On: Nepal bans solo climbers from Mount Everest

[hprotagonist]

hikers and alpinists are totally different breeds, though.

The americans writing articles for the AAC journal or evening sends or whatnot are not peak-baggers.

conversely, the grade-seekers of 8a.nu are primarily european.

[InclinedPlane → hprotagonist]

Anecdotally I'd say that's true. The majority of the most active climbers and alpinists that I've been around don't seem to be overly goal oriented about it, though there definitely is a subset who are.