Why walk when you can fly (Everest version)

July 16, 2024 9:04 AM

A drone's eye view of much of the route to the summit of Mt. Everest. (SLX/Twitter) Full-screen recommended.
posted by beagle (43 comments total)

I got into a big Everest kick last decade so this is mildly interesting.

Unfortunately it's the boring South Col route; what I want to see videoed by drone or GoPro is the Hornbein Couloir route first climbed in the 1963 expedition.

The North Face is infinitely more interesting to me. Climbable, but deadly, with defenses on the ridge route as if carved by hand.

I love this 1924 picture of Norton heading up into the Unclimbed:

https://jakenorton.com/everest-1924-norton-somervells-record-attempt/
posted by torokunai at 9:16 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

I didn't expect a drone to able to fly that high.

That video further solidified my lack of interest in slogging to and up a mountain, Everest or any other. I'm definitely not into the whole Human Struggle Against Adversity thing, thanks; I'd be entirely satisfied with wearing a VR headset showing me an immersive in-person view from the base of that impressively giant rock, and the 360° scene at the peak on a clear day. That's all the thrill I need.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:22 AM on July 16 [8 favorites]

>I didn't expect a drone to able to fly that high.

DJI has firmware to prevent flying at this altitude since it's quite illegal, yes. air pressure is around 30% but drones have pretty good thrust/weight ratios I guess.

> 360° scene at the peak on a clear day

Google had one of their employees take a 360 degree camera rig to climb Everest in 2015, but he died in the big avalanche that hit base camp.
posted by torokunai at 9:28 AM on July 16 [2 favorites]

That is SO MANY PEOPLE jesus fuck
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:30 AM on July 16 [19 favorites]

Here’s the same video on YouTube for those who try to avoid visiting X-Twitter. (This version also has text in English rather than Chinese, if you;’re looking for that.)
posted by Inkslinger at 9:36 AM on July 16 [11 favorites]

That link seems broken, inkslinger.
posted by nat at 9:37 AM on July 16

YouTube Link
posted by miguelcervantes at 9:39 AM on July 16 [7 favorites]

Wow. It's so crowded! It looks like any popular trail at the height of the season. Maybe not Angel's Landing crowds, but The Enchantments level for sure. Except that it's on Everest!

Maybe it's a good thing that there are places that draw crowds? I look for solitude in the wilderness, and I feel like having a few really popular places takes some of the heat off the slightly less popular ones. If you are into peak bagging, all those people climbing Everest are staying off other, more interesting mountains.
posted by surlyben at 9:39 AM on July 16 [7 favorites]

Wow, drones are so amazing. We can see things never before seen. Just the screen saver that came with my Mac shows me worlds unknowable to anyone just a few years ago.

And of course it is incredible that people have overcome adversity and walked all the way up that crazy hill.

But that little line of ants......... um no thanks.
posted by bitslayer at 9:43 AM on July 16

Huh wait rewinding that bit near the end. Is that a branch of ... Starbucks?!
posted by Wordshore at 9:49 AM on July 16 [3 favorites]

I'm probably not the only one who thought about all the bodies [TW-photos] that can't be brought down, and I hope all the living people in this video made it home.
posted by Glinn at 10:13 AM on July 16 [2 favorites]

My god, that was absolutely breathtaking and gorgeously awespiring! I did not expect to see something so amazing today and I am awed. Going to just one of the base camps would an amazing trip!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:24 AM on July 16

they could clean up the routes if they wanted to / had the money. 8000m isn't the moon.

China should take a season and just remove all the crap on its half of the mountain, restoring its 1924 condition for climbers.
posted by torokunai at 10:24 AM on July 16

"The slopes of Everest are littered with the corpses of highly motivated individuals..."
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:25 AM on July 16 [7 favorites]

I think surlyben has it.

In Colorado, Mt Elbert is the tallest fourteener; I've done it once, but done La Plata (a nearby fourteener and I think a nicer hiker) at least twice.
La Plata's a better hike. Not least because everyone wants to do "the highest fourteener", so Elbert draws the crowds in the area. Second time I did La Plata, as we pulled past the main Elbert trail's parking lot, I thought "geeze why does everyone do that stupid mountain" -- and then thought "well I guess I'm glad they aren't on my trail, then".

Of course my notion of "better" involves being much fitter than I am now; plus I like scrambling so a little class 2/3 doesn't bug me, and maybe Elbert is a technically easier hike-- but I don't find being with crowds easy, so, hmm.

I'd actually be interested in a series of drone photos that also involved some of the other Himalayan mountains-- does that exist?
posted by nat at 10:30 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately it's the boring South Col route

If that is the boring route, I'm not sure I want to see the more exciting one.
posted by mmascolino at 10:35 AM on July 16 [12 favorites]

Everest is the platonic ideal of bucket list items. You don't have be a skilled or experienced climber or in anything more than decent shape to summit and descend ... but there is also a big enough risk of death that it is still a cool thing to have done. On my long list of things to do when I've kicked myself upstairs to "Chairman" and nobody cares if I'm out of cell phone reach for a few days at a time and everything will be fine if an avalanche sweeps me away. (I mean, they'll cry a few good tears for me of course first...)
posted by MattD at 10:43 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

If you want to see crowded, check out Yes, This Photo from Everest Is Real: When we say “Everest is crowded,” this is what we mean
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:47 AM on July 16 [7 favorites]

China should take a season and just remove all the crap on its half of the mountain, restoring its 1924 condition for climbers.

Why would they ever bother? It's not like they're hurting for business, and restoring it would only lead to more tourists mucking up the place even quicker this time.
posted by Rudy_Wiser at 10:51 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

That photo is unbelievable, dang! I mean, a bit safer with all the people (maybe?), but also more dangerous? Also, climber people do not like green or climbing gear does not come in green.
posted by Glinn at 10:59 AM on July 16

What is considered the foot of Mt. Everest? I always thought I would climb the foot and then say, I climbed Everest.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:04 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

It's been so many months since I've been on X, I just wasn't prepared. Just below this video in "my" feed (not someone I ever followed on twitter) was a post that went: WATCH THIS RABBI EXPLAIN HOW JEWS OWN 96% OF RUSSIA AND USA. What the fuck dude way to ruin my Everest high.
posted by MiraK at 11:07 AM on July 16 [5 favorites]

I would climb the foot and then say, I climbed Everest.

Now that's what I call toeing the line.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:08 AM on July 16 [2 favorites]

Look if you want to climb the highest mountain just fly to Hawai'i and climb Mauna Kea
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 11:10 AM on July 16 [7 favorites]

dances_with_sneetches, I think you have to climb up to base camp to just before the Khumbu ice fall to be considered as having climbed the "foot" of the mountain. The ice fall is where the real climbing of Everest is considered to "begin" (it is also in the top three most deadly stretches of the mountain for climbers), until the ice fall is all prelude. In fact the ice fall is where this video begins.

Lots of people do exactly just that - get up to base camp and done! It's supposed to be a pretty tough climb for us normies, and our blood gets quite a workout growing lots of extra red cells to deal with the rarefied air even at that "low" elevation.
posted by MiraK at 11:10 AM on July 16 [2 favorites]

Drones can carry air canisters (and pizza?) to the top and carry waste down. Eventually, larger drones will carry people up and down. You'll get out, have a look around, pose for selfies, and take the next drone down.
posted by pracowity at 11:16 AM on July 16

Wow. It's so crowded! It looks like any popular trail at the height of the season.

I noticed this, but also, as altitude increased, more individual climbers high up, and it was easy to see how isolated they were in that landscape.

I've been a fan of Everest books and documentaries for years. Getting this overall bird's eye view of the route was really illuminating, so clearly seeing everthing I've read about. The Khumbu Icefall, for instance. The lines of the fixed ropes. How steep and perilous the past is close to the summer. It gave me a new appreciation. I think if I read more Everest books in the future, having seen this will really help me visualize exactly what's going on.
posted by Well I never at 11:21 AM on July 16 [3 favorites]

Going to just one of the base camps would an amazing trip!

I used to work at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, and I loved that feeling of building a community in a remote place, sleeping in tents, taking cold showers (though they started having hot water eventually). I've always thought that if I had a place on Everest, it would be at Base Camp, doing some kind of community support work, and I think that would have been a grand adventure for the version of me who decided to do it. That is a very unlike me version of myself, much more interested in international travel than I am. But I'd have liked being there.
posted by Well I never at 11:35 AM on July 16 [3 favorites]

>I'm not sure I want to see the more exciting one.

The technically hard part of the South Col route is mainly getting through that nasty "ice fall" at the start. The big boulder constituting most of the famed Hillary Step guarding the final summit ridge has even fell off the mountain:

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/american-climbers-confirm-hillary-step-gone/

though the knife-edge ridge to get from the South Summit to the Hillary Step is still a rather exposed traverse . . . in 1954 Hillary and Norgay did this roped together, so if one slipped they'd both be taking a 8000' drop back into Nepal proper.

Here's a good shot of the North routes:

https://www.valandre.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Everest-Norton-3.jpg

The Australians in '84 had a lot of snow in their post-monsoon climb and were able to climb out of the big gully on the right...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPa10_uuSjE is on Mccartney-Snape's YouTube channel & is a legit production.
posted by torokunai at 11:40 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

That's some incredibly pretty footage!

I'm in the same boat as Well I never - I could totally see some alternate Adventure-fiend rmd1023 doing, like, radio support at Everest Base Camp. But I don't think I would ever want to be on the other side of the Khumbu ice falls.
posted by rmd1023 at 11:43 AM on July 16 [1 favorite]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OomsL_8Cd6E

is an interesting video comparing "base effects" of continental-scale tectonic effects vs. the actual topographic "prominence" of the peak (relative to an observer at the "base").

Turns out Mt Rainier is pretty impressive!
posted by torokunai at 11:49 AM on July 16 [3 favorites]

Hiking to base camp is quite feasible as long as you are in reasonable health. I know two people who have done it. One was a fit recent retiree; the other was middle aged and sedentary but got into hiking shape for the trip. See How to trek to Everest Base Camp.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:01 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]

The photo that Mr.Know-it-some posted above includes some comments that people made about it, including “this looks like a lot of fun and totally normal and not at all fucked.” WRT the risk, I think that Jon Krakauer said, in Into Thin Air, that 10% of the people who leave base camp don't come back; not sure if that statistic has changed since 1996.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:16 PM on July 16 [1 favorite]

I hiked to base camp in 2002. Terrain-wise, it's an easy walk: nothing more difficult than walking up a moderately steep path. It's the altitude acclimation and distance that makes it hard. As I recall, it took 2+ weeks to walk there but just a few days to walk back.

Definitely worth it, one of the most spectacular hikes I've ever been on.
posted by justkevin at 12:22 PM on July 16 [4 favorites]

> Google had one of their employees take a 360 degree camera rig to climb Everest in 2015, but he died in the big avalanche that hit base camp

Does that qualify for workers comp ?
posted by Fizzy Kimchi at 12:32 PM on July 16 [4 favorites]

I trekked to EBC in 2022, I'm 61, but have lived in Wa. for 25 yrs and have summited most of the stratovolcanoes and Kili. It's a moderate ramble, with some short steep ups that took 8 days going in (1 day no hiking) and 4 days hiking out. The altitude is the challenge, not the actual trek, but, the trail in is the highway up the valley, so it's well engineered where it needs to be (lots of stone staircases) and reminded me a lot of the Inca trail. Also, it's a tourist destination, so your guides will gauge your ability and stamina, monitor your oxygen saturation levels and generally keep you from altitude sickness. Several members of our group had to return to a lower village to sleep one night due to mild altitude sickness symptoms.
EBC was clouded in the day we arrived, but it's still a cool destination. The entire trek is one spectacular vista after another, the people are awesome and it's not actually that expensive once you get all the way to Nepal. Go if you get the chance.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:44 PM on July 16 [9 favorites]

If you are into peak bagging, all those people climbing Everest are staying off other, more interesting mountains.
posted by surlyben

Eponysterical?
posted by trig at 1:58 PM on July 16 [1 favorite]

This is a great advertisment for DJI cams, but seems to be only part of their involvement with Mt. Everest: DJI's cargo delivery drone to collect garbage from Everest high camp

"This [2024] spring season, authorities are planning to collect garbage from the high camp of Everest by using a sophisticated hightech delivery drone. [...] This model has the weight of 65 kg [...] and has a flight distance of 28 km without payload and 16 km with 30kg weight load, with dual battery mode."

If you believe that this would help cleaning this sad monument to overtourism efficiently or if you, perhaps, were wondering why you did not see a lot of garbage lying around in the drone video above, the answer is further down in the article:

"Nepali Army has been conducting the Mountain Clean-up Campaign in the region. The campaign had collected a total of 35,708 Kg of waste from the peaks in 2023. Likewise, it is also planning to collect 10 tonnes of waste and as many as five dead bodies from the mountains, Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse and Mt Nuptse this year."

TONS!! o_o
posted by bigendian at 2:09 PM on July 16 [5 favorites]

> Google had one of their employees take a 360 degree camera rig to climb Everest in 2015, but he died in the big avalanche that hit base camp

Does that qualify for workers comp ?

They redefined his position as contractor enroute to basecamp, so....
posted by Thorzdad at 2:54 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]

Almost could plan a MiFi meetup at base camp.
posted by sammyo at 3:50 PM on July 16 [2 favorites]

Those little figures walking and climbing around reminded me of nothing more or less than NPCs in a video game. (In fact the whole thing looked a lot like a video game scene - the sort of thing where you can tell they tried to make it realistic but when you see it you're like, "No, no - absolutely no place on earth would actually look like that.")

Anyway I guess I've got to start giving video games more credit for being realistic instead of my usual "They look kinda look humans but really clumsy and awkward, and move in a strange way."
posted by flug at 5:32 PM on July 16

Almost could plan a MiFi meetup at base camp.

I want to thank all the people who shared their stories of traveling to Base Camp. Feel free to tell more if you want! Like, what you did there, and how long you stayed, etc.
posted by Well I never at 6:31 PM on July 16 [1 favorite]

I did the hike to base camp in 2017 and then up Kala Pattar for Everest views. Great experience. A guy in our group hauled a large-ish drone with him the whole way from Kathmandu, hoping to film with it, only to find it couldn’t handle the thin air.

Eight out of 10 hikers in our group were hit with a debilitating short-term illness at varying points during the trek, like one guy could barely see from the time we made camp until the next morning. Everyone had the physical fitness but altitude has unpredictable effects on the body. I didn’t get sick, luckily, but switched from “I’m fine” to “yeah I need these altitude pills or I could be in trouble” almost immediately once we were above 14,000 feet.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 6:53 PM on July 16 [3 favorites]