Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/12/03/the-human-and-financial-cost-t.html
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Without the Sherpa, Everest would never had been climbed & conquered.
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Summit is not a verb.
(Someone coming along to educate me about living language and usage in 3,2,1…)
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I wonder how feasible and costly it would be to get a person there via high-altitude insertion from jet plane. If they can put a lander on Mars then surely they can put an egotistical billionaire on a mountaintop.
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There also is the environmental impact. There is so much discarded gear, etc up there
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I think with few exceptions, standing on top is not the point, it’s the getting there. There’s a road and railway to the top of Mt Washington, tallest peak in the eastern US, yet many people choose to climb it, or ice climb it like my son. He is well on his way to being a professional mountain guide, which I find terrifying. It makes his trad rock climbing look safe in comparison.
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I know, but it still seems like something an egotistical billionaire might want to try.
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Lots of bodies, too. The mortality rate for climbing just to a base camp is horrific.
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Your example belies your point: if the getting there was the thing, there wouldn’t be a road AND an rail line to the top. There are approximately a bazillion other examples of other locations where doing something hard, slow, and challenging have been made quick, simple, and comfortable.
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First challenge: if you are not acclimatized to the altitude you will die within the first several hours. Too short a time period to come down safely.
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I’m imagining the billionaire would ride down in some kind of pressurized chamber.
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No need with this one. You’re simply wrong. Even Websters says it’s a transitive verb - your assertion notwithstanding.
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It’s a lot simpler than that…
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Merriam Webster disagrees:
summit
summited; summiting; summits
Definition of summit (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : to participate in a summit conference
2 : to climb to the summitsummited on May 29
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Dictionaries reflect usage. I wonder when they decided to insert summit and medal and others of this ilk as verbs. It jars and clangs and just sounds plain wrong every time I hear (or see) such nonsense.
And get off my lawn, too. 
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get off my lawn
The phrase you are looking for is “delawn thyself, stat”
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Thank you muchly. I was seeking such a phrase but it’s late and it’s been a very long and taxing day.
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“Rainbow Valley” is a deceptively cheery sounding landmark along the Northeast Ridge Route that got its name from the multicolored down jackets and climbing gear attached to the numerous corpses littered along the hillside.
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What is this “stat” of which you speak? Surely the correct term is “forthwith”? (I will reluctantly accept “posthaste” since I don’t wish to appear out of touch with the young folk.)
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Would you prefer “salvum me gramina” ?
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