I found the article by Palmer and the text by Houston and Bates very interesting and it answered some questions and spoke to a few of the key topics that I found interesting in this course thus far. In the expedition of K2 it is the first that was headed by an American group which speaks to how far they had come following WWII.  From the time before WWII the USA had not been very prominent on the world climbing scale, rather they had always been foreshadowed by other industrial countries that had been quicker and more readily accessible to climbing mountains.  This fact speaks volumes to how far the USA had come when it came to an imperial power in the world and while this may not be a good thing necessarily for other countries it did add a new flavor to the international climbing community which gave a new perspective.  In addition to this thought I found it very interesting how much the climbers seemed to care for one another and how they seemed to put each other above climbing at times.  Where as in past readings it was all about the climb and less about those involved in the actual venture themselves.

In the text K2 The Savage Mountain the idea of new technology when it came to climbing was a very prominent and interesting idea.  Following WWII common people, such as climber, had ready access to the massive surpluses of technology and equipment and these technologies helped the climber to climb more efficiently and more safely than they had been able to before.  While I believe these technologies would have come about eventually WWII provided a catalyst for the technology to move forward in the sport of mountaineering.  The new advancements allowed for a lot of progress in the sport of mountaineering and also in a sense allowed for it to become a more common sport as more people had access to better equipment for a little less money.

In the article Shit Happens by Palmer he seeks to help shed light, at least in part, why people climb and what forces play a key role in why people climb as well.  I found it very interesting how large a part the media played in commercialization of risk as it is referred to in the article.  Mountaineering like many other sports has been exploited by the media as they attempt to sell products and other such things through the advertisement of extreme athletes like mountaineers.  I find it so interesting how in society as a whole has gotten to the point where every thing has been advertised and the media seems to have its fingers in all sects of society.  This holds so true when it comes to the sport of mountaineering and they are seen now as extreme athletes that should be revered in a sense and are no longer seen as crazy and on the fringe rather they are seen as hardcore for lack of a better term. In addition this idea of mountaineering becoming an increasingly media centered sport this article also sought to explain why people climb and as I stated in previous responses it seems like the only feasible idea of why people climb is because of individual reasons, rather than one central theme or reason.