Double Amputee Summits Everest - Sigh* When Will it Ever End?

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Monday, May 15. 2006

Double Amputee Summits Everest - Sigh* When Will it Ever End?

We've talked about the summits of Everest, the first this, the first that ad nauseum, yet, we still post it. The first double amputee summitted Everest last night.

11:05 pm EST May 15, 2006
May 16, 2006 - Expedition Update from Anne (Mark's wife):
"Hopefully the next update will come direct from Mark. But if you haven’t seen it on the news Mark reached the summit of Mt Everest on Monday 15 May, 2006. I haven’t spoken to him properly yet, just a call that said 'at Camp 4, I did it' before the phone cut out."

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I am so sick of this shit, I am not going to report on another summit of Everest this season, even if it's the first gay, half Filipino, woman, construction worker, with 2 orphan children. Call me jaded, and Graham can back me up on this, but not one of these 'climbers' is even close to Toli - who he was and what he accomplished. I am calling on putting the elegance, the prestige, the worth back on Everest. Dick Bass, wherever you are, a big F*** YOU for commercializing the mountain and you too Breshears, for guiding him up it.

Posted by eBomb in Climbing, Expeditions, Meaningless Records, News at 23:24 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)
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I wish I knew several languages in which to say "way the hell out of line" just for emphasis.

If a man with artificial legs robs a bank, shoots up a school, molests little girls, then we can clearly say disability is no reason to cut the guy some slack.

But if a guy with artificial legs climbs to the top of Mount Everest, even with the assistance of guides and without your all-glorious style and elegance, it's not something decent people hurl invective upon -- at least not in public.

Thing of it is, he ends up looking like a guy with gumption and you end up looking like idiot-ranting blogger No. 14.7 million.

And the other thing of it is, the commercialization of Everest and the degradation of climbing by money, magazines and sponsors will still be out there and when the soldiers against this degradation can't hold their tongue when a legless man summits Everest, what chance is there of winning any of these battles?

Being in the right is not a free pass to be a flaming jerk.

#1 tom (Homepage) on 2006-05-17 06:56 (Reply)

i have to agree with the bomb about the fact that these folks are not in the same league as Antoli was as climbers.

Then again, I don't really take Everest seriously. I actually don't really want to know anything about it, because the commericalization of it and the 'event' of it are anathema to my view of why i go outside...

#2 graham crackers (Homepage) on 2006-05-17 10:26 (Reply)

It's too bad this legless chap didn't come see you for his Everest pass before hiking up. Obviously he screwed up and you deserve infinite apologies.

You could do yourself a bit of a favor by at least trying to make yourself look halfway human.

#3 Cheese on 2006-05-20 04:04 (Reply)

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