Top all-time · #2651
Alan Arnette
Personal blog · alanarnette.com/blogother
Alan Arnette's personal blog at alanarnette.com. Since 2012, 29 different Hacker News readers have linked it 33 times, most often “Everest 2023: Season Summary – Deadliest in History”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-16, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (20) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Alan Arnette's blog for Everest and high-altitude climbing material: expedition costs, permits, crowding, summit size, route maps, and winter K2 and xenon-climb updates.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 20 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Climbing the World to End Alzheimer's
Most-linked posts?
- /blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-cost-to-climb-mount-everest-2019-edition/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-05-24
- /blog/2017/12/17/everest-by-the-numbers-2018-edition/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-06-05
- /downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jpg2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-12-19
- Everest 2023: Season Summary – Deadliest in History2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-06-07
- /everest/everestsouthroutes.php2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-06-01
What Hacker News says?
Everst averages $35K to $50K. A breakdown of individual expenses involved: The government permit is the largest individual cost. http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2014/01/06/everest-2014-the-...
Comment linking /blog/2014/01/06/everest-2014-the-cost-to-climb-everest/
on “Alan Eustace Jumps from Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner’s World Record”Submitted How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest? as a story · 257 points
HN discussionThe eight examples mentioned in the Wikipedia page are far from an exhaustive list. They don't include many examples from the original Frank White book, to start. (White also defines it quite broadly, to include the feeling you get in an airplane when watching tiny cars moving along the ground.) Even if the hit rate is low, that doesn't necessarily deter thrill-seekers. 4,800 people have successfully climbed Mt. Eve…
Comment linking /blog/2017/12/17/everest-by-the-numbers-2018-edition/
on “Blue Origin successfully lands both booster and crew capsule after test launch”Submitted Everest 2024: Nepal's "GPS Chip" Plan Has Major Problems as a story · 45 points
HN discussionThe headline is a bit linkbait-y. A total of about 233 people have died. The Khumbu Icefall at the bottom is one of the most dangerous stretches, since it moves, giant seracs can collapse, etc. Those who died there would probably have been recovered and given a decent burial, or be lost at the bottom of a crevasse. When someone dies and it's not feasible to bring them down, typically at some point someone would brin…
Comment linking /blog/2012/12/06/bodies-on-everest/
on “Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)”Submitted Training for Everest as a story · 2 points
HN discussionGo to the main website: http://www.alanarnette.com/ then copy url for image in: http://www.alanarnette.com/downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jp... Simple hot linking restrictions.
Comment linking /downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jpg
on “Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)”Submitted How Much Does It Cost to Climb Mount Everest? – 2024 Edition as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWhen you follow http://www.alanarnette.com/downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jp... this picture you can see the route. I had a hard time seeing any of the climbers until I knew where to look. Point C3 is the last place you can actually see humans (& tents), C4 is already more of a guess.
Comment linking /downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jpg
on “Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?)”Submitted Everest 2023: Season Summary – Deadliest in History as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIMO this climb doesn't really do much to prove of xenon's effectiveness (altitude researcher Dr. Peter Hackett says as much [0]). The team used supplemental oxygen on the climb, with the starting altitude and flow rate not being reported [1]. This is speculative, but if they were using more oxygen than typical and starting at a lower altitude, that's a massive advantage. Further, Andrew Ushakov traveled from NYC to…
Comment linking /blog/2025/05/21/everest-2025-fast-everest-summits-3-or-5-days/
on “The Myth of Developer Obsolescence”Submitted First Winter Summit on K2 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2021/01/16/winter-k2-update... > There are around 20 climbers aspiring to summit, and claim a winter K2 summit. Some have acclimatized to Camp 3 but most have only reached Camp 1. Some will end their effort based on today’s first summit, and citing rockfall danger, others will still retain their motivation. We’ll see what the final K2 winter 2020/21 total is in a few weeks.
Comment linking /blog/2021/01/16/winter-k2-update-first-winter-k2-summit
on “A Nepali team has made the first winter ascent of K2”Submitted How Much Does It Cost to Climb Mount Everest? – 2018 Edition as a story · 2 points
HN discussionHere's a good blog with a breakdown of costs to climb Everest and how they're evolving: http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-... Sounds like 2019 is the year of China exerting full control over the Tibet-side approach: "In my mind climbing in Tibet has just become more expensive and more controlled. While the intent of some of this is good (trash, centralized rescue) others are onerous in natu…
Comment linking /blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-cost-to-climb-mount-everest-2019-edition/
on “When we say “Everest is crowded,” this is what we mean”Submitted 2016: How Much Does It Cost to Climb Everest? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionMore of a wealth marker than anything else (who else can pay $45k-130k and take months off work to prep?) It used to be one team was allowed a permit per year, but has since evolved to be a tourist mecca: http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-...
Comment linking /blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-cost-to-climb-mount-everest-2019-edition/
on “When we say “Everest is crowded,” this is what we mean”Submitted Has Everest Become More Dangerous? (2013) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionAlan suffered a pretty major injury to his leg a few months ago, it's unclear if he will be able to climb mountains again, but we all are pretty sure he will find a way. http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2017/05/05/broken-leg-update...
Comment linking /blog/2017/05/05/broken-leg-update-three-months-out/
on “How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest?”Submitted Everest 2023: Season Summary – Deadliest in History as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI finally got an answer to something I've wondered about for years: How much space is there at the summit of Everest? Is it just enough for a few people to huddle together or could you pitch a bunch of tents and have a picnic? I've never seen a photo taken at the summit that gives a good feel for the surface area. Well, finally, this climber's blog has the answer: it's 30 square feet (or about 3 ㎡). Found the answer…
Comment linking /everest/everestsouthroutes.php
on “How Much Does it Cost to Climb Mount Everest?”Submitted Training for Everest and Other 8000m Mountains as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI can understand a persons willingness to 'push the envelope' and stretch themselves to reach their goals, but I am always mystified by the seeming lack of understanding by those who try and tackle Everest when they are not at peak climbing ability. In almost every case, it is the local Sherpas who will have to then risk their own lives to undertake a rescue or recovery operation if you don't make it. Plus, I would…
Comment linking /blog/2017/05/27/everest-2017-weekend-update-may-27/
on “Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest”Submitted Everest 2015: Season Summary – Summits Don’t Matter as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIf interested in the topic I can recommend Alan Arnette's blog http://www.alanarnette.com/ I've found it one of the best sources of what's happening on Everest.
Comment linking /
on “Sherpas, Death, and Anger on Everest ”Everest permits already cost USD $11,000. The problem is the government doesn't necessarily use that money to clean up the site. The government also doesn't cap the number of climbers, as far as I know. Hence the chaos up there. http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-...
Comment linking /blog/2018/12/17/how-much-does-it-cost-to-climb-mount-everest-2019-edition/
on “Norway's Bold Plan to Tackle Overtourism”I've never seen a photo or visualization that gives a feel for the size of the area at the summit of Everest. There are thousands of photos taken at summit of course, but it's always someone standing on the summit himself, so you don't know how much space is behind the photographer. According to this source http://www.alanarnette.com/everest/everestsouthroutes.php the summit is 30 square feet (or 3 square meters). I…
Comment linking /everest/everestsouthroutes.php
on “Mt Everest in 3D: Everest Avalanche Tragedy”For the same reason that people visit North Korea or Pripyat, they encountered it in popular or social media and added it to their bucket list. There will always be dedicated mountaineers who view it (or K2) as the ultimate personal achievement but that number is joined more and more by the "wealthy instagram crowd". https://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2024/12/16/everest-by-the-n...
Comment linking /blog/2024/12/16/everest-by-the-numbers-2025-edition
on “Climbers using xenon gas to climb Everest”Interesting, I would have thought it was a lot more! Here's a page with a lot of statistics http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2017/12/17/everest-by-the-nu... . It's primarily based on analysis of http://www.himalayandatabase.com/ , plus some other history recounted by the blog author.
Comment linking /blog/2017/12/17/everest-by-the-numbers-2018-edition/
on “Man dies on Mount Everest during cryptocurrency promotional stunt”IMO this climb doesn't really do much to prove of xenon's effectiveness (altitude researcher Dr. Peter Hackett says as much [0]). The team used supplemental oxygen on the climb, with the starting altitude and flow rate not being reported [1]. This is speculative, but if they were using more oxygen than typical and starting at a lower altitude, that's a massive advantage. Further, Andrew Ushakov traveled from NYC to…
Comment linking /blog/2025/05/21/everest-2025-fast-everest-summits-3-or-5-days/
on “They used Xenon to climb Everest in days – is it the future of mountaineering?”
