The Red Herring: Slacker climbs Everest

James Berkeley of San Diego does not look like a mountain climber. He doesn't look like he's in shape for the endeavor.His shoes are Chuck Taylors, not hiking boots, and his well-groomed appearance clashes considerably with the rough, weathered looks of most professional mountaineers. To Berkeley, these things were hardly setbacks. They were what initially prompted him to get involved in the sport."My friend and I were sitting around one day at the shop and he said to me 'Hey, James, wouldn't it be hilarious if someone like you climbed Everest?' And even though we laughed about it, from that day I knew I had to do it, or at least give it the old college try."Thus began Berkeley's record-breaking ironic ascent of the tallest mountain in the world.What is even more remarkable about Berkeley is that he is not the first to knowingly smirk his way to the top of a peak. Although it has long remained out of the public eye, irony has at last arrived in mountain climbing, once considered the most serious of disciplines. Previously, the most that adventurous hipsters were willing to do for the sake of irony was don tacky clothing or profess to enjoy awful music. Gradually, however, boundaries expanded to include much more dangerous and time-consuming activities. Motorcycle stunts, target shooting and even joining the military became activities routinely done purely for the sake of irony.Other dedicated ironists have conquered Mount McKinley, the tallest point in North America, and for the past several springs groups of ironists have assaulted various peaks in Patagonia, the southern terminus of the Andes mountains and home to some of the most technically difficult peaks on Earth.Berkeley's own stab at the top of the world involved a harsh training regimen in his native San Diego, several weeks of brutal acclimation at 15,000 feet, and finally the climb itself, accomplished with the help of Sherpas and thousands of dollars of specialized equipment. The extent of these commitments don't seem to have troubled Berkeley. When asked about his motivations to ironically expend months of his life in training and acclimation for his attempt at Everest, he chuckled, rolled his eyes and said, "Just because it's there."