Tony S. said:"Tom Phillips" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:BTW, an acquaintance of mine, someone I'd climbed
with, was recently tragically killed pursuing his
passion on Kilimanjaro and whether one is rich or
not makes zero difference (he wasn't, and neither
is any other world class climbers I know.) The
point being average people of average means aspire
to and do extraordinary things. And it has nothing
to do with your idiot opinion.
Interjecting into this debate -- with due respect, since I don't know your
friend or his motives, I have to agree with Donovan in part in that many of
the extreme adventure want-to-be explorers are indeed rich folks or at least
people with enough connections to finance their quests, meaning they have
rich supporters.
There was a show this week on public television about Denali in Alaska. It
was about why so many climbers die trying to climb the mountain. Well,
somewhat obviously, it's the altitude combined with being so far north, but
they were studying the environment's effects on a person's core temperature.
1000 people attempt Denali every year and there are always deaths. As I
watched it I thought that probably 900 of the 1000 people who attempt Denali
every year have no business being there and are rich dumbasses out for
bragging rights or wanting to be adventurers, some of whom die and many of
whom come away with severe frostbite.
But I wouldn't include them as true climbers. I'd call them
ecoadventurers or something along those lines. I would agree with Phil
about the average climber, backpacker, etc. (not ecoadventurer).
Climbers that I knew from school usually lived in tents in base camp
(say, Tetons) and just lived hand to mouth. If you don't have many
expenses, you don't need much income. Heck, one of the guys I knew
bicycled around the world (maybe 30 yr ago, obviously using boats when
needed), giving guest talks and working as he went to raise money, then
wrote a book (The Long Ride). One of my former techs (not rich) became
the first documented woman to solo Denali the year after she worked for
me (there was a case many years before but there were many, many
questions as to whether the earlier one happeneed). Her general
employment at the time was guiding - Denali (usually working for a
guiding service) and elsewhere on her own or with husband. No doubt she
took up some of the 900 that maybe didn't belong there. Some of my local
friends who have climbed Denali were probably well off (both husband and
wife worked) while others were below average income. But they definitely
had jobs with limited vacation time. Of course, some of those I know
now, just work part time or for non-profits or whatever - just enough to
pay the bills while they live life to the fullest.
Some adventurers (not ecoadventurers) may be well off and have good
connections. But there's some who just have interesting backgrounds /
aspirations that either do it hand-to-mouth or can get funding.
And in modern society, there's no doubt many well-off middle-age crisis
folks that are doing these various adventures and maybe retired early.
And some may be knowledgeable climbers or whatever but got trapped
behind a desk.
Quoted message said:
There's a full spectrum of motives for people to do extreme things. For
those who truly love it, they would do it and not brag about it, and would
know how to do it without undue risk.
agreed.
I judge things somewhat randomly. For
Quoted message said:example, I think it's very cool that they have the iditarod race as I think
it's a real epic and it keeps a history of the place alive.
Were you aware that the Iditarod sleddog race goes essentially a
completely different route from the Serum run route, that it supposedly
commemorates?
However, I
Quoted message said:dislike what I consider the publicity minded stunts that Dean K. enjoys
doing. It could be argued in his case that he's doing it for charity, but
something tells me it's really more part of his career publicity grand plan
than charity.
I'm not gonna get into this nonsense on pretending to know what goes
through runners' minds or bashing other runners, but if you take the
time to read about some of the other runners, like some you have praised
in posts to this group, you will find they are not as perfect as you
seem to imply (some that you have praised do things that I detest).
But I respect them all as runners. And they all do things that can be
misinterpreted.
Dot
--
"So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste
away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog
