Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

John Kazanas summits Everest 28-May-2010 At 11:31:59 AM cruze

Message

On 28/05/2010 Duncan wrote:
>On 26/05/2010 Arlee wrote:
>> What an immense, amazing achievement!
>
>Is it really though? Given that a 13 yo has done it, and a 22 yo novice?
> If it was done without oxygen, then I would most certainly agree that
>it's an astounding achievement, but otherwise it just seems like an ego
>trip.
>
>Some interesting thoughts:
>http://www.alexhibbert.com/blog/2010/5/27/easy-or-just-a-case-of-perspective.html

Referring to Arlee's post I would say they have combined the subjective with the objective. Subjectively Arlee is amazed. That is their opinion and as valid as the next person's opinion. Regarding the objective, Arlee's opinion is that it was an "immense" effort. Who really knows how immense an effort it was for John, or for a 13 year old? I suspect only the individual and those close to them.

From a personal perspective if I went from average fitness working a desk job to train and climb Mt Everest with the aid of those far more experienced than myself then I would regard it as a immense effort, in the same way that a seasoned mountaineer stepping up to summit all the 14 peaks over 8000m could regard their acheivement as requiring an immense effort. Incomparable experiences both requiring an immense effort.

I read the comments by Alex Hibbert and became confused. On the one hand he is saying that the question of whether it has become "easy" to achieve named accomplishments like South, North poles and Everest is irrelevant and yet on the other hand he appears to be drawing a distinction between accomplishments based on how hard each individual has made it for themselves.

Personally I believe that if an individual is less concerned about the difficulty of the journey than the the final goal then their experience is no less significant than the person who wants more of a challenge. After all it takes all types.

I watched Talking Heads the other day about a lady who walked from London to Morrocco as a warm up for walking across the Sahara. Apologies for not remembering her name. I thought she must be a nutter, but respected her determination to challenge herself and was fascinated with the way that she had described the changes that it had made to her life. So if the 13 year old goes on to be unemployed long term or Secretary General of the UN I guess that would be the sum of all of his life experiences to date, including climbing Everest, and will add to the rich tapestry of life. (sorry that last bit was a bit of gag material) Perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to judge and pigeonhole?