r/funny • u/WonderfulVehicle4162 • 5d ago
A Sherpa casually smoking above 8,000 meters in Everest's death zone, while everyone around him struggles to breathe [OC]
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u/winstondabee 5d ago
"Airsick lowlanders"
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u/srg2692 5d ago
I bet they even let their first sons fight! Ha! Enough talk. Stew is ready.
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u/acdann 5d ago
Holy shards, I ran into a Sanderson fan in the first comment. This never happens XD
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u/CrocadiaH 5d ago
Literally finished 'Oathbringer' less than an hour ago!
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u/sillybearr 5d ago
I'm jealous. I wish I could experience all the books again for the first time
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u/DanSapSan 5d ago
I am on book three, and so far all i've learned is that Gavilars big party is an absolute Matryoshka Doll of characters.
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u/halohunter 4d ago
Crazy how Sanderson revisits that party from each perspective and it just gets crazier and crazier.
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u/thehomelesstree 5d ago
Reading these books now and this is the first time seeing it in the wild! Nice!
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u/Ickypahay 5d ago
Welcome to the club cousin
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u/DetectiveReady421 5d ago
I’ve never felt I’ve belonged anywhere more in my life
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u/dani-winks 5d ago
Aaah me too!
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u/bridwats 5d ago
Same. On wind and truth right now
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u/winstondabee 5d ago
I'm almost done!
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u/Proud_Interview_9779 5d ago
For those wondering, Stormlight archives novels reference.
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u/BarbequedYeti 5d ago
And if wondering if you should read them. Yes... Great series.
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u/Consumption2Wombly 5d ago
Great series, but the first 2 books are next-level great. The next 3 are just regular great (imo).
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u/Ok_Car9530 5d ago
I feel like the first is Sanderson's magnum opus. Like he really wanted to do something that rivaled the absolute best that the fantasy genre has to offer. After that he was like, let's define the magic system, and it became paint-by-numbers-Sanderson, which I enjoy, but I'm not sure he'll ever reach that peak again.
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u/jekyl87 4d ago
I really prefer the mistborn saga rather than the stormlight archives. Though I seem to be in minority there.
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u/BarbequedYeti 5d ago
I agree. The first two are right up there with the King Killer Chronicles for me. 'Name of the wind' and 'The Way of Kings' are top tier storytelling. Doesnt get much better for me.
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u/tsunamisurfer 5d ago
thank you. I immediately recognized the statement and couldn't remember where I read it!
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u/Centuurion 5d ago
I bet that guy makes a mean stew
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u/CarpetFibers 5d ago
One of two meals on the entire planet. The other is chouta.
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u/LaserKittenz 5d ago
I bet you put shells in your stew
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u/Centuurion 5d ago
What's wrong with that? We need all the strength we can get to carry these bridges. Shells are strong. Airsick lowlander!
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u/Obinego 5d ago
Do you know how a one armed Herdazian smokes on a mountain?
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u/JaimeRidingHonour 5d ago
Well first, he sticks himself to the wall. Allllways stick yourself to the wall first.
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u/silly_little_jingle 5d ago
I had to double check what sub this was in lol! Love it.
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u/Same_Dingo2318 5d ago
I listen to the audiobooks. I heard Rock’s voice. 🤣 The narrators are the same through the series. So you can tell who is speaking even without the clarifications.
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u/Icy-Cry340 5d ago
Did not expect that reference lol. Great books, just read all five a few months back.
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u/Moist-Cashew 5d ago
Damn I need to finish these. I stopped halfway through oathbringer like a year ago and forgot I was reading them lol
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u/TheDiscord1988 5d ago
Been reading my First series for a few months now, it feels so great to get that reference :D
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u/Rhesusmonkeydave 5d ago
“This journey would be a lot easier with a Camel!”
No Prakash, not like that
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u/Throckmorton_Left 5d ago
Actually, just like that.
Smokers are less susceptible to Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS).
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u/Forsaken-Builder-312 5d ago
Did Philip Morris Marketing write this?
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u/WashedSylvi 5d ago
Stimulants in general seem to help with altitude sickness
Coca leaves are the suggestion in many places in South America
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u/ThunderBobMajerle 5d ago
The best advertising I’ve ever seen is the dispensary at the Mt Whitney portal that says “climb higher”
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u/No-Test-4028 4d ago
Finally, a legitimate excuse to take cocaine. "No I dont have a drug problem, I need this for climbing mountains."
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u/SilasTalbot 4d ago
There was an old joke like this in Get Smart.
Max is trekking thru the desert, and a man rides up and speaks with him. After a while of talking the man says
"Mr. Smart, may I offer you a camel?"
To which Max replies: "No thanks! I'm trying to quit."
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u/Unique-Jacket-4430 5d ago
Hes tryin to understand why they pay so much money to climb that high. Shiiii… 🚬
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u/siriusbrown 5d ago
And why he barely gets a cut for doing all the work
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u/Trottingslug 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah, that's not true. Sherpas are paid significantly more than most other jobs in the region (source: lived there, trekked there, and hired a Sherpa. For reference they get paid the equivalent of about 700% the average salary of people in the region. If you base that off the average US citizen's salary, that's like earning an annual salary of almost $500k.).
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u/Mr-Centipede 5d ago
Your comment and the one you replied to are not mutually exclusive. They can make more than most other local jobs and that still be only a small percentage of the fee people pay to climb.
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u/huggybear0132 5d ago
This is the difference between global poverty and local poverty, and I appreciate you pointing it out.
A good example is China, which has virtually eliminated local poverty. People there largely can find jobs and get what they need to live. But on a global scale, a lot of them could never afford to, say, take a vacation to everest.
So while Sherpas make a lot of money locally, they are still confined to their role in their place in the world. They do not enjoy the global prosperity and freedom that many of their clients do.
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u/Trottingslug 5d ago
That's actually a fantastic point I never actually considered before (global vs local poverty). It makes a lot of sense, I just never looked at it that way before.
The china example is especially interesting. Do you happen to have a starting place/source for that info? I'd love to look into that more.
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u/Skyshaper 5d ago
There's so many Chinese that live in poverty, particularly in rural areas. The statistic that there is no poverty in China is a falsehood put out by the CCP.
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u/Cptcongcong 4d ago edited 4d ago
Rural china has improved so much since 30 years ago, and unrecognisable compared to 50-60 years ago.
For reference, at my parent’s hometown, I remember going there when I was 5 years old, I took a shit in a hole in the ground and slept with chickens.
Now they have cars and scooters. Cars are so cheap in china, equivalent of like 3k USD. Kids live in conditions that are so much better than their parents.
Sure there will be pockets of homelessness but it’s so different from places like LA and London. At least Shanghai and Beijing arent littered with homeless.
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u/baubness 4d ago
yeah but you'll never be able to farm upvotes without a little sinophobia, with a side of anticommunism, as a treat
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u/Froggy1789 4d ago
China is almost single-handedly responsible for the global decrease in poverty. Its progress has made the vast majority of the absolute and percentage change.
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u/00eg0 5d ago
Poverty is only rare in China if you ignore rural China. The birth rate has been low even with the government encouraging people to have kids recently as people can't afford kids.
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u/Trottingslug 5d ago
That's fair. I do believe, however, that the sentiment between the two comments is actually different.
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u/AgrippaDaYounger 5d ago
2-5k a month, can effectively only work a couple months a year (climbing season).
So 10k a year to schlep wealthy people and their crap up Everest.
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u/pdabaker 5d ago
So it's the Nepal equivalent of Alaskan crab fishing or working an oil rig
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u/No_Artichoke_2931 5d ago edited 3d ago
Smoking isn't cool.
However
That Sherpa smoking, is cool as fuck.
Edit: If this comment keeps getting upvotes I'm not gonna be able to resist changing it to something completely abhorrent
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u/ashleyriddell61 5d ago
He’s smoking a filter tip factory made cig. In Nepal, that barely counts as smoking compared to the roll your own nicotine and newspaper darts they normally smoke that would knock out a bison.
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u/KnightOfTheOctogram 5d ago
He needs the filter for the elevation. Otherwise, it’s rollies all day
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u/xsilver911 5d ago
He probably already smoked his 2 packs of rollies so this one he had to bum from one of the tourists lol.
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u/unodakine808 5d ago
I just saw a vid on Reddit where a guy was smoking some crazy hand roll in an Asian country and he was absolutely delirious and sick for like 5 straight minutes then just snapped back lol. Immediate nicotine poisoning. It was wild.
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u/MagicGator11 5d ago
I never understood this. In Brazil where I was from, we rolled pure tobacco into corn husk as well. It's what I smoked when I first started (still making progress to quit). Coming to the US, I resorted to the store bought filters and noticed the difference in both taste and strength, but it's still nothing near as how bad people describe. I even gave American spirits a try once because those are supposed to be "hardcore" and can "knock someone out" who isn't used to them. Yet, they are barely any different than filtered brands.
Apparently I need to go an Asian country and give it a try. Because up until now I'm calling it all cap.
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u/Enlightened_Gardener 5d ago edited 5d ago
Gudang garems - the indonesian clove cigarettes. I’ve only ever smoked them filtered, but they come unfiltered, and I can’t imagine. The filtered ones are about 40mg…. They smell beautiful, very evocative, but geez they do your lungs no good.
Anyway, since you’re planning a Cigarette Death Tour of Asia I thought I’d throw it out there 😃 Make sure you try the Indonesian clove cigarettes while you’re there. Bonus points for smoking one at Canggu Beach, watching the sets roll in at dawn….
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u/Aromatic_Sand8126 5d ago
I order nicotine pouches from sweden and they’re much, much stronger than any tin of zyn you could ever find in north america. Some I buy are 50mg nicotine per gram. One of those is a 20 seconds countdown until guaranteed puke for someone who has never consumed nicotine before. When I pop 2 of those in, I just lay back into my couch and look at the spinning ceiling for 2 or 3 minutes and enjoy the full body numbness. NOT recommended if you have to use a ladder at work.
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u/CankerLord 5d ago
still making progress to quit
Get a vape that allows you to pick from a wide variety of nicotine percentages. Vape strong enough juice that you don't need to smoke at all and can just treat hitting the vape like smoking a craving-satisfying cigarette )I needed 32mg coming from smoking half a pack of American Spirits/day). Stop buying cigarettes.When you've settled into a rhythm with the vape and it feels like a well established habit cut your percentage by a few points. You'll get mild cravings but you can only vape so much, eventually it'll feel like vaping the old percentage. Rinse and repeat, no cold turkey, no white-knuckled nicotine withdrawal, no patches with weird step downs, and you get to "smoke" something while you wean down to 0%.
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u/MrStickDick 5d ago
The trick is don't vape something that tastes great, and don't keep vaping after you get to zero. Vaping isn't healthy. It's how's I quit back in 2010 when it was marketed only as a quitting device. I had a joye 510 (it looked like a little black cigarette). It was one of the first.
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u/MagicGator11 5d ago
I really appreciate the vape trick. Never thought of using it like that! I'm sure every smoker says the same, but I don't find myself being addicted to the nicotine. I don't crave a cigarette. I've been smoking since 16 and managed to quit cold turkey for two solid years like it was nothing. The issue I'm facing is my environment. It was only this year that I picked up the habit due to my job being involved around the automotive industry. I need to step back and not associate smoking with the mechanic life style. When I took the summer off for two months this year, it never even crossed my mine to light one up.
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u/piddlesthethug 5d ago
I smoked from 13 to 31 or so, and when I quit I used a vape to cut off the cravings as was suggested. It’s been 12-13 years and I haven’t smoked since. The trick is to know that someday you probably pick up a cigarette, and to forgive yourself before you ever do. It might take a few tries but it will stick if you really want it.
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u/InitiativeOk2303 5d ago
Dude if you’re still in US go to a smoke shop, not a gas station and get yourself a pound of rolling tobacco and some TOPs papers. I like gambler brand tobacco but theres lots of different ones
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u/hk4213 5d ago
American spirit smoker here. I have had people refuse my smokes because they are too strong. It's the closest you get to good pipe tobacco at a convince store.
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u/Weak_Power_8381 5d ago
The processing/additives make typical cigarettes hit harder. There is an ingredient allows you do inhale more deeply and another to reduce dopamine clearance to make the nicotine hit. Hand rolled should be weaker per unit of tobacco
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u/Aromatic_Razzmatazz 5d ago
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I HAVE ALL THESE PLATELETS?! drrrraaaaaaggggg WELL DO YA?!
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u/phoenix_has_rissen 5d ago
I imagine the cig would prob burn really slow due to the low oxygen up there. Tailor made are usually faster burning due to the additives so it prob stays lit better than a rolly.
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u/jackfreeman 5d ago
I had a sergeant that smoked two packs a day and MAN I hated it when it was his turn to be in charge of the company runs because he would sprint the whole time at a piece that would have my legs blasted for days.
I bet if he didn't smoke he'd run circles around Usain.
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u/Badfly48 5d ago
Some people are just built different lol
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u/jackfreeman 5d ago
I just wish he was built a little less different. He was messing up my shoe budget.
Asshole had me running like I was getting chased by child support.
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u/Badfly48 5d ago
It's crazy how quickly you go through shoes running like that isn't it? Especially when you're carrying a pack or slogging because of a hangover or more than likely both
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u/jackfreeman 5d ago
Man, my company was so full of run studs I refused to drink. Four day weekends had half of them red in the face from niacin so they didn't pop hot on their fun activities and THEN a ten mile run? Hard pass.
And we ran on clay? EFF THAT
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u/arminghammerbacon_ 5d ago
The worst was the guys who just PCS’d from Korea. They’d be in the platoon or company run having spent the night drinking Soju and scarfing down kimchi. That shit was seeping out of their pores. Reeked!
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u/bighootay 5d ago
Oh man the subways in Seoul sometimes when they were jampacked. Ugh--garlic, kimchi, and soju breath.
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u/GethHunter 5d ago
There was a guy in my buddy’s platoon that was a little fat, dipped and smoked close to a pack a day and drank allll the time. My friend said he was their best runner and would easily keep pace with anyone.
I (a civilian) went on weekend rucks with them quite a bit and this man would regularly pull out a cigarette and continue on talking and moving like nothing was going on. I’d just be gasping for air while trying to talk with the man. It’s always wild seeing how some people are built
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u/jackfreeman 5d ago
Damn. We had this dude Rios that would ALWAYS run when I was out, and in the time it took me to do two miles he did two and took a break every quarter to do calisthenics.
He was a great guy, but I hated his guts
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u/BarbequedYeti 5d ago
This is me. Smoked in my younger days and could run/swim/hike for miles with no issue. Friends were always 'how the fuck the smoker kicking our ass'... Good times. Still better i quit though.
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u/Kierik 5d ago
I am kinda like this. Overweight and I don’t look very muscular but I can haul ass when I want. My ex wife spent a year with a personal trainer and running then she begged me to run with her. I did but I couldn’t do her pacing from the get go because she was too damn slow and her pace was causing me to cramp up. So we settled on just running at the same time and I would stop every time I lapped her to chat.
About a month into this she waved to do a color run 5k. I started the race with her but again I needed to move faster so I left her about half way and finished in 28 minutes. 10 minutes later she came around.
She told me she hated me because she expected to kick my ass at running but she couldn’t even match me going from couch to 5k.
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u/french_snail 5d ago
I swear smokers in the army always had the best running pt score
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u/monkeyplex 5d ago
I swear I heard that smoking before exercise can act as a broncho dilator - at least before other problems catch up to you from years of smoking. Not sure if it’s as potent as an asthma inhaler but if it has any effect like that then I can imagine it helps. I know that I feel like super man on my inhaler…
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u/OSPFmyLife 5d ago
Yeah, most of these stories are from guys being young and fairly new smokers. I smoke, and when I was in the Army I could out-ruck my whole company and outrun most of them - (at my best, I was in the low 13:00’s for my 2 mile run, so not blazingly fast but comfortably ahead of “non runners”).
But… I was also in my early 20s and hadn’t been smoking very long. Nowadays I’ve gotta ask my wife to jump on top for a quick breather halfway through. I need to quit. It’s hard.
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u/1877KlownsForKids 5d ago
My favorite was the mofos that would finish a run gasping like a fish and then light up right away.
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u/Slvrdgr 5d ago
Was it per chance SGT Oakes?
Was always baffled how the mother fucker maintained just about the fastest mile run times for our company during PT tests, only to chain smoke 2 or 3+ cigarettes as soon as he was done, lol
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u/jackfreeman 5d ago
Nah, SSG Watkins. He was a professional, but as soon as he had a modicum of power he was an absolute asshole
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u/SingleArtichoke4857 5d ago
I had a buddy that would immediately celebrate his PT test 2 smokes. He was six years older than me and ran his 2-mile like two minutes faster than me. Must be one in every unit 🤣
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u/FiddyShins 5d ago
Since when? I thought that was one of the main reasons people took up smoking
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u/baconbag90 5d ago
- I'm the last person who took up smoking. I'm so uncool that it made smoking uncool and nobody picked up smoking ever again
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u/arjunkc 5d ago
Nah it feels great and is addictive as hell. It will kill you, but man is it addictive.
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u/fondledbydolphins 5d ago
I wish someone would do a TED talk on the mechanisms of people who live while abusing certain things.
Supposedly Ozzy Osborne allowed doctors to study him because although he ended up a bit fried after all the drug and alcohol abuse, his state wasn’t nearly as bad as would typically be expected.
Then there are people like a few of my relatives who smoke and drank… excessively, yet lived to be almost 100 years old 🤷♂️
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u/SpeedoPaedo 5d ago
And cool
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u/Deeppurp 5d ago
Sales and Marketing advertising made smoking look cool by tapping what WAS cool at the time and associating it with smoking.
If it was legal, a company could make eating your own hand look cool as hell.
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u/schwarzneguRRR 5d ago
Every smoker smokes on a climb
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u/pasinduthegreat 5d ago
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u/Tribalbob 5d ago
Would this mean at sea level, he'd be able to run a marathon non-stop?
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u/imerom 5d ago
Most of Sherpa adaptations wouldn't convey advantages in a marathon at sea level. They don't have unusually high V02 max values. They are incredible at doing a lot in a low-oxygen environment, but the same mechanisms don't mean that in an oxygen rich environment they have bigger aerobic engines. They do have some adaptations concerning ATP and efficiency in metabolising glucose which might provide some advantage in a race at sea level.
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u/Kevtron 5d ago
I’d be curious to see how well they would adapt to freediving and long breath holds.
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u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits 5d ago
Me too. Similar low oxygen needs, very different pressure environments.
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u/Expensive_Poop 5d ago
If you want to see a group people that adapted to diving then there's bajau people in southeast asia that adapted to deep diving
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u/Kevtron 4d ago
Let’s get one parent from each place and create the ultimate freediver/high altitude hiker!
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u/I_travel_ze_world 5d ago
adaptations concerning ATP and efficiency in metabolising glucose which might provide some advantage in a race at sea level.
so 2 out of 3 of their adaptations would clearly be an advantage?
The advantages of high elevation training are very clear as well.
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u/monstaber 5d ago
More like he'd be a beast at anaerobic sports like freediving and such, cardio it wouldn't map as much (just my guess)
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u/notarobat 5d ago
That's cuz u fat tho
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u/wanderingspiders 5d ago
Was gonna down vote you but then read ops username and it's hard to argue
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u/MkJorgy 5d ago
not comparing to Everest..........way back when i moved to Colorado. Outdoors is my thing, found some friends who also loved outdoors and a few were into backpacking. First big backpacking trip was in the Marron Bells (Aspen). 3-4 hours into it I was completely soaked in sweat, bent over on the side of the trail sucking air wondering how I was gong to make it another few miles. Then 3 damn grandmas come up the trail going faster than a ball would roll down. They stop by us and chat us up for a bit. They start to leave and one grandma pulls out a cig and lights up.
It's been 33 years, still a vivid memory
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u/rebeccavt 5d ago edited 5d ago
I was staying in Quito Ecuador and went on a day trip with a group to Cotopaxi volcano. We had acclimated at around 9,000 in Quito, they drove us up to 14,000 feet and then we hiked to the glacier edge at 15,000. All of us in the group were struggling at that altitude, while these two old French guys were practically running up the switchbacks. Because we were a group they’d have to stop and wait for the rest of us and they were always smoking and rolling their eyes at how slow we were 😂
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u/angelbbreeze888 5d ago
I remember fighting for my LIFE in Breckenridge hiking up to a lake and I got passed by a middle eastern family where the wife was in full hijab and a dress, and everyone had sandals on 😭
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u/kevinspaceyiskeyser 5d ago
I had the same experience 5 years ago in rocky mountains.All of us in late 20s ,gassing the fuck out ever mile, had to take so many breaks and then you see a group of old ladies just casually laughing as they power walk past us .Put us all to shame .
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u/inGenium_88 5d ago
Boy his body must have acclimatised with the number of trips he may have done. He must have dense functioning capillaries.
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u/onehalflightspeed 5d ago edited 5d ago
Sherpas have special physiological characteristics from genetic adaptations suited in the environment they have always lived in. So they are literally built different
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u/Diminus 5d ago
Yep. 1 thing is their number of regular breaths are more rapid then what everyone els would consider normal breathing.
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u/ahhhbiscuits 5d ago
Their lung capacity is huge. Compare it to your average American's, who can't climb a flight of stairs without wheezing, it's straight-up unreal.
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u/evoslevven 5d ago
Reminds me of Samoans having a genetic variation for higher bone and muscle density. I feel like you might get something close to superhuman if you combine these genetics where a big dude doesn't run out of breadth 🤯
I know it doesn't work that way but, hey gotta amuse myself with the thought of it!
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u/Familiar-Doubt-2924 5d ago
Wait until you see the Chinese Olympic teams in 10-20 years…
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u/LostManufacturer1553 5d ago
Whats interesting other mountain cultures have unique dna as a result. Like balkans being exceptinally tall, especially in Herzegovina.
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u/ArseBurner 5d ago edited 5d ago
Not just acclimitized but people who live in high altitudes do have genetic adaptations especially if their tribe or family have been living there for a while.
I think there was a BBC Horizon feature on this, will update this post if I find it.
Edit: It seems to be from the Power of the Planet series presented by Iain Stewart back in 2007.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008d8jl
Here's a short clip, it's about the Andes people and when Spanish colonists went there their babies were all stillborn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUQ7efPG-Io
Pubmed article about genetic adaptation to altitude by the Andean people: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30781443/
These as well as more recent studies indicate that Andeans have somewhat larger lung volumes, narrower alveolar to arterial O₂ gradients, slightly less hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstrictor response, greater uterine artery blood flow during pregnancy, and increased cardiac O2 utilization, which overall suggests greater efficiency of O₂ transfer and utilization. More recent single nucleotide polymorphism and whole-genome sequencing studies indicate that multiple gene regions have undergone recent positive selection in Andeans. These include genes involved in the regulation of vascular control, metabolic hemostasis, and erythropoiesis.
There might have been another documentary about high altitude adaptations by Alice Roberts. Not sure since I haven't had the time to look in my library, but it's likely "Are we still Evolving" which she presented around 2010-2011:
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u/why_1337 5d ago
Saw a clip of one carrying climber down on his back. They are fucking machines.
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u/Neospiker 5d ago
8k up with everyone around me freezing and short on air. I think I'll just chill and light a quick one.
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u/pennyforyourthohts 5d ago
My dad used a Sherpa when climbing in Nepal. Said there he was freezing his ass off in his highly rated sleeping bag and the Sherpa just had a blanket and was sleeping soundly
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u/high_procrastinator 4d ago
Sorry to be pedantic but your dad "hired" a Sherpa.
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u/catscanmeow 5d ago
the heat from the smoke probably feels good to him in that cold environment
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u/outside_cat 5d ago
I wonder if one of those jet lighters would be better or worse than a regular Bic here.
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u/Mob1337 5d ago
I was wondering the same. I'd figure waterproof matches would be the trick but I still don't know how you'd keep enough oxygen for a light going. Maybe they use electric lighters like the car cigarette lighters.
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u/khizoa 5d ago
I doubt they do this but I used to smoke weed with a magnifying glass all the time. And I would light up people's cigs if it was windy lol
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u/jeezy_peezy 5d ago
You must live somewhere rather sunny if that’s a reliable method for you
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u/mostdope28 5d ago
I did Kilimanjaro this summer, insane how those porters carry everything in shitty shoes and sandals. The guides on summit night were insane too, just a normal hike up to 19,000ft for them in horrible cold weather
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u/LogicIsDead22 5d ago
My guide on Kili lit one up at Gillman’s in the middle of a blizzard. Ernest you absolute legend wherever you are.
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u/cybah 5d ago
as a former smoker I can concur... when you wanna smoke... you smoke. No matter where it is.
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u/Xlaag 5d ago
I worked with a guy from the mountains in Afganistan, and he would say we have air like soup.
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u/Dark_Akarin 5d ago
Bit pathetic really isn't it. All these people come from around the world to climb Everest, leave crap all over it and mess that never leaves, then brags about it to everyone while relying on equipment to help them do it. Meanwhile, the locals just walk up there every day with another person on their back and a smoke in one hand, crazy stuff.
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u/VP007clips 5d ago
Things are a lot better than they used to be.
Each climber is required to being all their waste and trash back down, plus an additional 8kg to clean the mountain.
And even with gear, it's still an incredibly challenging climb. Sherpa guide also use oxygen and proper gear, because even their acclimation and different physiology isn't enough to overcome the physics of oxygen consumption.
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u/ElundusCaw 5d ago
And then you have people like Göran Kropp who biked (as in a freaking bicycle) from Sweden to Everest, summited the mountain without sherpas and WITHOUT ANY BOTTLED OXYGEN, and then proceeded to bike home, like it was a fucking holiday.
And he did this in 1996, so he didn't even have all the fancy mountaineering tech we have today.
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u/wordsandshit 5d ago
It's insane, there's a handful of people out there that are legitimately built entirely different from the rest of us. Anatoli Boukreev did a solo ascent of Denali in 10.5 hours without supplemental oxygen.
Most climbers take several days and camps to make the summit. Oh and he did this after right after he was a guide for an expedition to the peak. So he went up, came back down and thought "these casuals really slowed me down" and basically ran up the fucking thing. Truly wild shit.
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u/FrostyD7 5d ago
I know this is a bold claim on reddit, but climbing everest is an impressive accomplishment. 99% of people wouldn't make it past base camp.
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u/OneMan_OneBeard 5d ago
That nicotine probably hits so good when your blood oxygen is that low.
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u/Electrical-Bee-7362 5d ago
Smoking helps with the symptoms of altitude sickness actually.
Old school mountaineers were smokers often...
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