Extreme Mountaineering or Extreme BS? I think the latter...

Over the weekend I took a look at Mission 14s Facebook page. Someone had posted a link to this forum thread. I liked the link. When I went back last night, the link had been deleted. I posted the link and quoted John's comments. The deleted my post too. Apparently, Nick and the Mission 14 team have no interest in addressing the public's concerns that spending $5.6M climbing in Asia might not be the best way to help slaves and exploited children.

facebook.com/14Summits

NC Rock Climber wrote:Over the weekend I took a look at Mission 14s Facebook page. Someone had posted a link to this forum thread. I liked the link. When I went back last night, the link had been deleted. I posted the link and quoted John's comments. The deleted my post too. Apparently, Nick and the Mission 14 team have no interest in addressing the public's concerns that spending $5.6M climbing in Asia might not be the best way to help slaves and exploited children. facebook.com/14Summits

I would like to keep posting. Unfortunately, they have blocked me. I hope that you and other MP.com users that share my concerns over Mission 14 will keep the pressure on them to explain how spending 5.6M climbing in Asia benefits children in Central America and Baltimore.

NC Rock Climber wrote:I would like to keep posting. Unfortunately, they have blocked me. I hope that you and other MP.com users that share my concerns over Mission 14 will keep the pressure on them to explain how spending 5.6M climbing in Asia benefits children in Central America and Baltimore.

he should take some other under armor ambassadors with him......i'd chip in a buck or 2 if he took shaq and warren sapp to commentate. if you're gonna buy the summits, at least make it interesting

They still have comments enabled on their youtube channel. That would be another great place to share your opinion on Mission 14.

NC Rock Climber wrote:They still have comments enabled on their youtube channel. That would be another great place to share your opinion on Mission 14.

I think the best way to make your opinion known is to write letters to their sponsors.

FWIW Asolo is now an official sponsor ... there is an official link on the Buttbook link.

I got banned from posting a couple of weeks ago because I posted the Wikipedia page for 8kers (which shows death rates). I asked how many porters they thought would be sacrificed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight…

Back on 8/14 Mission 14 made the following comment on their FB page:

"...thanks for your comment. Rest assured that we did not erase any comments from our FB page, in fact we welcome open dialogue around Mission 14."

Despite what they claim, it look like Mission 14 only "welcomes open dialogue" if it is supportive of their efforts. If you question what they are doing, you get blocked.

Does anyone know how to get their annual financial statement? Since they are a 501(c) organization / nonprofit, it should be public record. It would be interesting to see what they are really doing with the money and how much of it actually gets to charities that directly help kids.

I got banned from posting a couple of weeks ago because I posted the Wikipedia page for 8kers (which shows death rates). I asked how many porters they thought would be sacrificed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight…

OOOH! That's a good one. It will be about impossible to do this without causing loss of life. Let's work up some statistics for to email to sponsors/post.

I'm technically at work, so I don't have time to figure it out, but I'll do it later this evening.

What was the total # of Sherpas he was taking along again?

So the average death rate between all top 14 peaks comes out to about 10%. Of course, not every Sherpa will be at high risks, but I am sure that some will end up giving their lives.

Not to mention the Sherpas are a very exploited culture, making an average of $1,400 a year per capita.

So not only are they risking other people's lives, they are EXPLOITING other people's lives, as I see it.

something like 3800 sherpas is what they said. strangely, i can't find that number anymore :)

yeah. I don't see the $5.6 mil number any more either. they are toning down the "extreme" angle after getting such a negative response from their promotional Youtube video. That video is now "private," but it should be archived somewhere on the net. Someone with strong google-fu should be able to find it easily. On that vid they talk about the number of sherpa.

at least he's not going about it pussy style like that ueli steck guy where you have to rely on being good in the mountains. if you're a real man, you get a bunch of sponsors and peasants to handle all those little details like paing for the expedition, fixing the ropes, carrying your shit, making your camp and putting the little mint on your pillow each night

"Over 3780 porters and nearly 100 support staff" was their original statement. I guess if they're now only going to do 6 summits in 2014 the logistics become so trivial they're no longer worth a mention on their website.

web.archive.org/web/2013042…

Brian Bulthuis wrote:"Over 3780 porters and nearly 100 support staff" was their original statement. I guess if they're now only going to do 6 summits in 2014 the logistics become so trivial they're no longer worth a mention on their website. web.archive.org/web/2013042…

Here is another gem from the FAQ on the Mission 14 website:

"Why don’t you just skip climbing the mountains and give all that money to charity?

If only it were that easy. Raising money is extremely difficult. If Mission 14™ could raise millions of dollars without doing anything, we would. However, since people don’t simply give away money, we’ve come up with a great platform for brands and individuals who might never have supported the fight against human trafficking otherwise. We create a global audience of millions of followers with compelling and authentic content, and keep the mission of combating human trafficking front and center. Then not only are our sponsors engaged charitably, our audience is too, and incredible fundraising opportunities open up."

What a bunch of marketing double-speak. This is all about Nick, and the opportunity for NIck to have his "adventure" paid for by someone else. "Helping the children" is just a means to an end. The end is supporting Nick's ego and getting him to the top of mountains. The expedition costs $5.6 M. If Nick and his team forgot about the expedition and spent two years just raising money and awareness I am sure that the the cause of human trafficking would be much better off. At its core, this "charity" is a con, the "climbing expedition" is joke by any standard. I sincerely hope that the donors, both corporate and individual, will open their eyes and see this fiasco for exactly what it is.

BTW, don't forget to go to the Mission 14 FB page and "like" Ryan and Davis' posts. They already have more likes than all but one other post ever made on that page.

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