Thursday, May 10, 2007

Let's Hope He's More Successful Than Mallory!


The Daily Record has a short, but alarming, article about Conrad Anker's plan to climb Everest using the same gear that George Mallory and his team had back in 1924 on their ill fated attempt at the highest mountain on Earth.

Anker was part of the team that found Mallory's body on Everest back in 1999, and he claims that he's been "haunted" by it ever since. He may be haunted by something else if the weather turns bad on his climb. Apparently the climb will be filmed to be included in a movie project down the line.

I'm not sure about you, but I personally like the new gear we have these days. I'm kind of attached, literally and figuratively, to my fingers and toes. If I were going up Everest in retro gear, I think I would have chosen the gear that Hillary used. At least he was successful in his attempt. :)

Thanks GoBlog!

Update: As usual, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Fortunately, I have smart readers who are always around to set me straight. Carl has passed on two very cool and interesting articles on the gear that Mallory used and how well it would work on Everest. The first article discusses how after building replicas of Mallory's gear it was determined that not only could Mallory and irvine have survied at high altitudes, they would have been able to climb quite comfortably. The second article is a follow up to the first, with experts actually stating they would rather climb in the Mallory gear than the more modern stuff. The argument is that the the older gear was plenty warm, comfortable, and didn't restrict climbing as much. They did note, however, that it was probably tougher to pee in. ;)

Thanks for the education Carl! Always appreciated. :)

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