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Tab

(11,093 posts)
19. There's an interesting (IMO) related story
Mon Feb 29, 2016, 09:37 PM
Feb 2016

First, mechanically, you can't easily run a cable car up Everest (or to call it Chomolungma/Sagarmartha, the more proper name on the Tibetan/Nepali sides). Second you can't just dump people off at 30,000+ feet. You did mention it'd be pressurized but there's lots of problems in avoiding that or if things go wrong (or if the weather sucks and you can't bring the cable car down for days, and god forgive rescues or mechanical issues).

Anyway, that wasn't the point. When I was in Nepal, about 5 miles from Everest (and a good 3000 foot climb up yet ANOTHER mountain), there was a place called the Everest View Hotel. It's the highest hotel in the world at 13,000 feet (keep in mind Everest is more than twice that height).

It was built in the late 60's, opened in the early 70's. The idea was cool - you could sleep on a mountaintop and look out your window and see Everest. Even as a visitor years later (90's) I could go up there and get a cold coke served by a waiter. Quite surreal.

What they intended was that jet setters would flock in to this unusual luxurious location. What they found out were a few things - first of all, Royal Nepal Airlines had to give permission for flights in, and since they owned the monopoly on flights, they couldn't work out an arrangement whereby non-RNA flights could get in.

Second, I don't think anyone gave a lot of thought to altitude sickness from people flying into Kathmandu and then getting dropped off at 13,000 feet without acclimitizing properly (exposing you to altitude sickness which is a real dangerous thing).

Finally, no one seemed to have thought through the issue of having a wood structure exposed to the elements 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas.

To my knowledge, though it's been a few decades, the only to get there is to hike up, which I'm pretty sure was not in the business plan. I believe the Japanese owned it for a while (or maybe started it) but don't know what its status is now. It is surreal to climb up in the middle of frickin' nowhere, and be served a cold coke by a white-gloved waiter, but I doubt it's a sustaining business model. But there is something cool like that in the area, and a blast to experience (and no pun intended with either "cool" or "blast&quot


I've seen the Spanish Steps in Rome even more crowded than the 'after' pic...and what's more MADem Feb 2016 #1
There's one right across from St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna too Recursion Feb 2016 #2
I like the corn soup in the ones in Japan--delicious! nt MADem Feb 2016 #3
It's a famous one, the first in Italy. It was pretty empty when I went there in the 90s jakeXT Mar 2016 #31
I haven't been to Roma in several years, but every time I'd go by there, it was packed to the MADem Mar 2016 #33
I don't know whether to thank you or curse you Tab Feb 2016 #4
Your point about crowd-density was what I was thinking, too. kentauros Feb 2016 #15
As I understand it some of the "things" left behind are several bodies. Arugula Latte Feb 2016 #16
Yes, but that's a bit trickier. Tab Feb 2016 #18
Right. I understand it's very difficult to transport a body down Everest. Arugula Latte Mar 2016 #38
As far as that goes the Khumbu eventually does it for you Recursion Mar 2016 #52
Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Arugula Latte Mar 2016 #53
Some of the bodies are used as landmarks of a sort. Codeine Mar 2016 #49
It almost seems like installation art and not a real body. Arugula Latte Mar 2016 #54
Green Boots is gone now though; people in 2006 thought a dying guy was Green Boots Recursion Mar 2016 #55
Or to steal from SalmonEnchantedEvenings Sunday's LOLCats post... Tab Feb 2016 #5
Just hoping the pool stuff is dirt and water Tab Feb 2016 #21
That's why I like travelling off season. Venice, the day after Carnival was absolute underahedgerow Feb 2016 #6
Totally agree with you. dixiegrrrrl Feb 2016 #7
I'm with you on the "getting away" Aerows Mar 2016 #25
That's why I do not understand paying good money for a cruise. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2016 #35
I wouldn't go on a cruise if you gave me one for free! Aerows Mar 2016 #36
OMG you're so right. Heck you couldn't pay me to go on a Nano Virus cruise!! However.... underahedgerow Mar 2016 #37
We have cars Aerows Mar 2016 #39
Same here. greatauntoftriplets Feb 2016 #10
Must agree there Recursion Feb 2016 #14
went to Rome in March GreatGazoo Mar 2016 #32
I think the best time to travel TuxedoKat Mar 2016 #41
I'm guessing that's a pig foraging through the garbage at Howrah Bridge... hunter Feb 2016 #8
There's an interesting (IMO) related story Tab Feb 2016 #19
I went to Reno straight from New Orleans Aerows Mar 2016 #29
I killed a man in Reno once Tab Mar 2016 #30
I got altitude sickness standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. closeupready Mar 2016 #42
Lemmings!!! Paulie Mar 2016 #40
I refused to wait in the line to go to Versailles... It was truly awful. JCMach1 Feb 2016 #9
The Tower of London tour is another to be avoided at all cost. n/t sarge43 Feb 2016 #11
My last 'big' trip to London happened 2 days after the Tube Attacks JCMach1 Mar 2016 #47
Crowds or no crowds, it is a haunted place sarge43 Mar 2016 #48
and I love history... I thought I could handle it... JCMach1 Mar 2016 #50
I have a trick for that, next time you're in Paris! underahedgerow Mar 2016 #45
Changed my plans and went to Chateau Fountainbleau instead JCMach1 Mar 2016 #46
this is why I prefer rural areas to big cities and human-made "monuments" Kali Feb 2016 #12
i had the postcard experience in Santorini tk2kewl Feb 2016 #13
I love Kauai PasadenaTrudy Feb 2016 #17
And I never wear white. Tab Feb 2016 #20
Sardines we were, barely able to breath, staring up at the Sistine Chapel. Avalux Feb 2016 #22
I have been cattle-herded the Notre Dame during mass Recursion Mar 2016 #26
Wow, you sailed from Rome to Paris? MADem Mar 2016 #34
We did Italy tinymontgomery Feb 2016 #23
I actually rode an elephant once Aerows Mar 2016 #24
Same here Recursion Mar 2016 #27
The one I took a ride on Aerows Mar 2016 #28
People should not swim with dolphins. a la izquierda Mar 2016 #43
I've been to most of those places even during high traffic times and it wasn't that bad Major Nikon Mar 2016 #44
I was in Paris in May notawinger Mar 2016 #51
Notre Dame has always been a cattle call every time I've gone there Recursion Mar 2016 #56
I mostly tour through Ireland. Even at the Cliff's I've not see the mackerel Mar 2016 #57
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