Annapurna has an even higher fatality rate than K2. Highest of the 8,000 meter peaks.
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Annapurna is fucking nuts.
K2 never climbed in winter.
Or from the north
Well known Clare Mountaineer John Burker is to attempt K2 later this year
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I’ll be there for Aoibhin should the 33% statistic come to pass.
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Source?
Is that the lad that can’t go buy Jacks roll without a Facebook parade?
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Just found out this morning that Mrs Mac knows Mrs Lawless fairly well. They’ve a 2 year old child and she is currently pregnant with another. He’s been gone since the start of April for the climb and wasn’t due back till end of this month. Shockingly sad but at the same time you’d wonder what would motivate a lad to take on risks like that with such a young family.
There isn’t a hope that my Mrs or the Mrs of most of the lads here would let them out the door to climb Everest when they’re pregnant and at home with a 2-year-old.
Very, very sad regardless. Two young kids who’ll grow up without a Dad
There was a lad from Limerick a few years back who did Everest who went up the Galtees a few times in preparation. Think he might have done Carrauntoohil and all.
Heard that alright about wife being pregnant & young child at home, wtf would be going through someones head to even consider it?
I’ve bitten my tongue and will raise that question with Mrs Mac in a few days. At the moment she’s only thinking of how his wife must be feeling.
I know a lad who climbed it when he was younger. Reckoned anybody who did it was lacking something - since they opened up the rules in 2007 to climb it the death statistics are shocking. Went from 1 per cent to about 8 per cent.
A stranger on the Internet
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Hard to know what motivates lads at all. You could make an argument that it’s pretty selfish ego padding just to climb it, considering the risks. But fellas do strange things at the best of times.
Terrible sad all the same.
Was it more licenses given out to operators? Thus making it much easier to climb now if your fit and have money. Also causing traffic jams at critical spots causing more oxegen to get sucked up.
There was a article about it recently. Must try and dig it up.
I did some hiking/climbing back in the day. Nothing too dangerous or life threatening. I climbed Aconcagua year before I got married. Got an ultimatum at the time, that was it. With kids and responsibilities, don’t know how you could contemplate something statistically so dangerous.
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A book I read once by a climber described it as like having a rat in your head. Doesn’t sound healthy.