It's ironic that someone who is training to become a rescuer is cheering climbers on Everest and K2 who place others in harms way by refusal to use safety gear while denigrating people who are climbing with safety gear. If you want to climb without O2, be sure to pick lines away from any other climbers who might get suckered into trying to save your ass.

The reality is that, for the vast majority, oxygen on the highest peaks greatly improves safety not only of brain cells but also digits. The other dirty truth is that many of your oxygenless "heroes" are also shooting up dexamethasone which cuts their margin of safety even thinner but at least you can't see it in the photos. Buhl used drugs on Nanga Parbat so don't forget to put an asterisk next to his first ascent--maybe it shouldn't count? Lots of other high altitude records were augmented with speed but that seldom gets mentioned. The number of genetic mutants like Bukreev are exceedingly few.

As for sticking to little peaks, the view just ain't as good.

Who cares about a "summit certificate" or any other such crap. Hell, I've only signed one summit logbook and that was my first mountain, and that was when I was a kiddo.

Been to Nepal to climb but the more popular peaks leave me with an uneasy feeling. Nowadays the peaks I like are those where you are the only one around (Cayesh, Olcshapalca in Peru to name two) and if you name drop the peaks somewhere (like at a party,..."there I was, standing on the summit of.... " or other such BS) even climbers just stare at you like you are talking gibberish

And additionally, how does the use of a guide not constitute "cheating", whereas the use of oxygen does constitute "cheating".

I personally believe if you need oxygen to climb something, you don't belong there. If people can climb Everest without oxygen, there is no need for oxygen at all. Plus if you climb with oxygen you are depending on it, what if the oxygen fails or runs out?

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ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

JJ:

"I personally believe if you need ropes to climb something, you don't belong there. If people can climb Pervertical Sanctuary without ropes, there is no need for ropes at all. Plus if you climb with ropes, you are depending on it, what if the rope fails or gets cut?"

:)

If Moonlight Butress is free soloed, that doesn't mean every other ascent deserves an asterisk or should be looked down upon for accomplishing it in "lesser style." Yeah, it's worthy of note that that freakazoid Honnold did it free solo, just as it is worthy of note when some high peak gets climbed without oxygen. But that's it. It has absolutely no implications on anyone else.

Oxygen is a tool that helps one survive a hostile environment that might kill you if given the chance. So does an insulated parka. The only difference I see is that you could make the argument that a lack of air is a part of what has to be overcome in order to climb a mountain. But isn't a lack of heat also something that has to be overcome? They are both just the environment of the mountain, an environment in which you choose to take whatever tools you think will help YOU to overcome. Yeah, you can depend on oxygen and it can run out and you can die, or you can depend on a down sleeping bag that gets soaked and you can freeze and die, or you can depend on your athletic prowess and lack of heavy gear, and you can break a knee and die.

My $0.02:

Ethic #1: Don't lie about your ascent. If you used O2, or a guide, or a pogo-stick, just be honest about it. There's no shame in saying "I climbed _____ route, but I had to hang on a piece of pro."

Ethic #2: Clean up your mess/don't ruin the mountains. "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

This seems like a lot of spray by people who haven't spent time at high altitude, and as I am also in that category, I'll end my comments now.

It's not the peaks upon which we stand, but the stories we bring back.

The real problem with using O2 is that we are actually running out of it and it is quite foolish to waste such a finite resource on mountain ascents. The government has been very effective of hiding this looming crisis. Plans for rationing are already in place; which days you can breathe will be determined by the last 2 digits of your address. That is the real impetus of relegating O2 for emergencies only.

I am pretty sure that whether or not you can function w/out O2 for long once you are in the death zone -which by definition means that you are too high for human survival without O2- depends solely on physiological predispositions and not necessarily training or cojones. So your argument that if you need O2 you don't belong there has a component of genetic favoritism similar to the Ubermench concept in Mien Kampf. And I find this sort of physiological elitism repugnant, especially when the opinion is formed not from being there but solely from reading.

Some unsolicited advice: read less and climb more!

West Hartford, eh? Insurance capital of the world and all that. But just north of you there are many ways to suffer nobly.

Climb Camel's Hump this Thanksgiving and sleep on top. Plan a winter traverse of the Presidential Range, or at least bag Mt. Washington, or Adams or any number of them white mountains in the Granite state. If you still have all your fingers and toes and the hunger, go get on Mt. Kahtadin in Maine. Then hie thee to Vermont for some kick ass blaster ice climbing all season. The northeast is having some heavy weather right now so things should be fine. This summer you can go to Ecuador or Peru and get a taste of life around 20K ft.