Older climbers three times as likely to die on Everest

© rusty8850
In todays print and online Guardian James Randerson reports:

"For the retired businessman bored with zero gravity flights, heli-skiing, flying ex-military Russian Mig fighter jets and swimming with sharks, climbing Everest can be the perfect next date on the adventure calendar. But research on more than 2,000 expeditions to the world's highest peak has shown that older climbers are more likely to fail and more likely to die on the mountain. Those over 60 are three times as likely to die in their attempt compared with younger climbers."

UKClimbing.com's Tom Briggs gets a mention too saying that,

"It has attracted more older people who have got time and money on their hands," said Tom Bridge (sic) of Jagged Globe, a specialist mountaineering company which takes clients up Everest. He said that on the Chinese side of the mountain - the north ridge - there are companies offering a "skeleton service" with no selection over who they accept. "We have seen people having a go at Everest who really shouldn't be there,"

Read the full article at www.guardian.co.uk/science,


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15 Aug, 2007
15 Aug, 2007
They were old and would have died anyway.
15 Aug, 2007
Pope declares "I am a Catholic" shock... ...next up, bears - do they really do their business in the woods?
15 Aug, 2007
Is this article meant to be saying there are a worrying number of people dying on everest due to climbing it when 'too old' or just saying that 60s year olds have a worse chance than younger climbers...
15 Aug, 2007
-)
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