Checking in with veteran outfitter Mountain Professionals
Everest, Himalaya and Polar veteran, Ryan Waters often does things quietly, and differently.
In addition to climbing/guiding Everest and other 8000ers; he is famous for hands-on humanitarian work, skiing from Canada to North Pole without assist/support and a crossing of the Antarctica continent in the same style.
Headed to Everest this spring, we asked Ryan for an interview about the upcoming season. But first, here goes his take on the recent tracking news coming out of Nepal.
Ryan: On one hand, it is great to see the investment of energy, time, and attention from the Ministry… and I can totally see how some outlets such as Adventurestats and other news reporting sites would prefer if this data was available.
On the other hand, the “old school” side of me however, wishes things did not come to this.
Unfortunately with the false claims in previous years, it may be needed? I can’t even say that to myself and really believe it…
How much money will they spend to outfit climbers with a tracking device, manage that data, and report it? They will likely get lost, malfunction, who knows… so if one of my team reaches the summit and we all are there with them, but their tracker is out of battery and does not report a location, is this not validated?
I think it is a recipe for even more problems.”
Previous/related
Ryan Waters BP: “We went about it a different way on this one”
ExWeb interview with Ryan Waters, “the North Pole is like going into battle”
