Essay Example on Climbing Mount Everest: The White-Collar and High-Profiled

People with no or little experience often climb Mount Everest because they have the money to fund the exhibition. As long as personal wealth can afford to pay the lavish amount to reach the peak of the mountain, they can take the trip, not considering the physical health and training needed to ascend Everest. The group that climbs Everest is distinctive; the white-collar and high-profiled individuals that afford to spend their holidays, weekends, and free time mountaineering. Initially, climbers spent years of training and preparation before attempting to ascend the mountain. The domination of experienced professional climbers changed in the 1990s when mountaineering was commercialized (Nepal and Mu 251). However, as the influx of inexperienced and ill-fit wealthy people continued to crowd the expedition, so did the risk of disastrous consequences such as accidents and deaths. For instance, the commercialization of mountaineering of Everest to the inexperienced wealthy people in the 1996 tragedy led to the death of 8 climbers (Nepal and Mu 251). As asserted by Krakeuer's, Himalayan guides kept moving upwards, "ushering a gaggle of relatively inexperienced amateurs, each of whom had paid as much as $ 65 000" (Krakauer 5). The deliberate taking of the risk to climb Mount Everest among the wealthy population in the process of constructing the "executive" of "elite" identity, increased the number of unfit and inexperienced climbers taking the trip, contributing to the accidents and deaths.

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The monetization of the climbing of mountain Everest created the impression that money is all that was needed to ascend the mountain regardless of one's experience or physical state. Such an impression made climbing of Everest much dangerous as people with no experience and physically unfit lined up behind guards to take the expedition. As one of the expedition leaders asserted in Krakauer's Into Thin Air, "Experience is overrated, it's not the altitude that's important, it's your attitude" (Krakauer 83). The inexperienced mountain climbers had the confidence that they would make it up the mountain because they had paid for the best equipment and best guides to make their journey successful. The naive confidence, coupled with inexperience, risked the lives of the ill-suited climbers on the Everest Mountain on May 10, 1996 (Nepal and Mu 250). Several climbers were stranded near the summit, while eight perished during the expedition. When the storm occurred, they did not have any idea of what measures to take while those who survived could only descend the mountain with the help of a guard, leaving them stranded on the mountain. They risked their lives, clinging on ropes to ascend the mountain, not realizing that without experience, they risked their lives ascending the mountain.

The climbers of Everest were termed as the "elite adventurers" and "executive adventurers" who could afford to pay between $30,000 to $60,000 to take the trip" (Nepal & Mu 255). The expedition was a dream come true to the marginally qualified climbers not knowing the risks and struggles they would face on their way. They perceived the expedition as a necessity, and climbing the mountain showed off one's personal wealth. As Krakauer ascertains, "having stumbled upon a sustainable career, for the first time of my life, I was living above the poverty line. My hunger to climb had been blunted by a bunch of small satisfactions that added up to something like happiness" (Krakauer 30). The statement affirms Krakauer's desire and hunger to climb the mountain despite the happy marriage and good-paying job that proved to offer "small satisfactions." According to Krakauer, mountaineering was not a hobby but a requirement for the rich to make life complete. As ascertained by Fischer, "money was the prevailing gauge of success" (Krakauer 83). Therefore, all wealthy people hungered for the expedition and, without any training and mountaineering skills, took their trip to the peak of Mount Everest because they were financially capable and desired the entitlement that came with it.

Nevertheless, the large amounts of money clients pay to ascend Mount Everest are the leading reason for the increased cases of death on the mountain. The cost of mountaineering goes as high as $100 000 at the peak season when the number of clients elevates (Nepal and Mu 255). Clients push themselves up the mountain to get the worth of their money. Nobody would pay tens of thousands of dollars for an expedition and let the money go to waste because they retreated and never saw the peak of the mountain. Even when the conditions are unbearable and dangerous to proceed, clients do not turn back. Perhaps, in 1996, the clients ignored the bad weather and fatigue just to complete their trip since they could not let go of the sixty-five dollars they paid the guides to lead them up and down, Mount Everest (Nepal and Mu 251). If the climbers had not paid the vast sums of money, then most would not get to the peak where the storm hit. Furthermore, the weather had already started to deteriorate while ascending the mountain, but the climbers did not heed the signs, either due to lack of experience or the spirit of getting the worth of their money (Krakauer 5). Therefore, their wealth led them into an expedition that risked their lives.

Conclusion

Conclusively, if only mountaineering of Everest was left to professionals, then the storm would not account for a large number of deaths. The eight wealthy but inexperienced clients could not save themselves from the storm while the rest were left stranded unaware of how to descend to the camp. Their attitude and overly confidence despite their lack of experience led them to pay an outrageous amount to walk into a "death trap." Therefore, the personal wealth and the pursuit of the title that came with affording and climbing Mount Everest left many inexperienced clients stranded at the peak while some perished when the storm struck.

Works Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into thin air: A personal account of the Mount Everest disaster. Anchor. 1999.

Nepal, Sanjay K., and Sunny Mu Yang. Mountaineering, commodification, and risk perceptions in Nepal's Mt Everest region. Mountaineering Tourism. Routledge. 2015. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286457901_Mountaineering_commodification_and_risk_perceptions_in_Nepal' s_Mt_Everest_region Accessed March 20, 2020