That's why I don't get doing it. I wouldn't do it if I had billions in spending cash burning a hole in my pocket. So it holds no impressiveness to me.
I'm a to-each-his-own person. If it makes you happy, go for it. But it doesn't mean I think it's any smarter than jumping from a plane, which I don't get either.
Anyway, the dumbest part of the whole story is that the chick was a vegan.
Climbing Everest is just like any other significant physical achievement like doing an Ironman or winning a bodybuilding contest, all be it on a different scale of both difficulty and risk. It requires focus, discipline, commitment and immense amounts of training. If you've never done something like that, and there's no reason why you should if it's not something that interests you, then you won't get it, but that doesn't make it dumb. Someone for whom climbing Everest is a serious ambition could quite reasonably question the point of fighting digital dragons on a computer or sitting for hours with a bunch of people pretending to be elves and wizards through the medium of rolling dice.
I'm with Puck, I think that Everest is an incredible achievement. I'm not sure if I'd ever want to do it myself - my willingness to challenge myself physically probably doesn't go that far - but I respect the hell out of them for doing it. And there's no reason why being vegan should make any difference to their ability to achieve that aim.
