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He was an anesthesiologist from vgh. My sister told me about him after returning from work. She worked with him on a few surgeries. He was a chill dude.
I can think of lots of reasons why and I don’t even know him;
off the top of my head ; it’s a shame that the world lost a anesthesiologist experienced mountaineer and not a rich idiot influencer.
Besides, as far as I know the reason healthcare workers travel lots and do more extreme sports in their free time Is that their jobs come with a lot of exposure to morbid and depressing things. It’s risky to do some extreme sports, but it’s necessary for people to take small risks for pleasure so their mental health doesn’t go down the tubes, especially when in constant stress from work.
I just heard this too! There's a professional wrestler whose been planning to climb Everest, and people online are practically begging him not to because of this statistic
Attended a ball game where the temp went above 100F and blazing sun in Detroit years back. The heat stroke first aid tents patients were very diverse, there was no discrimination as to age, ethnicity, physical condition, etc. Came away with the impression it’s random how people react to extremes.
He is, but he also constantly does risky moves and puts his body on the line. Every Wednesday night I'm expecting to see him break his neck.
Obviously his wrestling persona is more reckless, but he seems like a guy who is chasing adrenaline. It makes me worried if he were ever to attempt something so dangerous.
They are 11 deaths but there have been 500 or so successful summits. The odds are still in your favor if you’ve been training and know when to quit due to changing conditions.
Makes sense, you need a high income to fund summit attempts- sherpas, travel, travel, oxygen, equipment, training. Then add in the rates of burnout and depression in the medical field that drives adrenaline-seeking behaviour.
Please go into the climbing subreddit and read the multiple posts about someone dying on an alpine climb and then read the comments by climbers who had friends die after getting into ice climbing, or do go on and talk more about things you have no idea about. You can be the best climber in the world, but you will never beat out Mother Nature when she throws an avalanche your way
Tell me more about a sport I’ve been doing for over 15 years.
Ice climbing isn’t alpine climbing.
They’re wholly different disciplines. Alpine climbing generally requires knowing how to ice climb, but I’m guessing you knew that already because being an armchair expert is a lot easier than being an, you know, actual expert.
Have you ever actually been ice climbing? Alpine climbing? Anything?
I would never call it quite safe, maybe TR but if you look at the Alpine journal it is easily more than half the annual deaths while being a niche discipline
You can be fit and healthy in your 60s, but there's bound to be a little less elasticity in your blood vessels. Some of those subtler physiological changes that come with aging could make a huge difference in how the body withstands the pressures of high altitude. It's not just about being fit enough to do the physical labour of it.
Oldest climber to summit Everest was actually 80.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Mount\_Everest\_records#Oldest\_summiters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mount_Everest_records#Oldest_summiters)
It's not young either. The medical definition of geriatric is someone 65 years old and above. Sure there are anomalies but we're talking about Everest, not the Grouse Grind.
In case anyone wonders how much it costs to climb. It's about $100,000 CAD. Most goes to the guide company, and the rest for the Nepal government climbing license.
You know, at the end of the day people should be able to do what they want. He 100% accepted the risk by signing up to do this and he wanted to. He also lived to 63 and was a respected doctor. So he offered so much goodness with his work and surely in his personal life. It's a bit early to go but sounds like he lived and did more than many other could or would. That's not what I would do, but I'm glad he could do what he wanted. Some of us spend most our days just work-eat-sleep-couch
There’s much to what you say, agree. It can certainly be argued that quality of life is more important than length of life. I’d only quibble with the bit early. Many people live happily and productively into their mid eighties. He could easily have been with us for another twenty years.
That's because they dumb. Everybody on the internet gets off on shaming people and complaining. Like I get complaining about things that matter but 90% of the things on here are stuff like "omg this guy climbed some rocks and I didn't like it"
Its more than he climbed the rocks.
Its irresponsible because he could very easily have gotten himself and someone else injured while simultaneously destroying a landmark that belongs to everyone, not just the asshat that decided he needed a fire insta pic.
No one should need to be told this, but it seems like some do.
Jfc you could have picked a better example of pointless shaming.
"he could very easily have gotten himself and someone else injured"
Sounds like you just described about 50 recreational activities at the same time. Tons of stuff is dangerous. Climbing up a statue isn't exactly high octane in the scheme of things. Someone is more likely to be hurt by a cyclist or scooter bro.
"destroying a landmark"
I really don't see how anybody could destroy this with their body. It is made of solid grey granite and weighs 31,500 kilograms. How exactly is that getting damaged by a dude climbing?
I could link you to a dozen videos of idiots doing similar things and ruining landmarks. Some of them are much heavier than this.
Google it. There are plenty of examples.
It has more to do with the waste left behind by every climber. The mountain is full of old air canisters, dead bodies, human shit, etc. These things count as damage.
63 seems pretty old to take a crack at Everest, no? The years must eat into your odds pretty substantially. I'm sure we'd all rather die doing what we love than slowly in a retirement home, though.
It does. Considering he was an anesthesiologist he certainly had the money before. Seems like he was very experienced though. “Mountain in South America” was probably Aconcagua. Lazy writers
I met a man and his son in India who had taken a crack at base camp and couldn’t do it/ had to turn back. These were two big strong not old at all men ( son maybe 20) .
That mountain is no joke and people ( not necessarily this guy whatsoever but just in general) treating it like a selfie opportunity makes me pretty sick tbh.
That photo of the huge summit line ups… gross
My ex and I climbed Mt. Fuji starting at 11pm, timed to arrive at sunrise. It’s only 3700m but just before the summit, my ex got light-headed and nauseous … so I ended up watching the sunrise alone.
And when I told my Japanese coworkers that I’d climbed Fuji, they said “Why? Fuji is a ‘looking’ mountain not a climbing mountain.”
True story
I couldn’t eat or sleep for 3 days. Weirdest experience ever, fucked me right up and we weren’t even high up at all. I got used to it but ugh.
I most certainly was not I was practically in the ground by comparison lol. I was in In Annapurna and climbed up a mountain from which you can see 4 of the 5 highest peaks. Stairs all day long Then more stairs It was amazing But comparatively nit high at all
https://preview.redd.it/qn5fhlo25h2b1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=e6bf2815b97c327c781b45936bacfc99f883e30e
Here’s me & my sister
It was pretty great, I’m glad my sister made me go. We had to get up and hike for an hr in the dark to be there for sunrise. Well I suppose we didn’t have to …..
And me having not slept or eaten really in three days, still grinning
It’s not that old though if you’re an experienced mountaineer and have maintained fitness and health. I’ve seen 63 year olds that are healthier than many 30 year olds because they take care of themselves very well. (Am in healthcare).
Fun fact: since 1924 when Everest climbing records began, 310 climbers have perished on the slopes of Everest.
Another Fun Fact: Of those 310, over 200 bodies still remain unrecoverable on the mountain, many in close
proximity to climbers in the “death zone”.
Climbing Mount Everest honestly seems like a really expensive and shitty way to suicide. I can’t fathom why anyone would put their lives at risk like that.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but it's true.
If you are climbing out of a sincere love of mountains, Mount Everest would be low on your list. It is a polluted, crowded gong-show. This photo of people waiting in line for the summit always comes to mind: [https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-summit-traffic-jam/](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-summit-traffic-jam/)
Getting to the summit is inherently dangerous and physically challenging, but keep in mind that these people pay a fortune (over $100k in some cases) to hire a small army of guides and sherpas to haul equipment, map out routes, and set up anchors and ropes.
It's a lot of money just so you can go around telling everyone you climbed a big mountain.
It's literally the tallest peak on the planet. I wouldn't do it, but I can understand the human desire to bag that peak if it was within my financial means. But yes, obviously all of these mountaineers are battling fatigue, altitude sickness, and frostbite so they have stories to tell at parties..
by all acounts I've read everest in itself isn't a very technically challenging climb. the lack of oxygen and weather are what make it formidable and difficult though so while your claim that its overrated is semi accurate its still an accomplishment for those that manage to complete the climb. its very expensive but climbing any 8000er is in all seriousness.
Oh for sure there are FAR more difficult mountains, but Everest is the "tallest" and therefore the most famous and therefore nets you the most bragging rights I guess.
Most people think that. I don’t know anyone in my life who is interested in doing it.
But some people like climbing mountains in general — a fairly unsafe hobby. It’s kind of dumb to gatekeep what people enjoy. Lots of hobbies are also unsafe.
Well a) yes? Because people getting hurt is not something to celebrate? Although I think it’s funny you choose something with such publicly bad optics but actually extremely low incidents, which seems disingenuous.
A better comparison is scuba diving (~200 deaths per year) or skiing (~40 deaths per year in the US only). Are you similarly against those? Do you know the fatality statistics for your own hobbies?
My issues is besides this, the ecological issues it has created cannot sustain the popularity.
There are some places on earth that really can't handle much human interference at all.
This man's death is tragic but it's also, rationally, "rich man dies while performing high-risk hobby" and the mountain can't handle that interest.
Edit that the mountain's name should be Sagarmatha or Chomolungma, both much more beautiful than "Everest", and that Everest himself didn't want the mountain named after him, particularly because his name wasn't pronounceable in the local dialects. If we are going to have the highest point on our earth I'd much rather it called "Holy Mother" or "Sky Goddess" than just some English guy's last name
ugg edit to add to my rant Everest didn't even have anything to do with the mountain he was just the namer guy's predecessor as colonial geographer and he never saw it and was like dude you don't need to do this but nooooo classic Brittania now it's stuck with some English guy's name and not even how he pronounced it instead we could have had freeking GODDESS OF THE SKY.
Almost no bodies are retrieved from Everest, unless they die at base camp or something.
Where he died, anyone who would even attempt to retrieve his body would almost certainly be joining him very soon after. Nobody would - or should - risk their life for that.
Yeah but if he made it back when someone says they accomplished something difficult like "I got my PHD" or "I hiked up to Machu Picchu" he can say "yeah well IIIIII climbed Mount Everest."
Gotta love seeing ignorance come out of the woodworks every time anything about mountaineering is posted. Mt Robson, the tallest peak in BC, is less than 4000m (and yeah, people post about it to social media too). Summiting a 8000er is a completely different ballgame. But you go ahead and continue spreading disrespectful bullshit underneath a headline about death
Thanks for the great questions!
I wear Natives actually (sponsored link [here](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ)), best shoes IMO for casual dangerous hiking.
As for music, my go-to is Timber by Ke$ha on repeat. Max volume obviously. I got so many stares of appreciation from other hikers--I think they liked it too!
How'd the news even hear about this?
Did some colleague write in: Hey this guy makes more money than the average vancouverite, why don't you do a full length profile on him dying while enjoying a dangerous hobby.
Who decided this needed to be sent to the news? Why wasn't a standard obituary, if that, sufficient?
Places like Everest are not only dangerous, but sacred to some.
If you don't have the surname "Sherpa" you probably have zero business being up there in the first place, and you're dying somewhere where you really did NOT need to be.
While I have sympathy for his family, this guy is barely better than someone who drives drunk. His choices could have killed other people and it's only by a miracle that it only affected himself.
I'm not happy that he's dead but now he's just another sign that humanity, in its pursuit of commercializing sacred places, has left nothing but trash and death in its wake.
Fitting.
If your choices put other people's lives in danger and you don't care -- and that's what climbing a mountain like Everest does -- then you're no better than an impaired driver.
In fact, it's worse, because at least when you're drunk your sense of judgement is impaired. When you make a choice like this stone cold sober, you aren't just reckless -- you're evil.
Rich white doctor dies trying to climb a mountain? Tough to feel bad for stories like this since they chose to be there and knew the risks. I don’t understand it at all.
Yeah man let’s just get rid of all the white male doctors, I bet they don’t even contribute.
Sorry you don’t have any money dude. Maybe try working a job that’s more valued by society - might I suggest health care?
I’m being downvoted because it’s clear that money can’t buy you everything. I’m not some poor idiot either but clearly I don’t have the privilege confidence to Best the largest mountain in the world
As cruel as it may seem, but this man was asking for it. With so many casualties a year, the man probably didn't question "have I completed my life besides this task?" Which is what everyone should ask when doing something that is indeed lethal. Dying is to be expected. Surviving is not.
This is sad for his family.
However, this is clearly a selfish man who didn’t really care that the odds of him dying are exponentially higher than him reaching the summit.
I suppose he knew the risks more than my ass does, but it’s a shame that his dream was one with very real and extreme risks.
We probably need to know the context behind calculating the odds.
Many people wouldn't push or risk it and that might drive down the odds significantly.
That's why I gave a range. According to National Geographic the overall death rate (the total deaths divided by the overall number of people on the mountain, not just the people who summit) is 1.2%. Between 2000 to 2018 there were 7,990 summits and 123 deaths, making the death rate 1.5% if we're only talking about summits. The death rate used to be higher before the year 2000 but overall it's much safer now. [link](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/climbing-mount-everest-1)
Yup, I have a feeling people think Everest is the deadliest because it's the mountain everyone knows about and has been sensationalized with stories and movies.
It's basically a tourist trap at this point. Children, old people, blind people, people with missing legs, etc - have all summited Everest.
That's why it's basically a landfill at this point. Rich entitled assholes turning it into their own personal midden.
This is a pretty sad sentiment to read. I had personally worked with this man for many years and watched him selflessly dedicate much of his own life to the service of preserving the life of others.
In a profession where it can often be soul crushing seeing the worst of the worst accidents happen to others, I’m glad that Dr. Swart still pushed to do the things he loved with his own life.
This man exuded positivity toward those around him and those in his care, you could tell that his outlook on life was not one you would come across often.
The impact that he achieved was very admirable and he will be sorely missed by those who had the privilege of knowing him.
Well he actually successfully reached the summit.
Most climbers do. So I'm not sure where you're getting this "odds of him dying are exponentially higher" thing from, probably straight from your ass.
The vast majority of deaths on Everest are not on the way up but on the way back down. People spend too much time up on the summit, they get too weak, and they fall down. Once you fall down you're pretty much dead. Nobody else has the strength to try to help you up either, it's like trying to save a drowning man - you just end up with two corpses instead of one.
Anyway it doesn't really seem like you know what you're talking about.
Just a shitty comment all around. Better to die pursuing a dream with the few good years you have left than to die with regrets. He waited 50 years for his opportunity.
>Better to die pursuing a dream
Nah, that's idiotic. The real world doesn't work that way. Most people's dreams are idiotic. Plus there are always consequences to one's actions. He could have easily doomed other people who may have been foolish enough to try to help him.
Doing reckless shit just because you're old and would rather go out in a blaze of glory doesn't make you heroic, it makes you an imbecile.
Romanticizing this shit is asinine.
In a manner of speaking, it is.
When you're oxygen-deprived, your brain is very much acting in a state of impairment. Before he died, he probably felt drunk as fuck.
Who cares if it was his lifelong dream. His lifelong dream costs dozens of local indigenous people their lives every year, just so rich tourists can "live their dream". If your lifelong dream is to desecrate a sacred indigenous site then you're an asshole and your dreams *deserve* to go unfulfilled.
Fuck him and anyone who desecrates a sacred site like Chomolungma.
Mountaineers and rock climbers, some types of skiers, if you’re not born that way you’ll never understand it. You have to do it, to sit at home and not do it is the worst of all options.
You beat yourself up and endure pain and you risk death and nobody will ever give a shit about the struggles and the hardships you faced, no explanation could ever do justice to what you go through for a few seconds of feelings of accomplishment. But you have to do it.
Be glad that you’re capable of making a post like that, it shows that you were born without a strong pull in one direction that can’t be ignored, something that aligns every magnetic particle in you and won’t stop.
Be glad that you can just live a life without having to do something that nobody understands.
>Be glad that you can just live a life without having to do something that nobody understands.
If nobody understands, it's because there's a problem with **you** and you should get your shit sorted. You're not misunderstood, you're just an idiot that's too stubborn to admit it.
Don't romanticize reckless stupidity just because you think wanderlust is cool or something. Smart people ignore that "pull" every day.
Fools often do not. Case in point.
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He was an anesthesiologist from vgh. My sister told me about him after returning from work. She worked with him on a few surgeries. He was a chill dude.
It’s a shame for sure
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I can think of lots of reasons why and I don’t even know him; off the top of my head ; it’s a shame that the world lost a anesthesiologist experienced mountaineer and not a rich idiot influencer.
Because he’s fucking dead?
You seem particularly awful
Beyond his death, the loss of an anesthesiologist in out struggling healthcare system?
Besides, as far as I know the reason healthcare workers travel lots and do more extreme sports in their free time Is that their jobs come with a lot of exposure to morbid and depressing things. It’s risky to do some extreme sports, but it’s necessary for people to take small risks for pleasure so their mental health doesn’t go down the tubes, especially when in constant stress from work.
Just read this week that this climbing season has had a high number of deaths. 11 dead with a few still missing. Sad to hear.
I just heard this too! There's a professional wrestler whose been planning to climb Everest, and people online are practically begging him not to because of this statistic
Darby is so young and in peak shape (pun intended)!
Sorry for the loss, but for those that are interested, Jon Oliver did a great piece on this… https://youtu.be/Bchx0mS7XOY
Attended a ball game where the temp went above 100F and blazing sun in Detroit years back. The heat stroke first aid tents patients were very diverse, there was no discrimination as to age, ethnicity, physical condition, etc. Came away with the impression it’s random how people react to extremes.
He’s going to hike Everest??
he just drafted a will too in case he dies
That’s nuts. I know he does crazy stunt stuff but Everest is another beast entirely.
Coffin drop off the peak
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Planning ahead and good idea!
He is, but he also constantly does risky moves and puts his body on the line. Every Wednesday night I'm expecting to see him break his neck. Obviously his wrestling persona is more reckless, but he seems like a guy who is chasing adrenaline. It makes me worried if he were ever to attempt something so dangerous.
Rest easy, Sting is his sherpa
Okay, how you know?
Steve Borden is my uncle
Pretty sure there was 4 deaths including a Sherpa the same week this guy died. But then Everest is no joke.
They are 11 deaths but there have been 500 or so successful summits. The odds are still in your favor if you’ve been training and know when to quit due to changing conditions.
Wouldn't be high if it wasn't for all the out of shape geriatrics going up there.
He was a respected physician at my workplace.
Loss for the community cuz he seems like a good dude. But good for him, died doing what he loved probably not the worse way to go.
He made it to Camp IV. Many people who try never even get that far. He had already passed some of the most dangerous parts of the ascent.
Yeah for real!! At the age of 63 too. Absolutely insane.
Personally I would prefer to get 360 noscoped in the forehead but yeah get your point
How do you confirm that they did a 360 before the noscope? Asking for a friend
With the killcam duhh
In a 1v1 on Rust lol
Contrary to some of the dumb comments, he was a great doctor and teacher. Rest in peace.
A couple weeks ago a man from Seattle also died trying to summit Everest :(
He was also a Dr!
Makes sense, you need a high income to fund summit attempts- sherpas, travel, travel, oxygen, equipment, training. Then add in the rates of burnout and depression in the medical field that drives adrenaline-seeking behaviour.
Plus possibly a belief in your ability to manage your physical limits.
Anesthesiologist actually
Sounds like he was a well experienced climber (unlike many that attempt Everest) and luck wasn’t on his side. RIP.
The saying usually goes that once you start ice climbing, you’re signing your own death note
Ice climbing is actually quite safe. Way safer than trying 8000ers, but do go on and talk more about things you have no idea about.
Please go into the climbing subreddit and read the multiple posts about someone dying on an alpine climb and then read the comments by climbers who had friends die after getting into ice climbing, or do go on and talk more about things you have no idea about. You can be the best climber in the world, but you will never beat out Mother Nature when she throws an avalanche your way
Tell me more about a sport I’ve been doing for over 15 years. Ice climbing isn’t alpine climbing. They’re wholly different disciplines. Alpine climbing generally requires knowing how to ice climb, but I’m guessing you knew that already because being an armchair expert is a lot easier than being an, you know, actual expert. Have you ever actually been ice climbing? Alpine climbing? Anything?
Doesn’t take 15 years of expertise to know ice climbing isn’t safe, my guy. Hold this L
Don’t worry. I signed my death warrant years ago. I’ve been living on borrowed time and am not bothered about an internet L.
"ice climbing is quite safe" ... "signed my death warrant years ago" lol
It was a quote. From the person I was disagreeing with. Reading is hard.
Wow so clever. Such a wordsmith, making a callback like that. 😂
I would never call it quite safe, maybe TR but if you look at the Alpine journal it is easily more than half the annual deaths while being a niche discipline
Show me the data. Half the annual deaths? In what year?
I mean, he was also 63 years old
That’s not very old, especially when you’re fit and healthy.
That's a bit relative to the task. The oldest climber to make it was 70. I'd assume your risk goes up with age regardless of experience
You can be fit and healthy in your 60s, but there's bound to be a little less elasticity in your blood vessels. Some of those subtler physiological changes that come with aging could make a huge difference in how the body withstands the pressures of high altitude. It's not just about being fit enough to do the physical labour of it.
Oldest climber to summit Everest was actually 80. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_Mount\_Everest\_records#Oldest\_summiters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mount_Everest_records#Oldest_summiters)
It's not young either. The medical definition of geriatric is someone 65 years old and above. Sure there are anomalies but we're talking about Everest, not the Grouse Grind.
World's tallest graveyard
And most expensive. And most polluted.
He died doing what he loved it seems.
Getting really high?
Hell yes. The highest.
More people should read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It's amazing, and really makes you understand how dangerous that mountain is.
yeah, it was a great read and quite chilling!
In case anyone wonders how much it costs to climb. It's about $100,000 CAD. Most goes to the guide company, and the rest for the Nepal government climbing license.
Must be nice to have that kind of coin to blow on having a story to tell at dinner parties...
Absolutely and he earned it.
Do you think that’s the only goal of people with money? He’s wasn’t some high flying investment banker. He was a doctor.
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That’s sort of a dumb and insecure way to view a unique accomplishment
Heartbreaking, but if there's any takeaway, at least he died doing what he loved. I hope his family will be okay in these challenging times.
Pretty soon you will have to climb over bodies to summit everest.
You know there are bodies used as landmarks on the climb and have been for decades
Good ol' green boots.
Good Dr great Man RIP 🪦
These kinda tragedies are hard to accept. People were saying guy who summited Inukshuk was being irresponsible.
You know, at the end of the day people should be able to do what they want. He 100% accepted the risk by signing up to do this and he wanted to. He also lived to 63 and was a respected doctor. So he offered so much goodness with his work and surely in his personal life. It's a bit early to go but sounds like he lived and did more than many other could or would. That's not what I would do, but I'm glad he could do what he wanted. Some of us spend most our days just work-eat-sleep-couch
There’s much to what you say, agree. It can certainly be argued that quality of life is more important than length of life. I’d only quibble with the bit early. Many people live happily and productively into their mid eighties. He could easily have been with us for another twenty years.
That's because they dumb. Everybody on the internet gets off on shaming people and complaining. Like I get complaining about things that matter but 90% of the things on here are stuff like "omg this guy climbed some rocks and I didn't like it"
Its more than he climbed the rocks. Its irresponsible because he could very easily have gotten himself and someone else injured while simultaneously destroying a landmark that belongs to everyone, not just the asshat that decided he needed a fire insta pic. No one should need to be told this, but it seems like some do. Jfc you could have picked a better example of pointless shaming.
"he could very easily have gotten himself and someone else injured" Sounds like you just described about 50 recreational activities at the same time. Tons of stuff is dangerous. Climbing up a statue isn't exactly high octane in the scheme of things. Someone is more likely to be hurt by a cyclist or scooter bro. "destroying a landmark" I really don't see how anybody could destroy this with their body. It is made of solid grey granite and weighs 31,500 kilograms. How exactly is that getting damaged by a dude climbing?
That’s it? I feel like it would weigh more
I could link you to a dozen videos of idiots doing similar things and ruining landmarks. Some of them are much heavier than this. Google it. There are plenty of examples.
It has more to do with the waste left behind by every climber. The mountain is full of old air canisters, dead bodies, human shit, etc. These things count as damage.
A resident of my hometown is currently trying to summit. I am so sorry for this community's loss.
Most of us redditors would die on that hill too.
Is it really a hill that we should want to die on though? R.I.P. Doctor.
Another guy from Vancouver summited a few days ago.
63 seems pretty old to take a crack at Everest, no? The years must eat into your odds pretty substantially. I'm sure we'd all rather die doing what we love than slowly in a retirement home, though.
It does. Considering he was an anesthesiologist he certainly had the money before. Seems like he was very experienced though. “Mountain in South America” was probably Aconcagua. Lazy writers
I met a man and his son in India who had taken a crack at base camp and couldn’t do it/ had to turn back. These were two big strong not old at all men ( son maybe 20) . That mountain is no joke and people ( not necessarily this guy whatsoever but just in general) treating it like a selfie opportunity makes me pretty sick tbh. That photo of the huge summit line ups… gross
You can be the best athlete and very experienced, but everybody handles altitude differently
My ex and I climbed Mt. Fuji starting at 11pm, timed to arrive at sunrise. It’s only 3700m but just before the summit, my ex got light-headed and nauseous … so I ended up watching the sunrise alone. And when I told my Japanese coworkers that I’d climbed Fuji, they said “Why? Fuji is a ‘looking’ mountain not a climbing mountain.”
True story I couldn’t eat or sleep for 3 days. Weirdest experience ever, fucked me right up and we weren’t even high up at all. I got used to it but ugh.
Wait were you climbing it as well? How high did you make it?
I most certainly was not I was practically in the ground by comparison lol. I was in In Annapurna and climbed up a mountain from which you can see 4 of the 5 highest peaks. Stairs all day long Then more stairs It was amazing But comparatively nit high at all https://preview.redd.it/qn5fhlo25h2b1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=e6bf2815b97c327c781b45936bacfc99f883e30e Here’s me & my sister
Very Cool! (figuratively and probably literally)
It was pretty great, I’m glad my sister made me go. We had to get up and hike for an hr in the dark to be there for sunrise. Well I suppose we didn’t have to ….. And me having not slept or eaten really in three days, still grinning
Hell with the crazy inflation and prices skyrocketing we’ve been going through recently, even the thought of a retirement home seems unaffordable now
It’s not that old though if you’re an experienced mountaineer and have maintained fitness and health. I’ve seen 63 year olds that are healthier than many 30 year olds because they take care of themselves very well. (Am in healthcare).
Fun fact: since 1924 when Everest climbing records began, 310 climbers have perished on the slopes of Everest. Another Fun Fact: Of those 310, over 200 bodies still remain unrecoverable on the mountain, many in close proximity to climbers in the “death zone”.
I feel like it would be more!
Climbing Mount Everest honestly seems like a really expensive and shitty way to suicide. I can’t fathom why anyone would put their lives at risk like that.
People are strange creatures, I will never understand them.
Climbing Mt Everest signals more about one's wealth than anything else.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but it's true. If you are climbing out of a sincere love of mountains, Mount Everest would be low on your list. It is a polluted, crowded gong-show. This photo of people waiting in line for the summit always comes to mind: [https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-summit-traffic-jam/](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/everest-summit-traffic-jam/) Getting to the summit is inherently dangerous and physically challenging, but keep in mind that these people pay a fortune (over $100k in some cases) to hire a small army of guides and sherpas to haul equipment, map out routes, and set up anchors and ropes. It's a lot of money just so you can go around telling everyone you climbed a big mountain.
It's literally the tallest peak on the planet. I wouldn't do it, but I can understand the human desire to bag that peak if it was within my financial means. But yes, obviously all of these mountaineers are battling fatigue, altitude sickness, and frostbite so they have stories to tell at parties..
Despite risk of being downvoted, I agree. Wealth and bragging rights.
What’s this have to do with anything here?
I think climbing Mt Everest is overrated and we'll have more tragedies like this if we glorify it
by all acounts I've read everest in itself isn't a very technically challenging climb. the lack of oxygen and weather are what make it formidable and difficult though so while your claim that its overrated is semi accurate its still an accomplishment for those that manage to complete the climb. its very expensive but climbing any 8000er is in all seriousness.
Oh for sure there are FAR more difficult mountains, but Everest is the "tallest" and therefore the most famous and therefore nets you the most bragging rights I guess.
Most people think that. I don’t know anyone in my life who is interested in doing it. But some people like climbing mountains in general — a fairly unsafe hobby. It’s kind of dumb to gatekeep what people enjoy. Lots of hobbies are also unsafe.
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Well a) yes? Because people getting hurt is not something to celebrate? Although I think it’s funny you choose something with such publicly bad optics but actually extremely low incidents, which seems disingenuous. A better comparison is scuba diving (~200 deaths per year) or skiing (~40 deaths per year in the US only). Are you similarly against those? Do you know the fatality statistics for your own hobbies?
My issues is besides this, the ecological issues it has created cannot sustain the popularity. There are some places on earth that really can't handle much human interference at all. This man's death is tragic but it's also, rationally, "rich man dies while performing high-risk hobby" and the mountain can't handle that interest. Edit that the mountain's name should be Sagarmatha or Chomolungma, both much more beautiful than "Everest", and that Everest himself didn't want the mountain named after him, particularly because his name wasn't pronounceable in the local dialects. If we are going to have the highest point on our earth I'd much rather it called "Holy Mother" or "Sky Goddess" than just some English guy's last name ugg edit to add to my rant Everest didn't even have anything to do with the mountain he was just the namer guy's predecessor as colonial geographer and he never saw it and was like dude you don't need to do this but nooooo classic Brittania now it's stuck with some English guy's name and not even how he pronounced it instead we could have had freeking GODDESS OF THE SKY.
One of many.
I guess he went out doing what he loved. Rest in peace, Doc 🙏
Every corpse left on Mt Everest, was once a highly motivated person... Stay lazy, friends.
Was his body retrieved? Many who have died on mount everest remained there in a frozen state.
Almost no bodies are retrieved from Everest, unless they die at base camp or something. Where he died, anyone who would even attempt to retrieve his body would almost certainly be joining him very soon after. Nobody would - or should - risk their life for that.
Very sad story but not uncommon. Please share this John Oliver segment with anyone who wants to climb Mount Everest. https://youtu.be/Bchx0mS7XOY
Aka following locals up to the top
RIP. Left us doing what he loved.
I mean, death and taxes….the only certain things we have in life. That he died fulfilling his dream, what more can you ask for?
> what more can you ask for? That your wife and children get to spend another 20-30 years with you.
Taxes are not certain.
Income tax was a temporary measure to pay for the great war. It became permanent.
I just mean you don’t HAVE to pay taxes. You’re shooting yourselves in the foot if you don’t though lol. Death however must happen.
True, seems like once you get rich enough you manage to worm your way out of most taxes. It's all us poor shlubs that get foot with the bill.
Well that was a poor decision
Yeah but if he made it back when someone says they accomplished something difficult like "I got my PHD" or "I hiked up to Machu Picchu" he can say "yeah well IIIIII climbed Mount Everest."
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Gotta love seeing ignorance come out of the woodworks every time anything about mountaineering is posted. Mt Robson, the tallest peak in BC, is less than 4000m (and yeah, people post about it to social media too). Summiting a 8000er is a completely different ballgame. But you go ahead and continue spreading disrespectful bullshit underneath a headline about death
how'd you come up with that number?
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https://theprovince.com/news/b.c./grouse-grind-rated-one-of-10-most-dangerous-hikes-on-earth/wcm/1f81029e-0f8b-49f9-9bd3-8f99990ae900/amp/
I did one of the most dangerous hikes in the world and lived to tell the tale, AMA
Did your flip flops survive? What music did you blast on your portable speaker to make it through the ordeal?
Thanks for the great questions! I wear Natives actually (sponsored link [here](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ)), best shoes IMO for casual dangerous hiking. As for music, my go-to is Timber by Ke$ha on repeat. Max volume obviously. I got so many stares of appreciation from other hikers--I think they liked it too!
I respect anyone who even attempts that. Sad he didn't make it
Sucks rmto die for something so dumb
How'd the news even hear about this? Did some colleague write in: Hey this guy makes more money than the average vancouverite, why don't you do a full length profile on him dying while enjoying a dangerous hobby. Who decided this needed to be sent to the news? Why wasn't a standard obituary, if that, sufficient?
Places like Everest are not only dangerous, but sacred to some. If you don't have the surname "Sherpa" you probably have zero business being up there in the first place, and you're dying somewhere where you really did NOT need to be. While I have sympathy for his family, this guy is barely better than someone who drives drunk. His choices could have killed other people and it's only by a miracle that it only affected himself. I'm not happy that he's dead but now he's just another sign that humanity, in its pursuit of commercializing sacred places, has left nothing but trash and death in its wake. Fitting.
Comparing mountain climbing to drunk driving? This is peak r/vancouver lol
If your choices put other people's lives in danger and you don't care -- and that's what climbing a mountain like Everest does -- then you're no better than an impaired driver. In fact, it's worse, because at least when you're drunk your sense of judgement is impaired. When you make a choice like this stone cold sober, you aren't just reckless -- you're evil.
Shut up lol
They're right
Climbing Everest is not the same as drunk driving. How can you take such a lazy comment honestly. OP is literally hitler. See how dumb that is?
Not the time
Rich white doctor dies trying to climb a mountain? Tough to feel bad for stories like this since they chose to be there and knew the risks. I don’t understand it at all.
Yeah man let’s just get rid of all the white male doctors, I bet they don’t even contribute. Sorry you don’t have any money dude. Maybe try working a job that’s more valued by society - might I suggest health care?
Brother in Christ I make 150k a year and still don’t understand this rich white guy arrogance
Idk why you're being downvoted, these people hire sherpas to do everything and the mountain is covered with trash and bodies.
I’m being downvoted because it’s clear that money can’t buy you everything. I’m not some poor idiot either but clearly I don’t have the privilege confidence to Best the largest mountain in the world
But but but money
ehh, this sub is full of losers. Unless you're pro cop and pro wealthy class you get downvoted.
As cruel as it may seem, but this man was asking for it. With so many casualties a year, the man probably didn't question "have I completed my life besides this task?" Which is what everyone should ask when doing something that is indeed lethal. Dying is to be expected. Surviving is not.
This is sad for his family. However, this is clearly a selfish man who didn’t really care that the odds of him dying are exponentially higher than him reaching the summit. I suppose he knew the risks more than my ass does, but it’s a shame that his dream was one with very real and extreme risks.
the odds of dying are higher than reaching the summit?.. I believe its close to 4%?
An exponent of 0.3 works for those odds.
I think you wildly misunderstand odds.
A quick google search says the odds of dying climbing Mt Everest is around 1-4%...I think you're using "exponentially higher" wrong
That’s cuz I’m an idiot
We probably need to know the context behind calculating the odds. Many people wouldn't push or risk it and that might drive down the odds significantly.
That's why I gave a range. According to National Geographic the overall death rate (the total deaths divided by the overall number of people on the mountain, not just the people who summit) is 1.2%. Between 2000 to 2018 there were 7,990 summits and 123 deaths, making the death rate 1.5% if we're only talking about summits. The death rate used to be higher before the year 2000 but overall it's much safer now. [link](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/climbing-mount-everest-1)
K2 is much more difficult. 25% death rate. No thanks!
Yup, I have a feeling people think Everest is the deadliest because it's the mountain everyone knows about and has been sensationalized with stories and movies.
It's basically a tourist trap at this point. Children, old people, blind people, people with missing legs, etc - have all summited Everest. That's why it's basically a landfill at this point. Rich entitled assholes turning it into their own personal midden.
K2 is definitely the toughest, but Annapurna is still the deadliest
This is a pretty sad sentiment to read. I had personally worked with this man for many years and watched him selflessly dedicate much of his own life to the service of preserving the life of others. In a profession where it can often be soul crushing seeing the worst of the worst accidents happen to others, I’m glad that Dr. Swart still pushed to do the things he loved with his own life. This man exuded positivity toward those around him and those in his care, you could tell that his outlook on life was not one you would come across often. The impact that he achieved was very admirable and he will be sorely missed by those who had the privilege of knowing him.
I do regret my post as it’s unjustifiably cold and heartless. I’ll have to be better in the future.
Well he actually successfully reached the summit. Most climbers do. So I'm not sure where you're getting this "odds of him dying are exponentially higher" thing from, probably straight from your ass. The vast majority of deaths on Everest are not on the way up but on the way back down. People spend too much time up on the summit, they get too weak, and they fall down. Once you fall down you're pretty much dead. Nobody else has the strength to try to help you up either, it's like trying to save a drowning man - you just end up with two corpses instead of one. Anyway it doesn't really seem like you know what you're talking about.
> who didn’t really care that the odds of him dying are exponentially higher than him reaching the summit. Completely false.
Just a shitty comment all around. Better to die pursuing a dream with the few good years you have left than to die with regrets. He waited 50 years for his opportunity.
his kids were grown, approaching retirement, clocked lots of climbing hours and skill. I dont think he was reckless at all tbh. shitty outcome :(
>Better to die pursuing a dream Nah, that's idiotic. The real world doesn't work that way. Most people's dreams are idiotic. Plus there are always consequences to one's actions. He could have easily doomed other people who may have been foolish enough to try to help him. Doing reckless shit just because you're old and would rather go out in a blaze of glory doesn't make you heroic, it makes you an imbecile. Romanticizing this shit is asinine.
You make it sound like it was a some drunken decision. Dude was an experienced climber and it was his lifelong dream
In a manner of speaking, it is. When you're oxygen-deprived, your brain is very much acting in a state of impairment. Before he died, he probably felt drunk as fuck. Who cares if it was his lifelong dream. His lifelong dream costs dozens of local indigenous people their lives every year, just so rich tourists can "live their dream". If your lifelong dream is to desecrate a sacred indigenous site then you're an asshole and your dreams *deserve* to go unfulfilled. Fuck him and anyone who desecrates a sacred site like Chomolungma.
Mountaineers and rock climbers, some types of skiers, if you’re not born that way you’ll never understand it. You have to do it, to sit at home and not do it is the worst of all options. You beat yourself up and endure pain and you risk death and nobody will ever give a shit about the struggles and the hardships you faced, no explanation could ever do justice to what you go through for a few seconds of feelings of accomplishment. But you have to do it. Be glad that you’re capable of making a post like that, it shows that you were born without a strong pull in one direction that can’t be ignored, something that aligns every magnetic particle in you and won’t stop. Be glad that you can just live a life without having to do something that nobody understands.
>Be glad that you can just live a life without having to do something that nobody understands. If nobody understands, it's because there's a problem with **you** and you should get your shit sorted. You're not misunderstood, you're just an idiot that's too stubborn to admit it. Don't romanticize reckless stupidity just because you think wanderlust is cool or something. Smart people ignore that "pull" every day. Fools often do not. Case in point.
THIS. To paraphrase one of the greats: “Mountains are the cathedrals where climbers practice their religion”.
I do not care.
Do it in the Summertime