To me, this is the photo of the year. Climbers queue up to summit Everest.
Here’s something to think about: getting down. After making the summit, those climbers had to come back down the same way – fighting past that long line of people waiting to ascend, all of them on a narrow shelf, perched above sheer drops of ten thousand feet.
About coming down: Some years ago a pair of hikers without money and permits, got to base camp, climbed up during a window, then used a paraglider to get down to civilization. What would normally take weeks took them less than an hour. That would be the coolest trip ever.
Even if there was no one there, the little stretch where you see the top is still a couple of hours of hiking. I remember doing just a quick hike part way down the crater at Mt Haleakala (10,000 ft). Coming back out, I was taking two steps, resting a minute, two steps, resting a minute. Everest is three times that height, so much, much harder. I get altitude sickness in Banff, so I’d be one of those dying at base camp. Safe to say, even if I had the money, would not be going any where near there.