there is something very humbling about this big hill. maybe the fact that you can see it 2 hours before you get there. maybe it’s the fact that at 17,600 ft you can’t breathe when you look at it. or maybe it’s the fact that it’s so big, it’s the biggest thing you’ve ever seen, and you just become over come with the insane need to stand on top of it. then you think about the 160 that died trying and the 2000 that endured weeks of oxygen starvation, losing hands and feet, temperatures of – 50 or less and you decide to return to the hostel.
early attempts to be the first to the top were crazy, my favourite, an ex british cornel, with no climbing experience, who decided to fly his sopwith bi-plane from hendon in the uk, all the way to nepal. crash it into the north face of everest and walk the rest of the way… he didn’t make it past india.