3 Quotes by Peter Zuckerman

[Everest’s] fatality rate - the percentage of climbers who went above Base Camp and died - had averaged 0.7 the previous decade [1998 - 2008]…In 2008, the fatality rate of those leaving [K2] base camp for a summit bid was 30.5%, higher than the casualty rate at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

But people don’t climb because it makes sense. You can come up with reasons – it gives direction to the lost, friends to the loner, honor to the reprobate, thrills to the bored – but, ultimately, the quest for a summit defies logic. So does passion. So does a trip to the moon. There are better things to do. Safer, cheaper, more practical. That’s not the point.

We climb Everest twice,” Chhiring explained. “First, Sherpas go up to set the ropes and camps, then we go down to collect our clients and take them to the top.