The first Welshman to climb Mount Everest has declared that the modern mountaineering industry had become “a complete circus”.
Caradoc Jones, now 65, believes the sky-high prices and commercialisation have stripped Everest of its spirit of adventure. “We risk losing the elements of a real adventure,” he warns.
When he reached the summit in 1995 with Danish climber Michael Knakkergaard Jørgensen, the expedition cost between £2,000 and £3,000. Today, the same climb costs between £33,000 and £55,000.
But more than the exorbitant prices charged today, Jones regrets that by becoming popular tourist attractions, overrun with selfie-takers and box-tickers, the place “has turned into a complete circus and has almost nothing to do with real mountaineering,” he says.
“People are quietly doing much harder things in every corner of the world and that’s where the heart of mountaineering and climbing lies I think.”
Originally from Pontrhydfendigaid, Ceredigion, Jones says he learned “climbing mountains in Eryri when I was young” before honing his ice climbing skills in Scotland and the Alps.
He prepared for his Everest climb with Jorgensen on the northern side of the mountain, from where one reaches the advanced base of the glacier. To him, that is where the real adventure starts, “when you’re up 1,800 m”, your body begins to feel the altitude.
Jones vividly remembers the moment they were caught in a storm that nearly derailed their climb, just below the summit. “We were caught in a storm in the highest spot of around 8,300 metres for three days, with no certainty of ever reaching it,” he says. Only when the winds calmed were they able to continue their ascent.
One can feel the exhilaration of that moment when Jones recalls the final push to the summit. “Finally, you think you’re going to succeed because you see the old flags on the top and the last 200 yards from the north are not steep so you just feel happiness and relief as you approach,” he said. “I grew up when Everest was a personal battle, and finally we had succeeded.”
He deplores the current state of affairs where everything has become a commercial enterprise and climbers face a growing list of regulations. Nepal is now enforcing, or about to enforce, rules requiring climbers to wear a mandatory tracking system, with chips sewn directly into their clothing and linked to GPS. The aim is to prevent people from going missing, as happened to 3.5% of climbers in 2023, and to make extremely costly rescue missions more efficient. In addition, climbers will now have to have summited at least one 7,000-metre peak within Nepal before attempting the Everest.
“People tend to think that you can’t do things like this unless you have done a course or passed an exam and bought all this kit,” Jones scoffs.
Nepal is trying to balance its much-needed tourism industry with environmental preservation and safety concerns, but that’s a rocky climb too, and risks taking the oomph out of the experience.
