Not sure how to feel about this...revolting to great (?)

[FCD]

On the one hand, as someone who loves the outdoors and actual sportsmanship, camping, hiking, mountaineering and climbing, this kind of "glamping" experience absolutely disgusts me.  However, on the other hand, it does create some opportunities to do things like clean up the mountain (Everest in this case) which has had decades of people trashing the place and shitting all over everything.  Although, they don't mention doing any of this 'cleanup', but they could be required to in the future to maintain their permits.

Many years ago I read the book "Into Thin Air" by Jim Krakauer.  It told of the ill fated 1996 climbing season on Everest which claimed the lives of 8 climbers including 2 experienced guides.  One segment of the book dealt with a NY socialite, Sandy Pittman, who had to basically be carried up the mountain by Sherpas due to her ineptitude.  This was particularly aggravating for me.  And then watching something like the video below just brought all that flooding back.  My net takeaway is people who would pay for something like what they're advertising here have no business anywhere near Mt. Everest.

But again, on the other hand, maybe there are some upsides.  And, I'm not one to intentionally diminish people's rights just because they use their money to do things other people can't afford to do. 

Personally, I would actually be pretty embarrassed to be seen in one of these "glamp-sites", or even be known to have associated with one.

I dunno, what do you think?  This kind of stuff is definitely becoming a bigger market sector as the years go by.

[Ksihkehe]

I have liked Krakauer's work. I can't remember if I ever read the one on Everest, but I have had a digital copy collecting digital dust for a couple years. I'll figure it out when I go to read it. I think I had a physical copy years ago that I read. I've been on other topics and have already read a lot of Everest stuff. I think I did see a a movie they made it into, assuming I'm not mistaken and they did make it movie.

I have no problem with people doing whatever they wish as far as their accommodations, but since the real costs of all the traffic have never been included it should be adjusted.

Twenty years ago the zeitgeist in the environmental science field was heavily focused on total lifecycle sustainability and environmental justice. Environmental justice is an okay concept in theory, but it was heavily wrapped up in identity politics rather than being about truly improving the environment for everyone. It was supposed to mean a holistic approach to everything, ensuring costs cover the proper handling and sustainable treatment of all inputs and outputs. It ended up just being NIMBY with identity politics baked in. Since gonzo capitalists like Bill Gates have become heavily involved in funding the environmental movement, ideas like environmental justice (which is not allowing money or power to dictate things) and a true holistic approach, have taken a back seat to the idea of forced asceticism for the serfs while those with resources continue to disproportionately exploit the environment we all share. Instead, the wealthy do things like dine on catered shrimp flown into Everest base camp and take trips to space for photo ops, while the masses are told they must sacrifice to save the planet.

Let them have whatever Everest experience they want... so long as their experience costs them enough to ensure that not only is their impact mitigated, but high enough to ensure that all the cumulative harms that need mitigation are covered. I don't know what the current situation is for the locals, but there are generations of people that have helped climbers stay alive on that mountain that should also be taken care of. Don't flood the local economy with cash and blow up their prices, but make sure they're whole and have a future. I understand that maybe the first few people to the summit may have felt their achievement was significant enough to trash the mountain and leave all their junk behind, but the trail to the summit has looked like the line to Space Mountain in recent years and there is no justification for treating it like a moon mission as far as waste disposal anymore.

All that said... I don't have any sort of emotional attachment to Everest and don't consider it any more valuable than any other mountain. If Everest has to be a literal mountain of shit and garbage to keep these sorts of people from ruining other places, I can think of worse things. I'm quite satisfied nestled at 2000' in the foothills here. My days of climbing mountains are long behind me and the highest I ever climbed under my own power were somewhere in the 4k range. I camped on Rainier at a higher elevation, but we were able to drive in.

I never really understood the draw of going above the tree line much. I've always been in it for the trees and wildlife.

I can't wait to hear the motivational seminars these "mountaineers" will be giving.

"We'd been at base camp for only four days when the isolation and rugged environment gave us our first serious challenges. There was only half as much crab meat delivered for brunch as what we needed, forcing us to half rations for the day. It was just a day, but we couldn't stop from worrying that there may be no crab at all tomorrow. We were still hungry and our bodies were rapidly burning through our half crab rations just to stay warm, but this mountain wasn't done with us yet. After we finished our espresso I made my way to the showers. I turned the faucet to get hot water and the massaging showerhead gurgled to life as I expected, but it was barely warm. Something was wrong with the water heaters, something... this damn mountain. I could feel a sort of alien terror rising inside me. I turned the faucet off, on, off, on, but it wasn't getting warmer. A silent scream in my head. I collapsed on the marble floor and wept.

Without hot water, with no crab, we retreated to our quarters to watch movies and regroup. It had been nearly 30 hours since any of us had felt the warm embrace of a shower or had a full crab ration. We were feeling every bit of the weight of Everest press down on us. This mountain was a brutal master and even with all our careful planning, just four days in we found ourselves shaken to the core and questioning the wisdom of coming here."

[FCD]

Oh, how I want to read the rest of that book!!  I'm on the edge of my seat!  How will they ever survive???  Please do indulge me.  And the part about rappelling down the towering chocolate serac onto the bed of rose petals had me breathless, just breathless I tell you.  I mean, can you even believe there are 'some' people who have to wipe their own bottom's when they go on an life altering 'expedition' like this?  Ughhh, it's just ghastly, the mere thought of it!  Of course, my own personal valet, sherpa Tenzing Rothschild, was most attentive to my midday baths of jasmine and lavender when I journeyed there way back in '22.

On a more serious note, there are basically two types of trips to this region, and I'm not sure which one this Seven Summits video-advert is trying to attract.  There are what is known as "Everest Base Camp Treks" where you basically hike around the lower foothills surrounding Everest and Lhotse.  You still get up pretty high, culminating in reaching the actual Everest Base Camp at 17,600 feet, but spending many days at various lower encampments and tea houses before that.  Then there are "Everest Climbs" where you actually climb the mountain.  Both can be equally posh, depending on who you go with.  I have a colleague who went on one of the Everest Base Camp treks, but his was basically just a rag-tag group of hikers with a guide, nothing fancy.  Ramen noodles cooked over yak dung was the highlight.

I would imagine most of the marketing like that shown in the OP video is aimed at the base camp trekkers, but I believe this Seven Summits outfit caters to both.  They'll probably carry people's candy-asses up the mountain too if they pay enough.  If you ever get around to reading Krakauer's 'Into Thin Air', do look for the parts about Sandy Pittman and how she would bring the whole expedition to a complete halt just to cater to her every whim.  It will have you ready to scream, and I suspect many of this new breed of gold gilded "adventurers" behave in similar fashion.

Some examples of Pittman's desperate publicity efforts to make herself look like something other than what she is:

Don't Blame Me

I'm not the Villain

Ungrateful Socialite

Fashion on Everest Kills

[Michigan Swampbuck]

I have been cleaning out the family estate, and my stepdad was an amateur archaeologist and also a hoarder. Based on all the Native American and early American artifacts he selfishly hoarded, I concluded that he basically worshiped Native Americans and pioneering life.

He did surface collecting and kept excellent notes that I hope he shared with the local archaeology society, because of the heaps of fire-cracked rocks, flint shards, broken points, and pottery I had to dump out in the yard. All of it was basically waste material from the Indians and settlers, and his "collections" reduced his life down to pathways through his house. He valued these artifacts above his health and living conditions at his home.

If there are any archeologists a few hundred years in the future, they will be delighted to find frozen turds, urine, and discarded trash at these Everest campsites. They'd probably dance in the streets to find some frozen bodies up there, they all have a necro fetish IMO, and love playing with dead things.

ETA: The best of my step-dad's artifacts got sold at the estate sales or were donated to local museums. We got what we could for the good artifacts, but if artifact dealing were my business, I could have used my network and got better money for most of his native trash collections and junk antiques. It seems this type of period or era collecting is an addiction to some people.

A frozen turd from a historic Mt Everest expedition could fetch a good price at auction, I'm sure of it. It's like getting artifacts from the Titanic. Better yet, bones from someone's dead body, esp. if it is forbidden and taboo to disturb them.