Rebecca Stephens on the commercialisation of climbing

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Rebecca Stephens on the commercialisation of climbing

15 Jun 2010

Rebecca Stephens, the first British women to climb Everest, considers her own journey as a climber; her finding of herself, her purpose in life on a trip as a journalist to Everest and her subsequent climbing of the mountain four years later. Citing the Cornish explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, she argues that Everest has taken much of the adventure out of climbing because of the commercial interests that now crowd the mountain. Whilst she is willing to recognise the emotional bias she has towards an old Everest, she concludes that the true spirit of adventure on Everest itself has certainly been lost; like the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, it has become ‘an easy day for a lady’.