[Soma]

Melbourne university lecturer, 34, who died of altitude sickness on Mount Everest after taking on the climb with her husband to prove 'vegans can do anything'

DailyMail Wrote:

A woman who died of altitude sickness while climbing Mount Everest took on the challenge to prove that 'vegans can do anything'.
...
Weeks before her death Dr Strydom told how she and her husband wanted to dispel the belief that vegans were 'weak' or 'malnourished' by taking on the climb.

'It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak.

'By climbing the seven summits we want to prove that vegans can do anything and more,' she said in an interview with the university where she worked.

This story doesn't help to allay my conviction that veganism is a rather unhealthy lifestyle.

[General Stalin]

10/10 thread title.

[DrCotard]

This thread is another strong fact why veganism isn't the only answer to live a healthy life. Eating a balance life saves lives.

[EDantes]

I never bought into veganism's claims about being "healthier" since humans have evolved on meat and fish based diets.

For the most part veganism isn't about health it's about an environmental agenda; the "health" claims by PETA and the like often seem to be propaganda designed to "scare" people into going vegan rather than offer sincere information.

[General Stalin]

^ Head on over here if you want to discuss that

thread-22820.html

[Beyond Borders]

I don't think anyone should immediately point the finger at veganism.

Are we now supposed to conclude that every person who dies of altitude sickness on Mount Everest was a vegan?

Was the Dutch guy who also died on Saturday also a vegan (I honestly don't know)?

All it takes is a basic high school geometry course to see their are still holes that need to be filled in on this story. Just because the Daily Mail found her motive for being on the mountain worthy of an attention-getting headline doesn't establish some kind of causality that you should use to support your pre-established narrative.

Perhaps the veganism ties in somehow, but from what I can see reading the story, there's nowhere near enough info to toss out an "I told you so."

We've all seen this last year or so how the media likes to hype and twist the facts with sensationalism. Let's not jump for their bait without checking closer just because we impulsively agree with their slant in this case.

[Soma]

(05-21-2016 11:16 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

Why are you guys immediately pointing the finger at veganism?

Are we now supposed to conclude that every person who dies of altitude sickness on Mount Everest was a vegan?

Was the Dutch guy who also died on Saturday also a vegan (I honestly don't know)?

This thread wasn't meant to be that serious.

[Beyond Borders]

^ Ole' BB peeing on the parade again.

[Mage]

I believe the controversy about veganism lives on because modern people do eat too much meat. Especially considering that modern meat is stuffed with antibiotics. A short term abstinance from meat and permanent abstinance from processed and drug injected meat is good for you. Most people would experiance benefits abstainig fom meat for a month or two.

However permanent abstinance from meat is not healthy because you have to balance your vegan food perfectly to recieve all the missing suppliments you would get from meat. Only very rich people who have their own dietologist or very fanatical people who are ready to spend huge amounts of their time analysing their food, can do that. This is why most vegans are fanatics.

The best way is to eat meat but do that rarely. Even if you are a paleo eater you must recognise that ancient people didn't eat meat every day. They hunted their pray sometimes it took days and weeks until they cought something. When they did, they had a feast with meat. In the time between they ate fruits, berries and roots. This is optimal diet I think - to eat meat an eggs two or three day's a week and vegan food the rest of time. Diary should be avoided by most people permanently or used not more often then once a week. Also if you can then take care that your meat is not stuffed with too much antibiotics, growth hormones and other shit.

[Fortis]

I'm not surprised. She doesn't look like much of a climber to me.

[RIslander]

WNB.

[LeoneVolpe]

I saw this thread on the main page of the forum where all I could see was "Woman Climbs Mount Everest" and thought to myself, "Oh great, now we'll never hear the end of how 'strong' women are for climbing Everest." But then clicked the thread and saw the rest of the title, "...to prove vegans aren't weak, dies." I must admit it gave me a hearty chuckle, as fucked up as that might sound.

[spokepoker]

Dude this Thread Title in itself was concise and on to the point, I instantly knew what this thread was going to be about:
+1 rep with the quickness!

[Conscious Pirate]

Without wanting to celebrate anyone's misfortune, it clearly states multiple times in the article & from differing sources that she'd set out on a Social Justice crusade - to prove that vegans aren't the weak, malnourished & sickly-prone people that they are perceived to be.

Not gonna dive into the stereotypes exist for a reason trope, cause I'd be preaching to the choir.

It reports she was an experienced climber, but from what it looks like her crusade was an ill-advised (no pun intended ) & highly self-righteous attempt to change public perception. IMO she died ultimately, from narcissism.

[Captainstabbin]

Altitude sickness is mostly hereditary. You can mitigate the effects, but if you're susceptible, you have to know your limits. Whether or not she ate a burger wouldn't have mattered. The larger issue is the arrogance of an overwhelming majority of vegans. Plants + girl power don't matter much in the real world. The mountain doesn't care how plucky you are or how many causes you champion.

1. 34 and no children.
2. Don't they have O2 and an inflatable hyperbaric chamber at the base camp? Either would have stabilized her enough to move further down the mountain.

[mickeyd]

To be fair, her goal was extremely challenging. She's more a victim of modern you-go-gurllll delusions than the actual vegan diet itself.

[Beyond Borders]

^ So what are all the men who've died on the mountain a victim of? Is everyone who dies of an extremely risky goal deluded, or do risky goals simply have casualties?

[Conscious Pirate]

If she had just gotten on with it without having to virtue signal about it (sickly, pallid vegans can do anything! ) we'd be none the wiser about this. People die up there all the time, men & women.

How many men with testicular cancer are "proving to the world they've got the balls to do it!"?

Only the types that might "identify" as vegans, from what I've seen.




She also looks a little bit "on the spectrum" as one might put it, to me.

[Captainstabbin]

(05-22-2016 01:24 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

^ So what are all the men who've died on the mountain a victim of? Is everyone who dies of an extremely risky goal deluded, or do risky goals simply have casualties?

A casualty of a risky goal is death by accident...like collapsing ice or a rope breaking. Not turning back until it's too late when you're suffering from attitude sickness is delusion.

[Solus]

People would be far more open to accepting vegan diets and lifestyles if their proponents weren't so annoyingly sanctimonious.

This woman's choice to not eat animal products was so essential to her identity she didn't think twice about climbing Mount Everest not to prove she could do it but to prove vegans could.

This goes beyond dietary choices. As Conscious Pirate has said if she hadn't made this into a virtue signalling crusade nobody would care.

RIP I suppose.

[Windom Earle]

(05-22-2016 12:14 AM)RIslander Wrote:  

WNB.

i think you mean Would Not Mount

[porscheguy]

She looks like a malnourished junkie in that photo. All vegans look like that.

Captainstabbin, at the 4th base camp, they may have spare O2 and that's about it. The 4th camp is as minimalist as it gets. There's no hyperbaric chamber up there. Someone would have to carry it, and at that altitude people only carry the absolute essentials. The problem is that she remained in the Everest Death Zone far longer than she should have. The death zone is the point about 26000ft where no matter what, everyone will eventually die if they remain too long. I think they place way too much blame on the lack of O2. I don't think they pay enough attention to the lack of overall air pressure up there.

At sea level the air pressure is roughly 14.69psi. It varies somewhat. When the temp drops and the air is stable and dry, the pressure is higher. With warmer weather and rain, thunderstorms, etc the pressure drops. If it drops to just 14psi you're probably in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm. 13.69 means you're in a medium level hurricane. 13 is a Cat 5 hurricane. The air pressure at the top of Everest is roughly 4.89psi. That drop in air pressure reduces the boiling point of water by 50 degrees F. That change in pressure has to have a profound effect on the human body simply because it's a pressure that almost no living thing is designed to survive at for very long (with the exception of a handful of birds that can fly at over 30000ft.

I'd be curious to see how much dexamethasone she had taken during this climb.

There's no predictable pattern to suggest who will have issues with altitude sickness and who won't. A guy who does triathlons at sea level can be brought to his knees at 15000ft and dead at 20000. An overweight basement dweller can make it to the summit without an issue, and be in better physical shape when he gets down.

This girl probably developed high altitude cerebral edema. To further the vegan agenda she probably took the maximum amount of dexamethasone so she could keep climbing. It stopped working so she turned around and couldn't make it below and outside the death zone.

They should just leave her up there like they do with everyone else who dies on the mountain. But I guess the pussy pass reigns even in death.

[Going strong]

(05-22-2016 01:24 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

^ So what are all the men who've died on the mountain a victim of? Is everyone who dies of an extremely risky goal deluded, or do risky goals simply have casualties?

BB, sorry, I have to reply to this.

You cannot compare male and female climbers.

Men have an understandable will and taste for challenging nature at its most powerful. Thus men sail and climb.

Women on the other hand have no business doing the same. They were made for the glorious, fundamental task of having babies and growing them into beautiful adult beings. Respect to them, but, they were not created (or designed by nature, take your pick) to be war heroes or climb snowy mountains or cross the Atlantic on a sailboat. They sometimes do, sure, but they shouldn't.

So, my take of this story is:
this woman was quite nice-looking, still "bangable", and 34 years old. So what the fuck was she doing climbing the Everest?? She should have been in her country trying to have babies with a nice employed man. Priorities, priorities.

[Conscious Pirate]

(05-22-2016 01:16 AM)Captainstabbin Wrote:  

Altitude sickness is mostly hereditary.

ATTitude sickness is also quite hereditary, from my observations.

[godzilla]

That's a shame. She could of stopped at Kilmanjero and still yelled girl power.

White South African women are really avid hikers FYI.

Even with lots of hiking experience, climbing at high altitude is no joke, especially if you spend most of your life sea level. Which is what she likely did in South Africa and Australia. I climbed the Monserrate (about 10000 ft) after 4 or 5 days in Bogota and I was panting like I was 100 pounds overweight.