(img: BBC) 

How do you describe insane? I’ve watched the series of shows on Discovery (Everest Beyond the Limit), I’ve seen them pass people who were dying on the trail,
I’ve seen people dead… frozen inches from where the climbers hike, and I’ve realized that $40k+ to summit is just crazy considering the personal hell involved, so I can’t imagine doing something like this!!

EDIT: If you’re interested – Discovery Channel runs a blog of the year’s summit attempts. Looks like quite a few teams have had some major problems this year leading to at least 1 death and quite a few folks that are quite simply lucky to be alive.

A British climber has set a world record by making a mobile phone call from the top of Mount Everest.

In the early hours of 21 May, Rod Baber made two calls from the mountain’s north ridge.

In the first call Mr Baber described the view, how cold it was and what he wanted to do when back at base camp; he then rang his wife and children.
 

Source: BBC NEWS | Technology | Success for Everest mobile effort