[IAmBroom]

"Julia Child's recipes aren't within a hundred miles of modern cooking, because I used to burn ramen in a hotpot in college."

Your scouting experience was in no way, shape, nor form like Mallory's expeditions. He knew a few things 12-year-old you didn't. And these guys have tested their theories; you have not.

[eagsalazar2]

I do and did know about backpacking around Seattle (and the Sierra Nevadas, and the Uintas). I should have been more clear that I wasn't trying to make a comment about Everest expeditions, my comment is about extrapolating generally to "modern equipment is a scam" to an audience that is 99% people who do medium to low seriousness backpacking - who would in 1985 have been sleeping in canvas tents with cotton lined bags, just like I was.