Naked on Mt Everest
Australian ABC News Online has an article about a sherpa who stripped off on the top of Mt Everest!
The head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association has urged the Government to take action against a sherpa who reportedly stripped off on top of Mount Everest.
The Himalayan Times reported on Friday that the Nepali climbing guide, whose name it gave as Lakpa Tharke, stood naked for three minutes in freezing conditions on the 8,850 metre summit of the world’s highest peak.
If confirmed, he would be the first person known to have stripped atop Everest, which is considered by Nepali Buddhists as a god.
I have two questions:
- Why hasn’t anyone done this before?
- Why do it anyway? It’s freezing up there!
I should know – I was at 4000 metres in the Everest area in January and the top is at 8848 metres and far, far colder than where I was! (Read about my trekking adventure in the archives of this blog).
Just thinking about the effects on certain parts of the body at that altitude brings tears to the eyes and numbs the mind (not to mention other things!)
To read the whole ABCNews Online story click here.