If you want to do some more hand-wringing, there's an great interview with Simone Moro - a seriously good mountaineer - on Planet Mountain:
http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=39597
He's just canned an attempt on Everest followed by Lhotse without supplemental oxygen because the congestion on the mountain made it, in his judgment, too dangerous. Amusingly, he's a rather more sanguine about it than many of the armchair mountaineers here, despite having rather more reason to be, at least, a bit cross.
As far as Andy Kirkpatrick's piece goes, yes, but having spent a bit of time in Nepal, the bit that concerns me is the safety of Sherpas who are climbing purely for money to escape from a subsistence economy and are taking risks, not entirely of their own choosing, because of the huge commercial pressure that commercial guiding companies are under to get their rich clients to the top.
The Nepalese government isn't likely to regulate it, because they're desperate for foreign currency and Everest permits are a rich source of that. And the guiding companies are there, ultimately, to make money.
And lastly, you might think that deaths decrease the numbers of people aspiring to climb the big lump, but one British-based guiding company told me that the publication of Into Thin Air actually increased the number of people aspiring to summit the mountain, which takes us back neatly to Andy K.
Personally I have no interest in Everest. Ama Dablam, on the other hand, is stunning and a lot more affordable, but does seem to get ropes fixed all over it by guides. Oh well.
