[grahamannett]

im always curious where the notion that 'everest is the worlds highest stair stepper' comes from. everyone i know whos a serious alpinist still holds it in pretty high regards for any number of reasons.

which serious alpinists no longer do much on everest? of course its not a climb for mountaineers trying to put up a new route/make news due to the fact its the most climbed 8ker but i can think of 3 big names still guiding it regularly and conrad anker who may be the "most famous" mountaineer summited in 2012 according to his wiki. i could see honnold trying to summit everest in the next few years as well.

[hprotagonist]

Andrew Bisharat (http://eveningsends.com/everest-is-not-for-climbers/) But what this sad story reaffirms, to me, is that Everest is not for climbers. It’s for guides and clients, and all the infrastructure that goes into getting a large mass of people up the same two routes, as more than 3,000 people have done in the last 60 years. The mountain has been fully co-opted by the guide culture, and it seems as though there isn’t any room—logistically, if nothing else—for “real” climbers to go climbing as a small team, and demonstrate the self-reliance and skill that normally goes into climbing almost any other mountain.

the long and short of it is that Everest is not where The Hard Stuff Up High is. That's K2, Meru, Annapurna, Cerro Torre... Honnold is not really much of an alpinist, and I doubt he'll ever do Everest ... but he did just spend a month crushing in Antarctica.

(guided) mountaineering and alpinism are very different beasts, and Everest is a guided mountain (now). Fixed ropes, O2, guides, lines, litter. Judging by the last few years of trip reports in the AAC journal, the people who want to rack up and stomp off into the mountains alone or with one or two partners are going elsewhere.

[dillondoyle]

Why would Honnold commit to spending two months AWAY from rock? He struggles with just a single 'rest' day which for him usually means running up a mountain (not snowy technical). I assume you mean Alex Honnold the rock climber...