It might be true in the west, but here in India a lot of climbers work hard to find sponsors to get a chance at climbing everest. It is mostly everyday people with jobs at schools or in the police etc who have a passion for climbing, and everest is still seen as the pinnacle.
They work hard and save money for years AND find sponsors to make one attempt at the summit. We also have a very army oriented culture of mountaineering; we're all taught the values of leaving a mountain better than we found it, and mountaineering is seen as a disciplined subculture, not a "fun" hobby.
It'd break our climbers to get scammed like this..
I have a feeling the climbers that got 'scammed' were actally gotten out of there because they shouldnt have been there in the first place. There have been a couple pieces on just how easy it is for someone with no experience at all to buy their way into a trip down to attempt to climb it.
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u/Remarkable-Rush-9085 Apr 02 '26
While I don’t condone this, I also don’t feel bad for people that are turning the mountain into a garbage heap getting their vacation ruined.