The mountain is covered in unrecoverable corpses, trash and literal human shit, it's deadly, it's freezing cold, there's almost no oxygen, and there's a line to get to the peak once you get there. The only reason to keep this nonsense up is that it gives the Sherpas money they would otherwise not have and they're poor enough as it is.
Seriously though, why bother even if you love mountain climbing? Sure, it's the highest point on the planet, but wouldn't you rather climb something more pristine?
Yeah, just live in poverty instead. They’re practically forced to because nobody can turn down that money. You going to let your extended family starve?
These tourists pay huge sums of money; do you think it’s fairly distributed? Do you think the rich assholes treat these highly skilled mountaineers well? Despite all that, and the danger, they still do it because it’s good money. There’s not many high paying jobs in Tibet.
I still feel bad for the exploited sherpas. They’re in a shitty situation. This isn’t just as easy as “it’s a personal decision”, which is a fucked up perspective imo.
I would have thought that until I read Jon Krakauer's book about people ascending Everest, Into Thin Air, which includes a lady the Sherpas basically carried up.
And of course they put aside enough money to have their corpses removed and all the rubbish they took up with them....right?
Self indulgent, ego stroking narcissism is what this is.
They could have used their wealth to help community development programs in Nepal and pushed for making Everest a restricted world heritage site.
Oh no! Another rich person caring more about an Instagram photo then the environment on the mountain and the wellbeing of their sherpas has died! Aaaaanyway.