Everest gigapixel photo

[26mi235]

I know that there are mountain-climbing aficionados on this board. If you have not seen this picture, it is worth a while to peruse it.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/Gigapans/EBC_Pumori_050112_8bit_FLAT/EBC_Pumori_050112_8bit_FLAT.html

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112751907/everest-gigapixel-interactive-image-david-breashears-122012/

[Cooter Brown]

You don't get a sense of scale until you find the line of mountain climbers or the base camp.

[gh]

Just in case you didn't notice; use the control strip at the bottom once you've opened the picture to blow it up and scan up/down/left/right.

[DoubleRBar]

Beautiful.

[Conor Dary]

Wow, pretty amazing. Basecamp is bigger than the town I lived in Nepal. I also see they have permanent sites for the loos. Which is more than I can say our town had. Or pretty much anywhere in Nepal outside of the cities.

But what a circus. But it helps the economy which Nepal certainly needs.

[Marlow]

That's the best illustration I've ever seen of the fact that a glacier is a river of ice.

[gh]

and sadly, this one (just like ones I've visited in Switzerland and the Rockies in recent years) is now becoming moraine and nothing more. Nah, climate's not changing.

[Conor Dary]

Yes, it is amazing how the Khumbu Icefall has shrunk so much. Those tents are at about 17,500 ft. And dry as a bone.

I never did get to Basecamp when I was there. It was a long walk from Kathmandu, and there wasn't much there anyways. If I remember right back in the late 70's there was only one expedition at a time on Everest from the South. One in the spring and one in the fall.

[lonewolf]

Wow!! I was surprised by the size of the base camp ..never did find the line of climbers

[Pego]

Wow!! I was surprised by the size of the base camp ..never did find the line of climbers

Ditto.

[Cooter Brown]

Zoom in right where the two peaks meet. There's a ridge on the glacier. On top of that ridge, there's a line of mountain climbers. I'm not certain but there appears to be a few that are climbing the steep face at the head of the line.

[Pego]

Zoom in right where the two peaks meet. There's a ridge on the glacier. On top of that ridge, there's a line of mountain climbers. I'm not certain but there appears to be a few that are climbing the steep face at the head of the line.

I still don't see them, blind old fool .

[gh]

I've found at least 4 sets of people. Go to maximum mag and slowly work your way up the left side of the icefall (which means you'll have to go right every once in a while. First guy (then a group of 4 ahead of him) appears about halfway. Two more groups (at least) once you get into the shadow.

Find the trails in the snow and follow them.

[gh]

don't confuse something I can't identity (marker flags? ladders?) with people. When you find people, they're clearly people... but there are several rows of dots which are not people.

[Pego]

I've found at least 4 sets of people. Go to maximum mag and slowly work your way up the left side of the icefall (which means you'll have to go right every once in a while. First guy (then a group of 4 ahead of him) appears about halfway. Two more groups (at least) once you get into the shadow.

Find the trails in the snow and follow them.

Finally I found them .

[Conor Dary]

Yes, they are descending about 2/3 up the Glacier. Which isn't surprising, since it looks like it was taken around noon, which is way too late to begin going up.

[lonewolf]

Found them! Danged if I know how they got there.. that is rough going..confirmed my lack of interest in climbing mountains.

[Conor Dary]

Found them! Danged if I know how they got there.. that is rough going..confirmed my lack of interest in climbing mountains.

Certainly loses any interest I ever had in climbing Everest or Sagarmatha as the Nepalis call it.
What a mob. At least they seem to clean up after themselves. Of course, who knows maybe if Breashears took another photo a week or 2 later it would look like a complete dump.

[DrJay]

Amazing photo, gross numbers of people.

[DrJay]

Well, I guess some of the tents are real pretty.

[jazzcyclist]

Thanks for sharing, 26.

[Conor Dary]

Well, I guess some of the tents are real pretty.

They are and almost all identical. Which probably implies practically everyone there is a paid tourist. Do real mountaineers even do Everest anymore? I can't imagine doing the Southwest Face with that mob there.

By the way, this year is the 50th anniversary of the first American Expedition. Of course, Jim Whittaker was the first American on top, but the real adventure was Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld (Nepal's first Peace Corps director) doing the West Ridge and the first traverse of the summit.

[DrJay]

Holy moly! Look at the first photo in this link for another glimpse of how ridiculous the crowds on the standard route have become. What a frickin' circus!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ma ... -tragedy#_

[DrJay]

I count 162 cattl....er....uh....people in that queue. I doubt Mt. Rainier has that many climbers on it on a nice day in June.

[Pego]

Holy moly! Look at the first photo in this link for another glimpse of how ridiculous the crowds on the standard route have become. What a frickin' circus!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ma ... -tragedy#_

In the event, four people died on the mountain that weekend.

I am surprised it is not a lot more.

[gh]

Read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air for when things go horridly bad (even for seasoned pros). This is pure insanity.

[catson52]

I count 162 cattl....er....uh....people in that queue. I doubt Mt. Rainier has that many climbers on it on a nice day in June.

Tackling/"conquering" Mt. Rainier, not even the highest peak in the lower 48 states, does nothing in this macho world. Let's take on the biggest, yet "safest" peak we can, taking care to avoid places like K2, Annapurna etc.. One of my colleagues here in Bayou Land, told me casually he was going climbing in the Andes. I told him hope it is not Aconcagua, and he said yes he recognized the name. I asked whether he had ever climbed in snow before, to which he said no. I bluntly told him to cancel the trip if he wanted to live - fortunately for him, the trip was cancelled!

[Conor Dary]

It except for the fact that the tourist's fees help out the Nepali government and the locals I find the whole thing pretty appalling.

People nowadays treat the mountain as if it was a piece of sporting apparatus, not a force of nature. It really makes my soul ache.

The whole country is treated like a playground. Marathon races, etc...

When I was a PC Volunteer there I pretty much stopped running, the only time period since 1968 I haven't run. I of course walked a lot, but it seemed kind of disrespectful and silly to be training in such a poor country. And of course the only mountaineers back in the 70's were the real kind. Unlike the Bucket clowns now.

[Conor Dary]

Read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air for when things go horridly bad (even for seasoned pros). This is pure insanity.

A great read. It was the seasoned pros, like Rob Hall, who died trying to get people up who had no business up there.