Delays caused by overcrowding contributed to several of the 11 deaths on the mountain this year — roughly double last year’s figure — as oxygen tanks, and strength, ran out among people waiting to stand atop the summit or get back down from it. The loss of life, and the chaos evident in the photos, have led to a fresh round of lamentations about the ever-growing numbers of inexperienced adventurers, often part of poorly led expeditions, attempting to stand on the top of the world.
(The Washington Post, May 31, 2019)
Deaths on Mount Everest
For many, climbing Mount Everest is the pinnacle of human conquest. And the increasing number of deaths shows that many are more prepared to die than climb. Only the narcissistic drive for clicks on social media explains this.
Indeed, it would not surprise me if the 11 who died live-streamed their last gasps of thin air. That seems to be the only point in climbing Everest these days. What’s the point if you can’t show off for all the world to see?
Mandy Moore shares her Mount Everest story
Exhibit A is singer/actress Mandy Moore. As I write this, her Instagram story of her 10-day climb is going viral. And it’s all too easy to imagine her climbing over frozen bodies to get her money shot.
That mentality explains the rising toll of idiots who have died trying to publish stunts on social media. And many think no stunt is taller than climbing Mount Everest. It’s really that dangerous.
El Capitan
But this Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay feat has become little more than a sherpa-aided excursion for wealthy tourists. Most people posting Everest adventures are like Moore, White Westerners.
And you be hard-pressed to see in their posts any image of their Nepalese sherpas and porters. But Westerners pay those sherpas and porters tens of thousands to guide, and sometimes carry, them up Mount Everest.
That’s why climbing El Capitan is an even greater testament to human endurance and skill. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became latter-day Hillary and Norgay in 2015. That’s when they demonstrated unprecedented skill, perseverance, and daring to climb El Capitan’s Dawn Wall.
Ultimately, though, social media can kill you. I even posted a PSA warning about this trend of death wishes born of narcissism.
Alas, the culture of social media dictates that no experience is too sacred, private, or morbid to share. And even Everest is not spared from being used as a prop of digital narcissism.
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