get to the top on her own, by "fair means".

[barjor]

I don't really care how people get to the summit and what goals that drives them. I have my own climbing philosiphy and as long as other peoples climbing style don't mess to bad with my goals I don't care. They have to live with there style and I am happy to live with my style.

Edited June 8, 2005 by barjor

[thelawgoddess]

Bullshit Gary. ADD is real. I think it's over diagnosed and I agree the pharmas have a big stake in that, but if you see someone with a severe case, you wouldn't be so dismissive.

i also call bullshit on gary's remarks. i do agree, though, that many people use add as an excuse and claim to have it when they don't. just about everybody could claim to have add based on one or two "symptoms" but that is not how add works. i also don't think danielle's add is going to negatively affect her climbing. from what i've seen add traits are pretty useful in that realm. people with add will hyperfocus on things of interest to them, making it fairly easy to accomplish "big" things while still unable to accomlish "normal" or "everyday" things. and imho, meds should only be for the latter and can definitely be worked around.

 

in any case, it may not be everybody's dream, but climbing the 7 summits is an accomplishment. kudos to her having a goal, not to mention going after and getting it.

[glassgowkiss]

well, the question is if jugging fixed ropes (set by sherpas) and using suplementary oxygen is a valid ascent. i think messner called it murder of impossible. maybe it can be a good hype for main streem media targeting fat MILF's from mid west, but i put all these ascents into questionable category.

[AlpineK]

i just think climbing is about style. of course there are no comissions validating ascents. a lot of people argue that they climb for themselves. but when you start hype and marketing and money raising speaking circut you are no longer climbing for yourself. you are entering slippery slope of public domain, where criticism is a part of the game. i actually saw her speaking in b-ham at footworx. i was not that impressed.

i personally don't think jugging up fixed lines, that they were not set on her own and oxygen use are the 2 primary aspects in question. i don't think she would be able to get to the top on her own, by "fair means".

 

Climbing is about style. Most peaks you can walk to the top of. Now you can fly to the summit of E in a helicoptor (though I bet the pilot didn't shut off the engine ) We all choose the rules by which we play the game.

 

Climbing Everest is a challenge no doubt. Even with O2 and ropes. I wouldn't put it in the same catagory as technical climbing, and given enough time and money I think a lot of people could do it (a lot of people already do it).

 

I'm turned off by the hype, but it is a better thing to be doing than most 20 year olds usually do.

[glassgowkiss]

my point is if you take away sherpas (ie. people who carry all the heavy shit and fix ropes) and O2, 90% of people whould not move past the basecamp.

[AlpineK]

Oh I agree with that. Yet summiting is a challenge; just not really what I would call a technical climbing challenge.

[Alex]

Bob, one way to look at this is how does caring about oxygen and sherpas (a "style" argument?) make one any different than say....oh...a Dan H0witt who cares about style in official timers and so on for speed ascents? Or whether you pull on gear while climbing Girth Pillar? It is no different.

 

That people readily see Dan H's agenda as completely silly, but yet when the same things are applied to a slightly different scenario they somehow becomes a more interesting or somehow important question!?! Style, like the climbing accomplishment itself, matters ONLY to the person doing the climbing. Who cares?

[tomtom]

Ice tools are aid.

[glassgowkiss]

Alex, i think you are mixing 2 things. DH and his circus of circle jerk friends was just a fraud. it wasn't about the style, but if he did the route in such and such time.

my point is this though- you might claim you climb for yourself- fine. but as soon as you step into a public spotlight that argument goes out of the window. like i said- it's a slippery slope. i catually saw her during one of the fundraisers. and i can tell you this- there were a lot of big misrepresentations while she was speaking about this climb in particular.

political correctness is stupid- you have to call bullshit when you see it.

[ashw_justin]

well, the question is if jugging fixed ropes (set by sherpas) and using suplementary oxygen is a valid ascent. i think messner called it murder of impossible. maybe it can be a good hype for main streem media targeting fat MILF's from mid west, but i put all these ascents into questionable category.

 

You're right, this isn't really "climbing." The best description is more like "aid hiking." If I were to climb the dog route on one of the local volcanoes, that would pretty much be a hike. If I did it with oxygen and fixed lines, that would be an "aid hike." You'd be pretty hard pressed to do any actual "climbing," for example how often does the ice axe become more than a walking stick on most common summit routes? I know there are some steeper sections on the main Everest route, but just because you are on a mountain, doesn't automatically mean you are climbing--except in laymans' terms. Most people consider going to the summit of something to automatically qualify as climbing. That does happen to be the general definition. But then again we also "climb" stairs (and even if Everest isn't a "climb", it sure as hell must be one of the hardest, coldest, most dangerous flight of stairs known to man).

 

Anyway good on her, she did something that would kick a lot of our asses, aid or not, and I clearly sense some jealousy.