#north everest face

[p-redux]

I say he is in Nepal, either at base camp, or less likely, scaling Everest. Your opinion on this theory?

Hi, Anon, as I said in a previous post, I have a slight obsession with all things Mount Everest, have read the books, watched the movies, the TV series, and every year when it's the push for the summit in May, I follow climbers on Instagram, and watch their treks up to the highest mountain on Earth. Soooo, I do have some knowledge on this subject. Here's my take...

I know Sam has said in interviews that one of his bucket list items is climbing Mount Everest. And he was supposed to star in that Everest movie. The thing is, climbing to the SUMMIT of Mount Everest is only done in May, usually mid May due to weather constraints. And the prep dictates you have to start 2 months before to acclimate to the high altitude. I'll talk more about that down below. IF you are able to spend the two months in either Nepal for climbing from the South side of Everest, or Tibet (controlled by China) for climbing from the North side of Everest, you will be climbing to almost 29,032 feet, 8,849 meters. This is literally the altitude that jet planes fly once they reach cruising altitude. Sam has this pesky thing called a contract to finish out the remaining seasons of Outlander. I highly doubt his Outlander contract, and the insurance company associated with it, would allow him to take such a risk. Every year, people DIE climbing up or on the way back down from the summit. And some people don't die, but they get severe frostbite and lose fingers, toes, tips of noses. It's not for the faint of heart, and it's not for handsome actors who need to keep their beautiful appendages intact for filming Outlander. Unless the writers can work on a storyline involving Jamie Fraser missing a few, um, things.

Having said that, it IS possible Sam could trek to Mount Everest BASE CAMP. This is the area at the base of the mountain that all climbers go to to prepare to climb higher up, and eventually to the summit. BUT, some people who aren't making summit bids, simply make Base Camp their one and only destination. And that may be a compromise Sam makes with Outlander producers. Base Camp is still REALLY, REALLY high. It's at 17,598 feet, 5,364 meters. Sam isn't putting himself in too much risk at Base Camp...unless there's an avalanche. Sadly, there have been avalanches there and many people have died, as a result, the last one being in 2015.

Everest Base Camp in Nepal is trekked either for the Summit bid season February to May, with all summit bids happening in May. OR, it is trekked JUST for the Base Camp in late September to November. We are now in November, so it IS possible. 👇

BUT, you don't simply hop on a plane and get plopped down at Base Camp's 17,000 feet altitude. You could quite literally die from High Altitude Cerebral Edema and or High Altitude Pulmonary Edema due to the low oxygen levels. Soooo, IF Sam wanted to trek to Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal, he would have to start acclimating at least two weeks before. All travelers going from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu at an elevation of 4,344 feet stay there for a few days, and then they do a 14 day trek up the mountains, to allow their bodies to acclimate to the altitude and the lower oxygen levels. 👇

Sam would have to allow himself at LEAST 3 WEEKS to make the Everest Base Camp trek. 2 weeks to climb there and acclimate, and then you want to spend at least a week there camping and just being there. Then you have to allow time for the return climb back down. This isn't a weekend excursion.

As for whether Sam is actually trying to climb to Mount Everest SUMMIT. That would be a definite NO. Not only from an Outlander insurance and contract issue, but also because it's not summit climbing season. 👇

And for people who want to climb to the Summit, they have to make a 2 MONTH commitment. The summit climb entails the two weeks to climb to Base Camp. And then at least 6 weeks, climbing up and down from each of the higher camps. I think there are at least 4 camps that climbers stay at, higher and higher on the mountain, until they reach the Summit. 👇

So, if a climber wants to go for a Summit bid, which is always in mid-May, they would have to start in mid-March and literally be on Mount Everest at the various camps the whole two months. It's a huge commitment. Most companies charge around $40,000 for the whole expedition. The reputable ones assign each climber a Sherpa to guide you. The Sherpas are natives to the area and they are expert climbers who are born in the area, therefore their bodies are completely acclimated to the high altitude. The expedition companies hire them to help climbers up the mountain. They set all the safety ropes, set up the camps, make the meals, and deal with the inevitable emergencies along the way. No one should climb without a Sherpa. Also, most companies will only take on a climber for a Summit bid if they can show previous experience in climbing at high altitude and have summitted a few of the highest peaks on Earth. That's not Sam. So, if anything, Sam would probably only be allowed to climb to Base Camp.

As you can see, I'm really, really into all things Everest and could keep writing all day hahaha. But, I'll stop here. I hope that was helpful info, Anon.

[freshthoughts2020]

[reallyreallyreallytrying]

there's probably so many cool vintage north face jackets in that one mount everest crevasse that everyone dies in. but the living may not get them...

[trashytoastboi]

🍄 Trafalgar Law Masterlist 🍄

Part 1

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Law, Kid x S/O – Reacting to them crying in front of them for the first time

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Kid, Ace x S/O who is afraid of thunder and being comforted during a heavy storm

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Kid, Luffy reacting to seeing their timid S/O angry for the first time

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Zoro, Katakuri reacting to a messy kitchen when S/O tried to cook for them

🍄 Fluff Alphabet: Law, Kid, X-Drake – C, P, Y

🍄 Fluff Alphabet: Law, Katakuri – O, L, V

🍄 SFW & NSFW Headcanons: Law, Katakuri x S/O

🍄 Headcanons: Zoro, Ace, Law, Shanks - Reacting to their S/O baking a cake for them

🍄 Scenarios: Law, Ace, Zoro x Drunk! Reader - “Teach me how to kiss?”

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Kid, X-Drake - Reacting to their crew throwing them a surprise party

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Zoro, Ace x F! Keyblade Wielder

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Zoro, Marco, Katakuri x S/O who is afraid of physical intimacy due to past trauma

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Zoro, Luffy x Crewmate who has a tendency to wander off

🍄 Headcanons: Killer, Law, Sanji x Small! S/O

🍄 Scenarios: Zoro, Law, Ace x Small! S/O discovering their S/O has a massive bounty

🍄 Headcanons: Law, X-Drake, Zoro reacting to their S/O confessing they used to be a bounty hunter

🍄 Headcanons: Roommate Au! X-Drake and Trafalgar Law as Roommates; Noir Detective AU! X-Drake and Trafalgar Law as partners.

🍄 Headcanons: Bodyguard AU! Ace, Sabo, Law

🍄 Headcanons: Bodyguard AU! Ace, Law, Shanks

🍄 NSFW Headcanons – Trafalgar Law and fingering

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Kid, Zoro, Ace – Reaction to their S/O cosplaying as them.

🍄 Scenario: Modern AU! x L’ascension – Law! x Reader who climbs Mount Everest for him.

🍄 NSFW Scenario: Law with Shy! F! S/O who wants to try some light bondage.

🍄 Headcanons: College AU! X-Drake and Law

🍄 Headcanons: Vivi, Kid, Law – Reaction to their partner telling them they are Asexual

🍄Headcanons: Jealous Law

🍄 Short Headcanons: Law, Kid, Ace - Reaction to their S/O burping

🍄Headcanons: Zoro, Kid, Law, Luffy - with a S/O who has a Buster sword

🍄 Headcanons: Sanji, Law, Kid, Killer - First kiss

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Law, Kid - Reacting to their F! S/O suddenly crying because of how much she loves him

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Luffy, Law, X-Drake – With extremely kind, caring and protective S/O

🍄 Headcanons: Modern AU! Law teaching Rosinante (Corazon) how to use technology

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Ace, Katakuri, Robin, Zoro – Reacting to their crush that is super wary about sleeping around other people but is fine with them

🍄 Headcanons: Roadtrip AU! Kid x Law – Road trip

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Kid, Sanji – Reaction to their S/O getting compliments and being approached in public for their looks

🍄 Headcanons: Sanji, Law, Zoro - With S/O who is afraid of wind

🍄 Headcanons: X-Drake, Law, Zoro – At an amusement park with their S/O

🍄 Headcanons: Sanji, Zoro, Law, Sabo – Meeting F! Nobody (Kingdom Hearts)

🍄 Scenario: Law x F! S/O – Alternative tickle torture for a missing hat

🍄 Headcanons: SFW and NSFW – Law and facial hair

🍄 Headcanons: Marco, Ace, Law – Reaction to finding their calm and quiet S/O bashing someone’s face through a wall

🍄 NSFW Scenario: Dom! Law x Easily flustered Sub! F! S/O – Floorshow

🍄 Headcanons: Crocodile, Luffy, Law, Kid with Short! Male! S/O who collapses with a fever due to carelessness for his health

🍄 Headcanons: North Blue Boys – Sanji, Law, Hawkins, Drake at a sleep over

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Law, X-Drake – with F! Reader who sings to express her feelings and they accidentally discover her crush via song

🍄 Headcanons: Zoro, Ace, Law, Kid – with a S/O who sleeps with their eyes open

🍄 Scenario: Modern AU x Mafia AU. Mafia Law x F! Artist – One Final Portrait

🍄 Scenario:Modern AU! x Mafia AU! Mafia! Law X F! Artist Part 2 - A dangerous attraction

🍄 Headcanons: Adoption AU! Donquixote Rosinante and Trafalgar Law

🍄 Headcanons: Marco, Ace, Law – with a S/O who possess a demon devil fruit

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Zoro, Robin – with Tiny! S/O who has a devil fruit with Number 5’s (Umbrella Academy) ability

🍄 Scenario: Modern AU! x Spy AU! – Spy! Law with F! Mind Reader - A Thoughtful Coincidence

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Zoro, Luffy - #11. Making the other laugh & #28. Threesome

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Law, Sanji x F! Crush that says easily misunderstood things.

🍄 Scenario: Law x Reader - #19. I can’t sleep, can I stay here?

🍄Short Scenario: Law x Tiny! S/O - #1 Could I borrow your jacket/clothing?

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Hawkins, Sanji, X-Drake at a Sora convention

🍄 Scenario: Law x F! S/O – Unusual happenings upon the Polar Tang

🍄 Headcanons: #37. Hostclub AU – Law, X-Drake, Kid

🍄 NSFW Headcanons: Dom! Law x Shy! F! S/O – Secretly loves and wants to try bondage when she accidentally tells Law

🍄 Headcanons: Modern AU! Sabo, X-Drake, Law as celebrities

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Whitebeard, Gol D. Roger, Crocodile, Shanks – Crossing paths with an extremely strong girl and them falling in love

🍄 Headcanons: Law, Whitebeard, Gol D. Roger, Crocodile, Shanks with F! S/O who is very curious and ends up in dangerous situations

🍄 Headcanons: Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Law – Meeting Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy

🍄 Short Scenarios: X-Drake #3. You’re endearing when you’re half asleep; Law #4. I’ll stay up with you; Hawkins #5. Can I hold your hand?

🍄 NSFW Headcanons: Doflamingo, Crocodile, Law, Smoker - #26. Aphrodisiac

🍄 Scenario: Law x F! S/O #19. I can’t sleep, can I stay here?

🍄 Short Scenario: Yandere! Law x S/O - #6. Possessiveness

🍄 NSFW Headcanons: Ace, Zoro, Mihawk, Sabo, Law – Reacting to S/O being brought to tears of pleasure

🍄 NSFW Headcanons - Ace, Sabo, Zoro, Law with S/O who uses their safeword

🍄 Scenario: Law x S/O - Explaining Hakuna Matata to a stressed out Law

🍄 Headcanons Law, Luffy, Zoro, Ace x S/O that loves horror

🍄 Headcanons: Sabo, Law, X-Drake with S/O who is afraid of the dark

🍄 Short Scenarios: Dad! Kid, Dad! Law, Dad! Zoro, Dad! Crocodile with extremely shy daughter who has the tendency to hide away

🍄 Scenario: Law + Zoro x F! Keyblade wielder – A Matter of Heart

🍄 NSFW Headcanons: Law, Sanji, Zoro

🍄 Scenario: Law x S/O – The Law That Broke the Camels Back

🍄 Headcanons: Rosinante (Corazon) and Law planning to prank Doflamingo

🍄 Scenario: Modern AU x Mafia AU – Mafia Boss! Law x F! Spy! – Never Play the King of Hearts

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Law, Zoro, Sanji x S/O – Hinting at some intimate time together with a S/O that misunderstands their meaning

🍄 Headcanons: Modern AU! x College AU! – Law, Bepo, Shachi, Penguin and Reader – Playing Among Us

🍄 Headcanons: Sabo, Law, Katakuri x S/O who can manipulate memories

🍄 Headcanons: Law x Love Sick! Yandere-ish F! Reader

🍄 Headcanons: Kid, Zoro, Law, Sabo x F! S/O who has a cursed flower in her right eye

🍄 Scenario: Modern AU! x Vampire AU! - Vampire! Law x F! Reader – Nocturna Fatalis

🍄 Headcanons: Ace, Law, Zoro, Sanji x S/O – Who is very honest with their thoughts and feelings

🍄 Headcanons: Yandere! Zoro, Yandere! Ace, Yandere! Law, Yandere! Sanji x S/O

🍄 Scenario: Law x F! S/O – The Scales of Punishment Are Always Tipped In Your Favour.

🍄 Headcanons: Zoro, Ace, Law, Sabo x S/O who is unusual and mysterious

🍄 Headcanons: X-Drake, Law, Kid x S/O – Reacting to their S/O cutting their long hair to them during a fight

🍄 NSFW Scenario: Law x F! S/O - How Many Laws Are Too Many?

🍄 Headcanons: Law and the Heart Pirates meeting Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore.

🍄 NSFW Headcanons: Benn, Law, Ace, Mihawk x Virgin! S/O

🍄 NSFW Scenario: Law x Shy! F! S/O - A Touch of Rough

🍄 Scenario: Law x Crush! Reader – Sunset

🍄 Headcanons: Modern AU! – North Blue Boys (Sanji, Law, X-Drake, Hawkins) sharing a house.

🍄 Headcanons: Law x emotionally sensitive S/O

🍄 Headcanons: Luffy, Smoker, Doflamingo, Law – Meeting young Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts)

🍄 Headcanons: Sabo, X-Drake, Law x S/O who used to be a Cipher-Pol Agent

🍄 NSFW Scenario: Sadistic Dom! Law x F! Shy Sub! S/O – In Need of Discipline

[strongafmummytourney]

ROUND 1

CONTENDER 1: BEECHEY ISLAND MUMMIES

Also known as: Franklin Expedition Mummies, John Shaw Torrington, John Hartnell, William Braine Age(s): 19-20 (Torrington), 25 (Hartnell), 32 (Braine) Location: Beechey Island/Iluvialuit, Nunavut, Canada Means of Mummification: Burial in permafrost Notable features: Preserved soft tissues and cartilage including eyes, nose, lips, and internal organs. Hair preserved with color intact. Clothes preserved.

CONTENDER 2: GEORGE HERBERT LEIGH-MALLORY

Age: 37 Location: Mount Everest's North Face, Tibet Means of Mummification: Subzero mountain temperatures and dry air Notable features: Known for his incredible posterior in life and in death. Some climbing gear intact.

[joeinct]

The North Face of Everest By Moonlight with Star Tracks, Photo by Marion L. Patterson, 1981

[the-olympics-olympics]

Weird Olympic Moments Tournament

To celebrate (?) the Paris 2024 Olympic Games starting in a few weeks, I thought I'd run another Olympic-themed poll tournament. This time, we're diving into history and getting to know some of the stranger, lesser-known stories of the Games.

Polls will run for a week, and the tournament should last until around early September if I'm doing my math right. The first polls will begin Monday, July 15th.

At the end, we'll award a gold, silver, and bronze to the top three.

After many hours on Wikipedia and the IOC website, here's the list of moments I came up with:

Horse vaulting

Pigeon racing

Sarajevo venues damaged in war

Mayor of Montreal says "The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby," then proceeds to host one of the most financially disastrous Games in history

George Eyser wins six medals after being run over by a train

Solo synchronized swimming

Crowd gets pooped on by 25,000 pigeons

Flame is taken to top of Mount Everest

Margaret Abbot dies without knowing she made history as the first US woman to win gold

Brazilian team has to sell coffee to afford the trip to Los Angeles

A teenager's "dumb idea" becomes Olympic tradition (athletes marching together in closing ceremony)

St. Louis experiments with "purposeful dehydration", denies water to marathon runners

Kanakuri Shizō takes 54 years to finish his race

Mt. Vesuvius moves the Olympics to London

They stop doing the Olympic salute for some reason

IOC President compares a terrorist attack to a vote to ban a racist country

The Olympics goes 88 years without letting women run marathons

Olympic flame transmitted via satellite

Northern Rhodesia declares independence during Olympics, changes name to Zambia

Vancouver 2010 cauldron malfunction

Montreal 1976 stadium is finally paid off in 2006

The curse of the Beijing 2008 mascots

Everest climbers get gold medals

Sochi snowflake malfunction

They hold the Olympics in 1906, then later say it doesn't count

Colorado kicks the Olympics out

Flame hidden from view after anti-gay law

Summer Olympics held during Winter

Haiti and Liechtenstein discover they had the same flag

Riot at the 1924 rugby match

McDonald's gives out more Big Macs than they expected

Chamonix 1924 retroactively named the Winter Olympics

Doves burned during cauldron lighting

Torchbearer takes olympic flame down a ski jump

Medals made of e-waste

Shooter aims for wrong target, loses gold

Olympic torch passed on International Space Station

Alien addresses crowd

Figure skating debuts at Summer Olympics

Olympics held on two different continents

Rio organizers lose key to stadium gate

Baron de Coubertin wins a gold medal under false identity

1960 winter games held in city named for an ethnic slur

Obstacle Swimming

North Korea considered to co-host 1988

Housing complex for American soldiers during the occupation of Japan becomes the Olympic village

Torch design changed mid-relay

Cauldron lit by flaming arrow

Last three seconds of basketball final replayed three times until results changed

St. Louis threatens to hold their own Olympics if they don't get named host city

Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat

Balloon racing

Delirious man carried over finish line by coaches, wins marathon

Summer Olympics held in November and December

Olympics postponed for COVID

Blue screen of death appears during opening ceremony

Marathon runner attacked by priest

Guy kicks referee in the face and (maybe) ends up on a stamp

Jet pack flies over stadium

Centennial games not awarded to a very confident Athens

LA 84 gets in trouble for commercializing the torch relay

Olympic flame relit with cigarette lighter

Rower stops for ducks

Nazi propaganda becomes Olympic tradition (torch relay)

Did I miss a great weird moment? Send it to me in an ask and I might do a round 2 or something!

I chose the moments based on my own personal bias (lol)

Heads up that there is one that involves the death of animals, but I will tag any polls with that #tw animal death

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything else tagged, and how to tag it!

Also, a disclaimer that I'm tired and scatterbrained and I work full time, so if this gets a little disorganized I apologize. Shouldn't be too bad though.

Let the games begin, and whatnot

@tournament-announcer :)

[mapsontheweb]

Mountains in the Contiguous U.S. by Rise Above Surroundings / Jut

by u/Gigitoe

Jut is an indicator I developed to quantify how sharply/impressively a mountain rises above its surroundings, factoring in both height and steepness. A mountain with a jut of X rises as sharply/impressively as a vertical cliff of height X. Roughly speaking, the higher the jut, the "bigger" and more imposing a mountain appears.

Some things to note:

Jut hotspots (places with the most impressive mountains) include the Cascade Range, North Cascades, Glacier National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Yosemite National Park & Central/Southern Sierra, and Mount San Jacinto. The highest jut in the lower 48 is measured atop Mount Rainier (jut = 1312 m), a massive stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of Washington.

Even though the Colorado Rockies have a high elevation, they have a lower jut than some other mountain ranges in the West, as they rise from a high plateau. The Grand Canyon in Arizona has similar local rise as the highest peaks of the Colorado Rockies, despite having a much lower elevation.

A point with a jut of 10 – 100 m is perhaps more aptly described as a hill. Points with a jut below 10 m do not rise significantly above their surroundings, so they were not included.

Mountains in the rest of the world can have a significantly higher jut. The Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps has a jut of 1451 m. Aconcagua in the Andes of Argentina has a jut of 1827 m. Mount Everest has a jut of 2211 m. The North Peak of Denali in Alaska has a jut of 2549 m. Annapurna Fang in Nepal, the apex of the biggest mountain face on the planet, has a jut of 3395 m, the highest in the world.

This visualization was made possible with Google Earth Engine, MERIT DEM, GeoNames, and QGIS.

[kaiyves-backup]

When they spotted it, there was no mistaking what they were looking at: a boot melting out of the ice. As they drew closer, they could tell the cracked leather was old and worn, and the sole was studded and bracketed with the diamond-patterned steel hobnails of a bygone era of climbing.  

In September, on the broad expanse of the Central Rongbuk Glacier, below the north face of Mount Everest, a National Geographic documentary team that included the photographer and director Jimmy Chin, along with filmmakers and climbers Erich Roepke and Mark Fisher, examined the boot more closely. Inside, they discovered a foot, remains that they instantly recognized as belonging to Andrew Comyn Irvine, or Sandy, as he was known, who vanished 100 years ago with the famed climber George Mallory. 

“I lifted up the sock,” Chin says, describing the moment, “and there’s a red label that has A.C. IRVINE stitched into it.” Chin says he and his companions recognized the significance of the moment in unison. “We were all literally running in circles dropping F-bombs.” 

Irvine and Mallory were last seen on June 8, 1924, while attempting to become the first people to reach the top of the world’s highest peak. The question of whether they had summited has endured as the greatest climbing mystery of all time. If Irvine and Mallory succeeded, their feat would have come some 29 years before Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary finally conquered Everest.  

Mallory’s remains were located in 1999, while the whereabouts of Irvine’s were unknown. “It's the first real evidence of where Sandy ended up,” says Chin of the discovery. “A lot of theories have been put out there.” He hopes the discovery helps explain what happened on the mountain in 1924, and brings some closure to Irvine’s relatives who revere him still. “When someone disappears and there’s no evidence of what happened to them, it can be really challenging for families. And just having some definitive information of where Sandy might’ve ended up is certainly [helpful], and also a big clue for the climbing community as to what happened.” 

[brandwhorestarscream]

Tfe skyfire x starscream

I'm actually gonna draw from some previous source material we've made up here, and say that the bitties in question are the jettwins. They're not Skyfire's sparklings, but he's the one that steps up to raise them.

The seekers are all on the run and, if I'm being honest, have probably vacated the entire North American continent. GHOST isn't an international organization, after all, and flight makes travelling and escape so much easier than groundbound mecha like Tarantulas, for example. They've gone somewhere that's pretty much unreachable by humans: the highest point on the planet. Mt. Everest. The temperatures are nothing compared to deep space flight, and there's plenty of wind and solar energy for them to harness to get an energon synthesizer going.

They've been living on the dl for months and building up an actual base for themselves at the peak, when Starscream's newly rigged together scanners pick up a very peculiar signal under the melting ice caps of earth's poles. Looks like a cybertronian cache of sorts! They head out immediately, before anyone else can snipe the findings. Who knows what it could be? It could be incredibly useful, be it medical supplies or something that might be able to get them permanently off this Primus forsaken rock.

You know what happens here. They find Skyfire in cryosleep beneath the ice: with everything on this planet thawing, they were finally able to get an actual read on him despite being here for so long. Starscream is... god. There's so many emotions at once he doesn't even know what to call it. He's relieved, he's overjoyed, he's terrified, he's angry. They excavate him in a hurry and search for any equipment he may have lost at the time of the crash, but it's all beyond repair.

Skyfire is incredibly disoriented. He's so confused, he's so dizzy and his audials are ringing incessantly and why does Starscresm look so different? For him, it's only been a couple kliks since he got the warning that there was a critical failure in his systems and then he was falling. He blacked out, and now he's here. He's so sore though, and none of his systems are functioning properly, and Starscream is damn near hysterical that it's clear he's missed a lot. They get him back to their little camp, get him some energon, let him rest and decompress. The twins are handed off to Skywarp and Nova so the two reunited lovebirds can have a chance to talk. Starscream tells Skyfire the full story, not overwhelming him with details but all the main points. What happened after his disappearance, the whole mess with the war, earth's revolving circus of pitslag, GHOST, and finally... the bitties.

Skyfire doesn't even mind that they aren't his. Starscream suffered so much carrying them, having them forced on him, but is doing everything in his power to love and raise them properly. Sky's an overgrown lovesick puppy and adores Starscream for all that he is, and he falls in love with the twins the first moment he gets to hold them. They're so tiny compared to him, but so wiggly and curious. They're attempting to climb all over him, nomming on his fingers and poking at his face with their tiny baby hands, giggling and chirping as they clamber up on his head because Look How High!!!!! He passes the infant vibe check with ease and the sparklings are immediately smitten with them. Skyfire fondly remarks that they're beautiful, just like their carrier, and quietly mentions that... he knows it's been awhile, but if Starscream will still have him, he'd love to still be with him. Starscream just smiles and calls him an idiot: as if he'd let him get away!

Skyfire is such an incredible sire to his adopted sparklings. Literally the best they ever could have ended up with. Loves them like his own, so attentive and sweet and patient. He honestly coddles them even more than Starscream does, and has such a hard time telling them no 🤭 he hasn't built up an immunity to puppy dog eyes yet, so he's always sneaking them extra treats. He loves to hold them, they fit so perfectly in his arms, he's always volunteering to hold them for naptime rather than laying them down in their little crib. Starscream is happier than Skywarp and Nova have seen him in a long time, and the whole group of them are a perfect happy little family 💖

[scotianostra]

Duncan Curdy MacSporran Haston was born on April 19th 1940.

Commonly known as Dougal, Haston was one of the finest climber Scotland has ever produced.

Haston was born in the parish of Currie on the West Side of Edinburgh in 1940 .Even with the war on Haston seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of countless others into a life of work in the mills and shops and on into obscurity. However, history and Everest would hold an entirely different destiny for Dougal.

Haston developed a taste for climbing while trekking about the Pentlands in Scotland. Rock climbing skills were acquired by clambering up railway and riverside walls around Currie. Already showing a mischievous streak, which would become darker later in life, Haston and friends would climb to the top of Currie Church and leave things, including women’s underwear, atop the flagpole!

He soon began rock and ice climbing and struck up a friendship with another climber, Robin Smith, who like so many others would die climbing. Smith died in 1962, 4 years before Haston gained fame for the first direct (bottom to top) ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in the Swiss alps. Though a broken rope would claim the life of American climbing great John Harlin during the climb, Haston would finish the ascent with a group of German climbers and name the route John Harlin Direct.

His run-up to a climb of Everest included the first climb of the South Face of Annapurna in 1970, and the first summit of Changabang in India in 1974. Along with fellow Briton Doug Scott, Haston summited Everest via a previously unclimbed route up the South West Face. Though forced to spend the night following their summit huddled in a hand-dug snow cave at the South Summit the two emerged unharmed by their experience. Later that same year Haston would participate in the first climb of the South West face of Mount McKinley in Alaska.

Haston was no angel, his exploits away from the climbing routes were as legendary as his feats of mountaineering. He led a life renowned for drinking, fighting, stealing and risky climbs which would culminate in a drunk-driving accident in which a person was killed, a conviction and prison time.

His career and life was cut short by an avalanche while skiing in the Alps in 1977. There is a plaque honouring him on a railway bridge in Currie where he was born and learned to climb.

There’s a great article in the Herald from 2001 focusing on his girlfriend Ariane Giobellina which must have been very hard for her………the article has a paywall on it since I last read it, but if you are clever there are ways round it, I myself use Tor Browser to get round them.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12245382.dougal-haston-had-a-legendary-love-of-wine-women-and-the-mountains-it-was-the-last-that-killed-him/

I also recommend the article below, which describes Haston as “the Mick Jagger of the Mountains”

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2020/12/historical-badass-climber-dougal-haston/

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

Vriska: There's pro8a8ly so many cool vintage north face jackets in that one troll mount everest crevasse that everyone dies in. 8ut the living may not get them…

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest Film

The film The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, Distributed by: National Geographic Society is a thrilling documentary that explores George Mallory’s attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1924. Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, were last seen 800 feet from the summit of Everest in 1924, and in 1999 American mountaineer Conrad Anker discovered his body frozen on the mountain. Did Mallory make it to the summit?

This is the official history of the 1924 expedition, it is considered an exceptional account of the 1924 tragedy; also of the discovery of Mallory's body in 1999 and the historic "re-enactment" of the climb in 2007, where the famous "second step" was climbed freely as Mallory would have done, had he and Irvine made the "summit" in 1924. There is a surprising amount of detail, skillfully told in a way that maintains the reader's interest. The mystery of whether Mallory and Irvine were the first to reach the summit of Everest remains, but we now know more intimately the trials and tribulations they endured in their effort to do so. In an era of technological advances, the rise from the North remains formidable. The film, the soundtrack and this book already exist.

Mallory had promised his beloved wife Ruth to leave a picture of her at the top of the mountain. No picture of her was found in Mallory’s very much intact remains. Does that mean he left the picture at the summit, and therefore made it to the highest peak in the world decades before Edmund Hillary officially climbed Everest?

Conrad Anker, in modern climbing gear, ascends a nearly vertical rock formation on Mount Everest during the filming of The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest. PHOTOGRAPH BY JIMMY CHIN

The film The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, is a mix of historical documentary and modern-day climbing adventure. It is a love story intertwined with Mallory’s insatiable passion that haunted him to achieve his “Wildest Dream” to climb Mount Everest. It parallels Mallory’s fears and desires with that of modern-day climber Conrad Anker.

Modern climbers Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding dress in attire and use gear that Mallory and Irvine would have used in their 1924 climb of Mount Everest. Courtesy National Geographic Film

Conrad Anker, with the help of National Geographic Entertainment, decided to find out if Mallory could have indeed reached the summit in 1924. It seems very appropriate that the man who discovered Mallory’s body was the one who would return to Everest and find out. Using hobnailed boots, and recreated gabardine apparel, Anker simulates some of the climbing conditions Mallory would have faced. Using modern gear, but no fixed ladder, Anker and his climbing partner attempt the “Second Step”, the famous last section of Everest that Mallory would have had to free-climb to reach the summit.

Modern climbers in vintage climbing gear of the 1920s

An additional element of intrigue is that the film was narrated by Liam Neeson and his late wife Natasha Richardson. Richardson recorded the part of Mallory’s wife, Ruth. Just before the actress Richardson passed away in a fatal ski accident in March 2010, she was reading the part of Ruth Mallory, who had to tell her children about their father’s death. Film director Anthony Geffen said that she teared up and said she just couldn’t imagine telling her children such news. Just a few weeks later Liam Neeson had to do exactly that!

The film is based on the biography of George Mallory: The Wildest Dream. Chronicles all three of Mallory's Everest expeditions. Illuminates how Mallory reconciled his ambitions on Everest with his unquestioned love for his wife and family.

@kiaora45 It was my pleasure 💙

#biography #GeorgeMallory #TheWildestDream #ConradAnker #LeoHolding #ConquestofEverest #NationalGeographicSociety #GeorgeMallory #RuthMallory # mountaineer #alpinist #climber #LiamNeeson #NatashaRichardson #Everest #NationalGeographicEntertainment #Film #AnthonyGeffen

[blackswaneuroparedux]

A lot of time, people who don’t climb mountains assume is about this great heroic sprint for the summit, and somehow this great ego-driven ambition. But actually it’s the reverse. It’s about supplication and sacrifice and humility, when you go to these mountains. It’s not so much a celebration of oneself but the eradication of one’s self-consciousness. And so on these walks you lose yourself, you become a vessel of energy in harmony hopefully with your environment. One thrives on enthusiasm, curiosity, humility.

Julian Sands

I was saddened to read that the dead remains of Julian Sands were finally found in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles. I hadn’t realised how deeply immersed he really was in just wearing all weather anorak, a thermos flask of tea, and a laminated Ordinance Map before he set off on an arduous hike or a climb.

As great as a character actor Julian Sands was, he was also an accomplished mountaineer. He once described himself as happiest when “close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning”, climbed all around the world, including the Andes and Indonesia’s Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain on an island and the only place in the country where you can find snow. I know it’s an arduous climb having done it myself. It requires a weeks-long hike through remote jungle and some chasms which can only be crossed by Tyrolean traverse ziplines.

Julian Sands was on his way to completing the dream of most mountaineering aficionados: competing the Seven Summits. It’s a considerable undertaking in every way not just the obvious physical costs but also the average cost of completing all seven which can rack up to £150,000.

Sands had done five - Aconcagua, Puncak Jaya (Oceania), Mont Blanc (Europe), Vinson (Antarctica) and Kilimanjaro (Africa) - and had only had Denali (North America) and Everest (Asia) left.

Sands also took on the Weisshorn in the Swiss Alps. Now this is revealing as any experienced or passionate mountaineer would tell you. The nearby Matterhorn may be more famous, but many mountaineers consider the Weisshorn both more beautiful, with its symmetrical triangular pyramid shape and pure white slopes, and more challenging too, combining a long and serious route with delicate rock pitches and steep snow climbing. I know I do. It’s an incredible climb to experience which I did with some army veteran friends of mine.

Sands death is a tragedy as his passion for mountaineering was inspiring. I was nodding my head when I read that Sands once began a telephone interview by saying, “Right now I’m looking across the North Face of the Eiger towards the Jungfrau. Spectacular!” But then he rang the journalist back several hours later from a bivouac to impress upon him that, though he was climbing the Eiger, he was going up the easier Mittellegi Ridge rather than the feared North Face. “Mountain and climbing folk, and a small percentage of your readers, will know the difference.” Yes, I thought, Sands gets it. I bowled over by his humility and his honesty generously bound up with his joie de vivre. These are the values of real mountaineers in seeking to climb the mountains of the mind.

RIP Julian Sands (1958-2023).

[milly-s-world]

Has Everest climber Sandy Irvine been found after 100 years?

It’s considered one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries. 100 years after his disappearance, a foot in a sock and a boot believed to belong to Andrew “Sandy” Irvine have been discovered by a National Geographic documentary team made up of director and photographer Jimmy Chin and filmmakers Mark Fisher and Erich Roepke working on an upcoming documentary. 

The discovery was made on the Central Rongbuk Glacier below the North Face of Everest. 

“I lifted up the sock and there’s a label that has ‘AC Irvine’ stitched into it,” Chin told National Geographic. “We were all literally running in circles dropping f-bombs” 

The discovery could help resolve the century old mystery of what happened to Irvine aged 22 and his climbing partner, famous climber George Mallory aged 38 and whether they managed to reach the 8,849 metres summit before their demise which has long been debated by historians and climbers. The two men were last seen on June 8th 1924 around 245 meters from the summit while they were attempting to become the first people to reach the peak, a journey known to be hazardous and dangerous. It’s unknown if they succeeded but they did that would make them the first to do so almost 30 years before Edmund Hiliary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached it on May, 29, 1953. 

In 1924 Britain had lost its place as world leader of global exploration after losing out in the race to the North and South Poles. Mount Everest was seen as a chance to regain their position. Before the 1924 expedition other ascents had taken place led by Mallory, a former schoolmaster in 1921, 1922 and 1924. The 1921 climb mapped out 12, 000 square miles of the unexplored Himalayas, creating a basis for future expeditions that is till being “used and updated today” according to Jamie Owen of the Royal Geographical Society. Irvine joined Mallory in the last three attempts. 

The 1924 expedition was poorly planned and marred by illness but despite this they went ahead with their climb. Mallory wrote in a final letter to his wife “It is 50 to 1 against us but we’ll have a whack yet & do ourselves proud”. The men were last seen by a fellow climber Noel Odell, who reported seeing two black dots on the ridge. On June 19th 1924, the Mount Everest Committee received a cablegram from expedition member Colonel Norton saying: “Mallory and Irvine killed on last attempt. Rest of party arrived at camp base all well.”

A memorial service was held for them at St Paul’s Cathedral and was even attended by King George V. 

The discovery of the supposed remains was reported to the Royal Geographical Society- who organised Irvine and Mallory’s 1924 expedition with the Alpine Club. 

The finding is the biggest breakthrough in the mystery since the discovery of Mallory’s remains in 1999 by a climber during the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition, which sought to find out whether the two had reached the summit. “It’s the first real evidence of where Sandy ended up” said Chin and he hopes the discovery will help explain what happened and bring closure to Irvine’s family and the climbing world. The remains were examined and revealed deep rope marks that could indicate a fall caught by a rope wrapped around his waist- suggesting that Mallory and Irvine were roped together before they died. 

His right leg was broken and his left leg was laid delicately over it. Snow goggles in his pocket indicate a possible evening fall and the photo of his wife he had planned to leave at the summit was missing leading to speculation that the men had succeeded. His camera which could hold proof of if they reached and maybe even what happened was lost.  

The sock and boot were found at a lower altitude than Mallory’s remains. 

After the discovery of the boot, Chin said one of the first people he contacted was Irvine’s great-niece, Julie Summers who has written a book about him, published in 2001. 

Members of the Irvine family have volunteered to compare DNA test results with the remains found to confirm his identity. 

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Hassan/North Pole

Hassan struck a pinky finger in his ear and obnoxiously rotated it. He and the other acolytes had gathered for their first ‘real’ physical training together. Currently, however he was valiantly attempting to infuriate one of the biggest braggarts he has ever encountered.

Naveen Thakur.

“The training is so unbelievably easy. Of course, it must be very difficult for the rest of you, but for me, it has been a breeze!” The man proclaimed.

“Is that so… how cool…,” said Hassan.

Hassan winced as the man’s voice rose an octave higher, “Of course, for fairness of competition, you all must be allowed to participate! None of you should be disheartened, as one’s best competitor is oneself. Of course, many of you would benefit from understanding your capabilities. Such as you, my dear lady…”

Hassan and the other acolytes glanced at her. The only woman in the group.

He did not know what to make of her. Like them, she was dressed in monk robes. But her head was shaved completely with burn scars on her face.

Her dark eyes bored into Naveen, her face stoic. She did not reply.

Naveen paused, unnerved by her silence.

The clapping sound from their instructor attracted their attention to him.

“Introduce yourself!” He commanded.

One by one, each acolyte introduced themself. Most struck to their name and age, with a few details of where they were from.

At Hassan’s turn, like the other he said his name and age followed by the name of his village and his previous occupation as a merchant.

Following him came Naveen’s turn. “I am Naveen Thakur, 3rd son of Prince Dwarka Thakur, fifth-in-line for the province of Nalanda. Of course, I am also a master’s graduate of Nalanda University, in Electronic Engineering no less. I am also an avid skier and mountaineer. I have scaled the Mt. Everest of course. Also Annapurna and Kanchenjunga. I have also climbed…,” he bragged.

Everyone stared as Naveen went on and on, listing more and more improbable feats before finally ending with, “And I have even been to the North Pole!” He finished and looked around, expecting a round of applause. Instead, he was only greeted by silence.

“That’s incredible.” The instructor said flatly. He then gestured at the stark granite cliff in front of the acolytes.”You will have to climb this.”

Hassan stared at the cliff, all granite.

“One-handed and without ropes. Try not to fall, as nothing will catch you,” the instructor continued before chanting a spell.

Hassan lurched forward as his right arm was forced back by magic and held there.

“Now climb.” He said.

As nervous mumbles rose, Hassan pushed Naveen (who had turned a pale grey) forward. “Well, Mr Prince! Why don’t you show us plebs how it's done,” he said. Naveen turned around, eyes wide. 

The man looked back at the cliff, than at Hassan, and then at the instructor. “Yes — yes, I will — I will show how it's done,” he said, trembling.

The snow around them scrunched as the lone woman stepped forward, both her arms behind her back.

The instructor blinked as she explained, “I’m ambidextrous.”

With a wave of the instructor’s hand, her right arm was released. 

“Thank you,” she said.

She then walked backwards before running forwards and then using her momentum to run up the cliff by a few meters. As her momentum slowed, she grabbed hold of a handhold, propelling herself up another meter or so. She whispered a spell. Her knees and palm started to glow. She then crawled up the cliffside on her one hand and knees. 

Hassan stared along with the others as slowly but surely she reached the clifftop.

Beneath her, the crowd started to go wild, cheering.

Standing at the top, she looked down and yelled, “Call me Sanzo.”

-----

Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 23: North Pole

A/N: What happened to Naveen? He ran back home. LMAO.