Mt. Everest & Extremism in general.

Avatar for cfk_3
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-1999
Mt. Everest & Extremism in general.
26
Wed, 12-20-2006 - 7:25pm

Would you risk life and limb to climb a mountain such as Everest? What if you married someone who was a climber, would you let them go? I wonder how these extreme sports enthusiasts get insurance? What drives them to such dangerous feats? Does anyone know anyone like this? I do not.

I watched the Discovery Channel last night. There are something like 200 dead bodies on Everest. With today's news about the search being called off for the two climbers on Mount Hood, I am both saddened and intrigued. I can't wrap my brain around the thought that someone would risk their life, losing an appendage or a limb for a sport.

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Avatar for cl_shywon
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 9:52am

I think stuff like that- the extreme sports- is all about proving yourself.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2003
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 10:50am

There's an article I just read about the circus that Mount Everest has become. People with NO climbing experience at all can pay X amount of dollars to have a shirpa guide them to the top. There are the expensive trips and the cheapie trips. And, yes, there are many dead folks on the mountain because the drive to reach the top is so great and the weather so extreme and difficult that you risk your OWN life to save someone elses.

It's insane. Myself, I have no desire to climb a mountain. Well, not THAT mountain anyway. And would I let a man I married do it? I would not even marry a man with that kind of drive. That's an obsessive/compulsive drive and I could not deal with it. My boyfriend had an ex-girlfriend with that sort of drive. She went to Machu Picchu for three weeks on a very strenuous backpacking trip. She came back 20 pounds lighter (when she was already very, very thin to begin with) because she did not eat and just kept going even though she was exhaused and starving.

I don't understand that sort of drive - I certainly don't have it. I would venture to say it's almost an adreneline high and a form of low self-esteem that you have to ACCOMPLISH something to feel you're worthy.

Avatar for cfk_3
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-1999
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 11:08am
I agree with both you and Shy. I wish I knew someone who is into this sort of thing, but I don't. I would be so interested in learning what motivates them. I know that some of these people are adrenaline junkies but there has to be more to it than that, some deplete their retirement funds in order to achieve this goal. Most of of them have spouses and children at home. I know that they don't lose people on the mountain every year, but it does happen.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2005
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 11:19am

Well, I've never been interested in mountain climbing, but I've done some other extreme things -

skydiving, parasailing, gliding, etc.

When I was younger I did 3 day eventing. I still foxhunt and jump - risky sports but not death defying.

The risk and challenge is the pull. You are pushing yourself past fear and the rush when you accomplish your goal is amazing.


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2003
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 12:10pm

There is a very good book on this very subject - "Into Thin Air," by John Krakauer, recounting his experience with a disasterous Everest climb in 1996.

In general, to me, it's insanity. Sit on the ground and snort up a line of cocaine and you've accomplished the same thing. You've gotten a high. Great. Now what? *shrug* I don't get it - either way.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2005
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 12:55pm

<<>>

There's a LOT more to it than that.

It takes a great deal of preparation - mental and physical. When you achieve what you've set out to do, the sense of accomplishment is indescribable.

Just because you don't get it, please don't insult those of us who challenge ourselves by comparing our activities to drug abuse.


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2003
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 1:43pm

>It takes a great deal of preparation - mental and physical. When you achieve what you've set out to do, the sense of accomplishment is indescribable.

Just because you don't get it, please don't insult those of us who challenge ourselves by comparing our activities to drug abuse.<

If I offended you then I apologize wholeheartedly. You go right ahead and scale those mountains and jump out of those planes and hunt those foxes and you have fun with it and revel in the accomplishment and the high that you get from it! Merry Christmas to you and yours! :)

Avatar for northwestwanderer
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 2:06pm

I read that book--it was good. The crazy thing, though, to me, was that apparently that book made MORE people want to climb Everest!! I don't get that *at all*--I thought the book made it sound like a TERRIBLE experience, even when things go right! Base camp sounded like one of the seven circles of hell, I thought.

Sheri

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2003
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 3:13pm

>The crazy thing, though, to me, was that apparently that book made MORE people want to climb Everest!!<

Sort of like recent story of the pit bull puppy who allegedly chewed off a baby's toes and suddenly there were scores of people who wanted to adopt this puppy! It's sort of a death wish - or proof that they can defy death or something.

Actually in my mind it truly is a "drug" addiction.

While reading this book on this horrible Everest experience, I ran across another article on aderenaline and the "fix" that these extremists need to have from time to time. I pulled this snippet from that article:

(In relation to the term "Adrenaline Junkie")

"Originally, it (Adrenaline Junkie) was used to describe argumentative people who deliberately (consciously or unconsciously) find excuses to explode in order to get an adrenaline fix. After the adrenaline rush wears off, they become agitated, which causes them to seek another reason to explode to get another fix. This mode of receiving a fix is deemed just as addictive as a synthetic drug (such as cocaine), but perhaps more harmful as it negatively involves other people."

and

"A typical adrenaline junkie enjoys engaging in extreme sports and other intense or dangerous activities, such as:"

... and the list includes sports such as mountain climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, rock climbing, parkour, and so forth.

To some it's a challenge, to others it's a fix.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2005
Thu, 12-21-2006 - 3:15pm

<<>>

How....sincere.

Errr...no, that's not the word I'm looking for.


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