Who am I fooling?

Question

Here is a rough and abriged translation of a recent blog entry made by a guy from an ex-USSR country, who was admitted in Wharton this year:

 Next Saturday we start climbing XXX (a 5K peak - the highest in ZZZ mountain range). From the top of it you can see a fantastic view.

Initially we planned to climb YYY (same height as Montblanc, but much tougher to climb), but first we had to delay due to the weather conditions and then to cancel, because it was to dangerous to climb it during summer months. But I think climbing XXX is a fitting alternative.

I've been preparing extensively for the past two months - running 8 km every morning and sweating out in the gym for an hour.

I exchanged letters with a Wharton professor who promised to get me in touch with some Wharton people who plan to climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Cotopaxi in Equador. The professor will also be part of the team. 

Well, now I am really intimidated...

GMATT73 · Answer

The last I heard it takes at least $50K to hire the gear and a (cheap) sherpa necessary to reach base camp five on Everest. Clearly this guy has smaller hills in mind, but you get the picture.

sm176811 · Answer

Yeah.. its qte expensive to climb everest. More than the expense, it is the time required to train for the expedition.

 
But actually u are going to the right part of the country. The large number of National Parks and mountains will give enough opportunity to train. 

I am definately going to miss the Pacific NW. I see Mount Hood and Saint Helens on every clear day driving to work. Unfortuately no glaciated peaks in the midwest!

helg · Answer

For some reason or other alpinism is much more affordable in ex-USSR countries, I guess. And there are some quite some steep hills as well

GMATT73 · Answer

Yeah, like being dropped off by a Sikorsky on top of active Kamchatka calderas for the snowboard ride of your life. Many of my Japanese (and foreign) colleagues who are sick of Hokkaido and have the spare change usually go up once or twice a season (November~May). Eastern Russian snow is awesome; unfortunately not quite commercially viable, yet.

gmatclb · Answer

That would be such a great experience.

helg · Answer

I agree. Hence my last remark

Who am I fooling?

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