Many mountain climbers regard climbing Mount Everest as the ultimate achievement. But climbers should not attempt thi...

AndreaK on February 6, 2020

Hi @Alyona1983,

For some reason, I'm having trouble viewing the question you're referring to on my end. Do you happen to know what test, section, and question number it is? Then, one of us would be happy to help you!

Alyona1983 on February 7, 2020

Hi Andrea, yes, this is Test 53, Second part of LR, Q-n # 1. It is bout mountain climbers.
Thank you!

AndreaK on March 15, 2020

Hi @Alyona1983,

Got it! Okay, let's give this one a go.

We are introduced to this stimulus with information stating that many mountain climbers regard claiming Mount Everest as the ultimate achievement. Then, we are given the author’s view on that stance, which is our author’s conclusion.

“But climbers should not attempt this climb....”

Why not, author?

“...since the risk of death or serious injury in an Everest expedition is very high. Moreover, the romantic notion of gaining “spiritual discovery” is dispelled by climbers’ reports that the only profound experiences they had at the top were of exhaustion and fear.”

So now that we have broken down and better understand the reasoning employed by the author, let’s see what the test is asking us to do with it. It’s asking us, in other words: Which one of the following most helps justify (or strengthen) the author’s point above?

Remember, to strengthen means to employ additional evidence that makes our conclusion more likely. The answer choices below are all additional evidence. One of these principals, however, makes the conclusion markedly more likely to be true than any of the others.

A) Our stimulus never mentions how many climbers attempt Mount Everest primarily for spiritual reasons. What about the prize money or the glory? So, this doesn’t help strengthen our conclusion since we don’t know if our climbers are actually climbing primarily for spiritual reasons, and this answer choice only helps if that is the case!

B) Bingo! We know from the premises that climbing Mount Everest involves a high risk of death or serious injury. That qualifies as dangerous. This answer choice says dangerous activities should be avoided, which would support the author’s conclusion that climbers should not attempt this dangerous climb. This answer choice also accommodates our additional premise that claims “spiritual discovery” on top of Everest is more of a myth than reality, by further specifying that dangerous activities that are unlikely to result in significant spiritual benefits for those undertaking them should be avoided.

C) Whether or not something should be legally prohibited is not what the author is talking about. The author is talking about whether or not the climb should be done, not whether or not it should be legally prohibited. Though these may seem like they imply the same thing, they don’t necessarily!

D) This doesn’t actually address the conclusion of whether or not climbers should do this climb. It’s important that our answer choice is a principal that strengthens the conclusion that they should NOT do the climb. If profound spiritual experiences can be achieved without undergoing the serious danger involved in mountain climbing (like through meditation, maybe?), that’s great! However, that doesn’t directly support the author’s point that climbers should not attempt Everest. Notice correct answer choice B’s language was very specific to the author’s conclusion (“Dangerous activities...should be avoided.”). We want our right answer to contain language of that nature, as we are choosing the piece of evidence from the five options below that if valid and included in the stimulus would make the conclusion more plausible.

E) Much like D, this doesn’t address our conclusion. It doesn’t specifically strengthen whether or not climbers should do this climb.

Hope this helps! Feel free to follow up if you have anymore questions!