Chapters 10 through 14 of Into Thin Air, dont really deal with our topics of race, ethnicity and religion. However, throughout the book there is mention of a number of different nations that attempt or have attempted Everest. In Krakauer's group there are the native, Nepal Sherpas aalong with the New Zealanders such as Rob Hall and Andy Harris. Mike Groom is from Australia, Yasuko Namba is a Japanese woman, Dr. Stuart Hutchinson is Canadian and Jon Krakauer is one of a few Americans on the Adventure Consultants Expedition. There are seperate expeditions from the nations of Taiwan and South Africa, New Zealand and Malaysia. There are smaller expeditions from Sweden, Norway, Tibet, India and Japan. Other individuals that went for the summit in 1996 represent the nations of Russia, Spain, France, Austria, Great Britain, Australia, China, Denmark and Finland. I found on this website, http://www.factmonster.com/spot/everest2.html, that more than 4,500 people have summited Everest and more than 80 nations have had a representative reach the top.
I think this great variety of different races that share this same goal says a lot about people in general. People have this desire to climb Everest for different reasons. The Sherpas view the mountain as more a religous monument. They place their flags at the summit and their ability to reach this is based on their Gods and how pleased they are. Other countries, such as Great Britain, climbed Everest to claim the mountain as a source of national pride. The flag they placed on the summit was not one which represented their religon, but their pride in their country. Although the reasons for the climb vary, it seems that all of these nations view Everest as a great challenge to be conquered. I think this shows the way people view the Earth. In some ways, it seems that people, no matter what race, view Earth as a set of obstacles put here for humans to try and conquer. I think it shows the self center of humanity in the way that they view nature as there own personal jungle gym. This is obviously not the case for all humans, because many of the characters in this book show true respect for the mountain. I may have strayed from the topic a bit, but I think this is an important thing to recognize. If every nation and race fails to view nature with the respect that it deserves, there is an obvious problem with humanity.
-Jordan
Jordan, I agree with you that it is important to point out all of the different races that have taken interest in climbing Mount Everest. Like you mentioned, the climb means something different for each ethnicity. However, the common goal also serves to unify all of the different nations that you mentioned. When you say, "If every nation and race fails to view nature with the respect that it deserves, there is an obvious problem with humanity", are you arguing that climbing Mount Everest is respectful to nature or disrespectful?
ReplyDelete-Amanda
I completely agree with your post Jordan. I was also curious how many people have actually summited Everest and you answered that so thank you. I think that Everest, even though it is much easier to summit these days, still acts as a sense of pride for nations. While nations are waring over politics and other internal affairs something like someone summating Everest gains respect from both sides. One of the coolest things that I have ever seen was when I was watching sunday night baseball on the night that the President reported that Osama Bin Laiden had been killed. Within minutes of the report the entire crowd had broken out into chants of " USA". Even people who disliked certain teams came together because it was for their country. I think that Everest acts the same way. The question now becomes, when will we as a nation overcome our differences and rather embrace them?
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with the points you made Jordan. Humans all have similar goals in regards to nature and conquering it. The reasons for which some of them strive for these goals tend to differ between cultures, ethnicities, religions, races, etc. Granted they are all conquering the same thing when climbing the mountain, you are most certainly right that there are different motivations behind it. Some cultures climb it to feel in synch and show apprication towards nature while others climb it for senses of national pride and self achievement. Even though the reasons may differ, again you are right that everyone should appricaite and respect nature, because with out it we wouldn't exist.
ReplyDeleteNick