So, I totally escalated a simple statement at work this morning

@Ferric67 some gyms have work out rooms where they simulate the oxygen level at high altitudes . That’s the way to go if you live at sea level .Thats why the fourth quarter is the Denver nuggets sixth man .

@AthrillatheHunt my friend works out with one of those respirator restricters
Kind of reminds of Darth Vader respirator

@Ferric67 if I may : you should also start practicing your breathing. Try swimming underwater and holding your breath to increase lung capacity (a buddy hiked the tallest mountain in Mexico about a decade ago . I forget the name but it’s a gentle slope upward the whole way. Not treacherous like Everest . He trained for 2 years ).

@whowasthatmaskedman Yeah. They implemented it this year. Each climber has to use wag bags and bring down at least 18 pounds of trash.

@Ynotisay Hopefully that takes some of the glamour out of it for the tourists..😷

@whowasthatmaskedman @Ynotisay Not before time!!!

I know that they've been cleaning up some of the dead in recent years, too... They finally managed to move Greenboots to his final resting place away from the public eye.

While I'm not looking to force them to bring the bodies back, the least they can do is to make sure they bring their own packaging, wrappers and trash back with them. At least that cuts out adding to what's already up there.

@Ferric67 I'm really curious. What's the highest elevation you've been to with a pack? What's your longest time out on a backpacking trip?

@Ynotisay not nearly enough to what is necessary for this journey, that is why if I commit I will seriously train...and it may be a two to three year out endeavor that I will be undertaking.
I'm a patient dude, I can put in the work in and earn the results I sow

@Ferric67 Gotcha. But just to toss this out there, you may want to strongly consider getting up high first though.Training and fitness has nothing to do with mountain sickness or high-altitude edemas. I live at 7K and some get sick even getting up just that high. You don't know until you do it. I'm ok with elevation but my partner can only get to, almost exactly, 11.5K before it hits her. It's a trip. And it can get dangerous fast. I've walked strangers down when I've come across them suffering. No fun. That's why there's a series of ups and downs on big mountains to acclimatize.And it takes a while. Gas doesn't usually kick in until around 22K. So you may want to try to get someplace with some real elevation just to get a taste of how your body will respond before your commit money. And it's one of those things where you won't know until you're there. Good luck.

@OlderSometimesWiser It's been a big controversy for a while. And it's even worse given that it's Sherpas who die most frequently. A lot of people now have little to no real mountaineering experience. If they made it a requirement that climbers had to carry most all of their own gear, or set their own lines, I bet you'd see a 90% reduction in climbers.

@Ynotisay That would be great but it would also mean a 90% reduction in money and sadly, I think we both know which side is likely to win. It’s just so sad to see something so worthwhile, so admirable, so downright awesome go the way of the Kardashians.

@OlderSometimesWiser Yep. Money. But not everyone is inexperienced. There's still skilled mountaineers, who live to climb, going up. But it's the wealthier people driven by ego, which can be the kiss of death in the mountains, that's the issue. And it's not necessarily their own death or injury.
But where it gets tricky is with the Sherpa people. Guides can make more in a few months than most make in Nepal in a year. And where they live $5-10K is huge money. Take that away now and lives are impacted.
What I do on occasion is buy outdoor clothes from a company called Sherpa Adventure Gear. It's a Sherpa company and most of the money goes back in to the community. Typically through education. And they make some good stuff.
I think that eventually they will need to set quotas on climbers. But what it will take is another major accident due to bottle necking before it happens. Once tourist climbers start dying in big numbers because there's just too many people on the mountain, they'll have to do something.