Dying for a Good Time

January 8, 2010

This is the third time I have sat down to write this post. I keep delet­ing it.

I watched a doc­u­men­tary this week in Swe­den and I can’t put it out of my head. It was about a group of moun­tain climbers attempt­ing to sum­mit the sec­ond high­est moun­tain after Ever­est (K2). I’m not going to ruin the story for you, but the doc­u­men­tary is called “Dis­as­ter on K2.” It didn’t go well.

Watch­ing this made me angry.

A lot of peo­ple (maybe most peo­ple?) say they would never sky­dive because it’s too dan­ger­ous. And yet, the casu­alty rate of sky dives is 0.001%. 1 death every 100,000 jumps. Climbing K2 is another level of risk entirely, 25% of those who climb K2 die. (Ever­est has a casu­alty rate of 9%). I just can’t under­stand an adult being pre­pared to risk so much to get to the top of a stu­pid mountain.

So, what is wrong with moun­tain climbers?! (There are those who cheer on all kinds of risk-taking, like Chris Guille­beau, but I’m not one of them).

Adven­ture hol­i­days have increased in pop­u­lar­ity by 17% in recent years.  So there is a trend here. Maybe we crave dan­ger the more we get the rest of our lives in order. Maybe we want to feel all-powerful. We want to be fearless. What both­ers me is that the climbers who died in this doc­u­men­tary were smart peo­ple. They weren’t kids. They had expe­ri­enced suc­cess in their lives. They should have known better.

This goes back to my the­ory that goals can ruin your life.  We don’t know our lim­its.

David Zald, at Pro­fes­sor of Psy­chol­ogy at Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­sity, believes the rea­son is dopamine. “There appear to be fewer dopamine-inhibiting recep­tors,” he says, “— mean­ing that dare­dev­ils’ brains are more sat­u­rated with the chem­i­cal, pre­dis­pos­ing them to keep tak­ing risks and chas­ing the next high” (Source).

So there you have it, folks. Clear as day. Mountain-climbing is a men­tal problem.

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  • Mel
    Hi Tim!
    I read a book in uni re: mountain "flow" which is a state of mind that most mountain climbers achieve - it is such a high state of "focus" that the world becomes you & the next step. I'll see if I can dig the book out as it's one of the few I keep each time I move. I wonder if Sir Edmund Hillary might have some journals online that could provide some insight? Mel
  • mograaf
    I think we could debate this post for a long time... I'm not saying I would necessarily want to climb Everest or K2, but why do you think the odds are so bad? I think it has a lot to do with the amount of people that are climbing the mountains. The stats are derived in the following fashion (1 death in 10 summits = 10% death rate)... this doesn't mean that 10% of people who attempt to climb die. It means that for every 10 successful summits, there is 1 death. See this for interest: http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=14957. As you can see, the more people that climb, the safer it gets. I'm sure we could track skydiving stats going back 50 years and we'd find that it was once much less safe.
    An interesting book if you're bored is "into thin air" by Jon Krakauer.. I think you read this already...
    I think the main issue is, as you mention, not knowing your limits, and overestimating one's strength, ability, etc..
    Many climbers that have successfully summited Everest or K2, attempted the feat 2,3,4 times unsuccessfully before having the correct conditions, etc. to succeed. This would be the correct way to do it - to recognize that what you're attempting is extremely dangerous and that making foolhardy decisions in order to attain your goals (summit) while ignoring potential dangers can be deadly.
    So after that ramble, my point is that I disagree with this: "I just can’t understand an adult being prepared to risk so much to get to the top of a stupid mountain." I can understand it - wanting to push the limits, wanting to reach the highest point on earth.. competing with yourself to make it to a very difficult goal... but I do agree with your conclusion: "Mountain-climbing is a mental problem.", although, if there were ever to be such a study measuring dopamine-inhibiting receptors of K2 climbers, I have a feeling that the results would be no different than a study measuring dopamine-inhibiting receptors on Tim Horton's customers.. (meaning I don't necessarily buy that hypothesis by David Zald in this case)......
  • That's interesting stuff. I haven't read Into Thin Air yet, but I'll try to get around to it soon. Those stats you link to are interesting. I wonder why the increased numbers of climbers on Everest have correlated with a lower death rate? I wonder if the equipment is better now too, than it was in the 90's? Or if it's just better for people to go up there in bigger groups? On K2, they say it's actually better to go up in small groups, to reduce the likelihood of avalanches. I wonder also if climbers just pay Everest the proper respect. They might think they could do K2 on a good day, even if they're inexperienced?
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