High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed

High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed is a book that explores the dark side of mountaineering on the world's highest peak. The author, Michael Kodas is an accomplished mountaineer who twice unsuccessfully tried to summit the famous mountain. For many that make it to the top of Everest, it is a joyous experience that they will never forget. For others that try, it is a nightmare or even worse, an agonizing death. Kodas, writes about the dangers on Everest, many of which are not seen by the outside world. The dangers of greed and jealousy. A Photo-journalist for the Hartford Courant in Connecticut, Michael Kodas took some time to answer some questions about his very controversial book.

How has the reaction been from the mountaineering community regarding your book?

The response from the climbing community has been more positive than I expected. In any sport there is a code of silence about crime and malfeasance. People, most of who have nothing to do with the problems, aren't happy about having those issues exposed because they feel any information that gets out about the troubles sullies everyone's reputation. Witness what's gone on with cycling and baseball, two of what were once considered the most wholesome sports. However I've found that many climbers are sick of the problems, particularly those on Everest, and were consequently eager to talk about them. A number of climbers that initially refused to be interviewed for the book eventually changes their mind as the project progressed. Since the book's publication, I've heard from many mountaineers, usually with positive feedback. However, there are going to be critics of any work of investigative journalism, some angry at what's being reported and some with legitimate complaints. I'm sure I'll hear more of that.

Your book reports that the Mount Everest Base Camps are similar to little lawless villages. You mentioned that drugs, prostitution and even theft are commonplace. Is it really a Wild, Wild West type environment there?

In short, Everest is a place where hundreds of thousands of dollars change hands with no legal oversight. It's drawn the range of behaviors and cast of characters that kind of unregulated commerce tends to lure. With a road leading to Base Camp in Tibet, anyone who has a good or service to pedal or with plans to prey on unsuspecting tourists and climbers need only catch a ride on a truck to the small city of climbers. In the end, the money, the ease of getting to it, and the lack of any regulation of how it is exchanged has created something that looks a lot more like a mining town than a mountaineering camp.

Your first team expedition to Everest in 2004 garnered some national attention due to the difficulties between certain members of your expedition team. There were allegations of physical abuse, theft and even death threats. How was your second expedition in 2006 different?

I made my second trip to Everest strictly to report the book. (I had some small hope of getting to the summit but chose not to make an attempt when the time came). I hired on with a commercial team put together by an Everest veteran, Jamie McGuinness and led by an Everest veteran, Scott Woolums. It was a good view of how the commercial operations are different from independent teams. We had, in general, a good, honorable crew, but there were a number of climbers who didn't have the experience I would have wanted on a team had I put it together myself. It was also a much larger team (12 climbers) than I would have preferred had I organized everything myself. That said, Jamie and Scott ran a tight ship, which allowed me to get out and do the reporting, investigation and photography I needed to without having to take on all the expedition logistics, which are substantial.

What are some of the most prominent dangers in trying to climb a mountain like Everest?

The same dangers that the first climbers on Everest confronted are still there - deadly altitude sicknesses like cerebral edema (fluid on the brain) and pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), avalanches, falling seracs, huge crevasses, and sub-zero temperatures. There are new social perils that have come with the predatory and parasitic adventurers. The worst of these is theft. Many of these crimes seem petty when you hear about them at sea level, but a climber can die for want of a $2 bottle of stove fuel. Without the fuel, the climber can't melt snow into water, becomes dehydrated, and dehydration exacerbates all of the previously mentioned altitude maladies. Oxygen tanks, which are worth more than $400 each, are common targets for thieves, some of whom are natives in a country where the per capita income is less than half that and some of whom are western mountaineers getting up the mountain on the cheap by taking advantage of better provisioned climbers. Sleeping bags, tents, stoves, even crampons and ice axes have been stolen from the highest camps in the world, leaving climbers in dire straights. There's also been instances of violence, climbers abandoned by their guides and partners, and even sabotage of ropes and tents on Everest and other high peaks, adding a new dimension of peril to high altitude climbing.

What do you want readers of your book to take with them when they finish reading it?

I think the most important thing to I want people to learn from my book is that, regardless of how much money they spend on their adventure, what big-named climber they hire as their guide, and how many resources they bring to the mountain, they are still responsible for their own lives and making the decisions that determine whether they live or die. There is no amount of money you can spend to pass that responsibility on to someone else.

What other Mountains have you successfully summitted?

I climbed Ama Dablam, a mountain about 12 miles from Everest, and a number of domestic mountains like Long's Peak, the Grand Teton, El Capitan (Yosemite National Park, California), as well as a number of mountains in New Zealand and Spain and hundreds of technical rock climbing routes all over the world.

Now that you have finished "High Crimes" what is next for Michael Kodas?

That's the same question my agent has for me. At the moment, I'm quite interested in how the boom in the nature and adventure documentaries is impacting the environment, and how all this adrenaline rich, endangered species-filled programming is doing more harm than good to the natural world.