Look, there is no shame in a once-revered feat become fairly common - it is just part of society advancing. If humans weren't ingrained with the drive to do some once-impossible feat faster than the person before them we should still be driving Model T's with a top speed of 20 mph and flights would have to take place 100 feet at a time. Making the impossible available to everyone is kind of what we do. In fact, we should be impressed that we have come this far. But because we have gotten to this point perhaps we can scale back the praise for every person who makes it to the summit of the Everest since it is starting to feel as though we are about 10 years away from someone installing a cable car to get you to the top in an hour. The reality is that at some point climbing Everest will be like bragging that you hike any old mountain - it's good that you got some exercise but don't expect everyone to fall all over you. I used to think that climbing Everest was an impossible task for me to even dream about doing, but now that I know octogenarians are doing it once a week not only do I think it is possible I don't even know if I have to start training for my first attempt for another 20 years. Isn't progress a wonderful thing?
Sunday, May 26, 2013
A Summit At The Summit
If you are looking for a news story to make you feel lazy, don't look any further than the report which came out on Wednesday of the 80 year-old Japanese man who broke the world record as the oldest person to climb Mount Everest. As if that wasn't bad enough, the now-81-year-old Nepalese man who used to hold the record plans to climb to the summit in the next few weeks and take his record back. Any way you want to look at this it is an impressive feat which shows you are really only as old as you allow yourself to feel. But, that being said it feels like every day you hear of people climbing Mount Everest and I can't help but wonder if at some point climbing to the highest peak on the planet will stop being so impressive. Between advances in climbing equipment, safety gear and cold-weather clothing, the trip simply doesn't contain the danger it once did. I'm not saying it is easy but this is the third time the new record holder had reach the top, having previously done so when he was 70 and 75 years old. A few years ago I read a story which said the biggest problem with climbing Mount Everest now is that so many people are doing it and leaving their crap behind that the mountain had started to take on the look of a garbage heap more than the ultimate goal of every mountain climber. When you think about it like that ascending to the peak doesn't sounds nearly as daunting.
Look, there is no shame in a once-revered feat become fairly common - it is just part of society advancing. If humans weren't ingrained with the drive to do some once-impossible feat faster than the person before them we should still be driving Model T's with a top speed of 20 mph and flights would have to take place 100 feet at a time. Making the impossible available to everyone is kind of what we do. In fact, we should be impressed that we have come this far. But because we have gotten to this point perhaps we can scale back the praise for every person who makes it to the summit of the Everest since it is starting to feel as though we are about 10 years away from someone installing a cable car to get you to the top in an hour. The reality is that at some point climbing Everest will be like bragging that you hike any old mountain - it's good that you got some exercise but don't expect everyone to fall all over you. I used to think that climbing Everest was an impossible task for me to even dream about doing, but now that I know octogenarians are doing it once a week not only do I think it is possible I don't even know if I have to start training for my first attempt for another 20 years. Isn't progress a wonderful thing?
Look, there is no shame in a once-revered feat become fairly common - it is just part of society advancing. If humans weren't ingrained with the drive to do some once-impossible feat faster than the person before them we should still be driving Model T's with a top speed of 20 mph and flights would have to take place 100 feet at a time. Making the impossible available to everyone is kind of what we do. In fact, we should be impressed that we have come this far. But because we have gotten to this point perhaps we can scale back the praise for every person who makes it to the summit of the Everest since it is starting to feel as though we are about 10 years away from someone installing a cable car to get you to the top in an hour. The reality is that at some point climbing Everest will be like bragging that you hike any old mountain - it's good that you got some exercise but don't expect everyone to fall all over you. I used to think that climbing Everest was an impossible task for me to even dream about doing, but now that I know octogenarians are doing it once a week not only do I think it is possible I don't even know if I have to start training for my first attempt for another 20 years. Isn't progress a wonderful thing?
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