More to the point, I don't get climbing a mountain which other climbers say "invites death." Still, this was a moving story. I know I'm late. Sorry guys, I was traveling much of yesterday. Just getting around to it now.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Sort of related:
http://www.blindsightthemovie.com/index1.html
I've tried several ways of saying I really want to see this, and can't avoid it sounding like a pun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Weihenmayer
[blockquote]
Erik Weihenmayer (born September 23, 1968) is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002.
Erik is an acrobatic skydiver, long distance biker, marathon runner, skier, mountaineer, ice climber, and rock climber.
Blindsight (2006 film), was released in 2006. Another documentary, Fellowship of the Andes, was produced by Dutch filmmaker Bernd Out. The film shows how Erik inspires a team of blind and visually-impaired students on their mountain trek across the Andes in June 2006.[1]
[/blockquote]
Who, pray tell, is your A&R?
"I don't get climbing a mountain which other climbers say "invites death."
I understood it a little better after reading Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.
Here is a link to the blog of Nicholas Rice, one of the people on K2, who did not attempt the summit that day, but chronicled the aftermath.
http://nickrice.us/index_files/k2dispatch.htm
It is amazing what people will do.
It's also a really interesting read, learning about the "politics" of mountaineering.
Cathy
I plan on starting mountaineering next year, mainly because I like the outdoors and I grew up near mountains and have always wanted to climb them. There are a lot of mountains that are very safe to climb, so it's not like it has to be so dangerous. I certainly understand the allure of climbing a mountain like K2, but that is one dangerous mountain. Very few people have summited it, you're certainly in an elite group of climbers if you do. Most even do it without oxygen. If it wasn't for the cost in money and time, I'd probably try to attempt those types of mountains as well.
No, read Macfarlane's Mountains of the Mind.
Why not set up a police scanner, wait for a house fire call, then race to it and rush in to try and save lives? This would seem like a more meaningful way to commit suicide.
I enjoy mountain-climbing, although not on that scale. My take:
1) Mountain-climbing probably isn't much more dangerous than motorcycle riding, light plane piloting, or similar moderate risk activities.
2) It's kind of fun to be faced with that risk, and get outside of the office comfort zone.
3) Mountain climbing has very concrete achievements -- you either summitted by a particular route or you didn't -- which appeal to some Type As.
4) It's like backpacking on steroids -- you get to be away from other people, in places most people never see, and you get there in part under your own power and skill.
This seems an appropriate place to quote Mallory, on why people climb a mountain like K2: Because it is there.
I'm a climber. I've even climbed in Pakistan (though not K2, although I have been to K2 base camp). People climb for lots of reasons, but I've found the most prevalent reason to be for the sense of accomplishment. There's not much else in the world I can think of that makes me feel like I do standing on a summit.
As the Discovery doc on Everest made clear, the real problem with the high mountains is that they're now attracting people who aren't crazy mountain climbers in the classic formulation. You get people who want to be the first one-legged deaf albino from Luxembourg up Everest. I'd thought that K2 remained more or less reserved for old-school climbers, since it's an utter fucking bastard mountain, though perhaps that's changing too.
One of those killed on K2 was the first Irishman to reach the summit, and I'm obviously not saying that he was climbing it for that reason, but if you read Nicholas Rice's diary, you do get the sense that there's a lot of politics involved. The Everest documentary suggested that money and demand shape too many decisions that wouldn't have been made 20 years ago.