Odds of getting killed while attempting to summit Everest same as odds of having a healthy baby through IVF at 41.

David and I have been watching Everest: Beyond the Limit, a new reality miniseries on the Discovery Channel about a handful of Everest expeditions earlier this year.  David read that book, Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer that came out in the early 2000s I think. It's about a disastrous expedition in 1996 where many were injured, permanently disfigured, or killed. 

David says the book points out that your chances of dying in an effort to summit Everest are 1 in 10.  (Interestingly, this is about your chance of making it to a healthy baby if you do an IVF between the ages of 41 and 42 -- my group.  I still have my fingers crossed, and so far everything seems to be going OK.  I'm still feeling pukey.)

Many people leave their families behind in their attempt to summit Everest, apparently thinking it is worth the risk of injury or death to make the try.  Some of them don't come home to their spouses and babies.  I just don't understand that.  Are they so sure that they will beat the odds that they are willing to take the risk?  Or is the risk of losing a lifetime with their families worth it to them? 

Which makes me think of poor James Kim's family.  So many of us in the San Francisco Bay Area have been holding our breaths, happy when the wife, Kati Kim and her daughters were found alive after more than a week stranded in the freezing Oregon wilderness. (Mom breastfed her kids, one 4 years old and the other just 7 months old to keep them alive.)  But we continued to hold our breaths as the search continued for the courageous James Kim who went off on his own to seek help for his family.  I did not know them but I am still in a state of disbelief about yesterday's news, that Kim was found dead.  So so sad.

And it makes me even angrier at these Everest guys.  I would give up that kind of grandstanding personal glory fantasy adventure IN A SECOND for a lifetime of mornings with my giggling husband and son.  There is no comparison.  I just don't get what those Everest guys are thinking.  Maybe that's why David is so hooked on the show.  Maybe he is trying to figure out the motivation too.   Maybe we are missing something obvious here?

Comments

[Aurelia]

I'm with you...I cannot comprehend the stupidity of these Everest guys. I'm not even clear why the Kims were out in the forest to begin with? Thanks, but I'll take urban/suburban life any day. I am so not a camper!

[Carlynn]

There was an interesting article in the British Good Housekeeping about a famous woman climber who lost her life in a climb and left behind two little children and her husband. The article spoke about the level of selfishness necessary to reach that level of skill in climbing and the husband was very philosophical about his loss, "She died doing what she loved," he said. I would feel the same way as you, what was she thinking? Then again, everyone has their priorities for which they are willing to sacrifice an enormous amount. Still, I am glad not to be a climber or married to one!