The climbing season of 2006 - CAT Question

[ctzlive]

The climbing season of 2006 was the deadliest on record for those attempting to conquer Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, as more people perished attempting to reach the summit in 2006 than in any other year. Almost all of these deaths occurred in the unforgiving "death-zone" above 26,000 feet. Oddly, though, the 2006 season enjoyed exceptionally ideal climbing weather compared to more typical years.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the apparent contradiction in the above passage?
a. The warmer the weather, the more likely it is that crevasses (deep holes) will open up unexpectedly in the ice.
B. In 2006, fewer climbing teams than usual were forced to turn back at some point during the ascent prior to reaching the "death-zone."
C. In recent years, more amateurs have attempted to climb the world's great peaks, including Everest.
D. In 2006, authorities suspended climbs due to inclement weather on fewer days than the average for more typical years.
E. Although the 2006 season overall enjoyed ideal weather conditions, the one major storm was one of the worst on record.


The correct Answer is given as C. While it is a interesting answer is somewhere incorrect, making more likely for people to choose E, which does a better job to explain the contradiction.

The number of teams forced to turn back is not relevant to the number of of people whom would die in the death-zone.
Teams camp at the base of the mountain, and depending on the weather they attempt to reach the summit. If one day a team encounters bad weather, than they will come back to the base. The team will make another attempt, and another and another.
Therefore because the number of teams that had to come back before reaching the death-zone is not representative for the number of people whom reach the the death-zone, C does not explain the contradiction, but E does.
Any thoughts?

[tim]

overall the weather was better. one bad storm doesn't change that - in fact, the observation that the weather overall was better already accounts for the storm and apparently is still true nonetheless. the best way to explain why there were more deaths despite better weather is that more people were there..

[boaz.khan]

What is wrong with B? Choice C talks about climbing in recent years - The passage is concerned with climbing season of 2006. Can someone explain?


Thanks!

[schmid215]

Why is A a bad choice?

[schmid215]

I see now that "A" actually may not be acceptable because it says "warmer" instead of "ideal climbing conditions". Ideal climbing conditions does not necessarily mean warmer.

[boaz.khan]

Any comments on the question I posted in my earlier post?

[jnelson0612]

The climbing season of 2006 was the deadliest on record for those attempting to conquer Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, as more people perished attempting to reach the summit in 2006 than in any other year. Almost all of these deaths occurred in the unforgiving "death-zone" above 26,000 feet. Oddly, though, the 2006 season enjoyed exceptionally ideal climbing weather compared to more typical years.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the apparent contradiction in the above passage?

B. In 2006, fewer climbing teams than usual were forced to turn back at some point during the ascent prior to reaching the "death-zone."
C. In recent years, more amateurs have attempted to climb the world's great peaks, including Everest.

boaz, I would conceptualize it this way. B says that more climbing teams ended up going through the "death-zone". C says that more amateurs attempted to climb the mountain (and thus went through the "death-zone"). Which is a better explanation of why more people died? I would assume that if we have climbing teams going through as well as amateurs, amateurs are more likely to be unprepared and die. As for the "recent years" time frame, that is throughout the argument so it's relevant. I've marked in blue the times that this time frame is mentioned.

[mydestiny.me]

The climbing season of 2006 was the deadliest on record for those attempting to conquer Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, as more people perished attempting to reach the summit in 2006 than in any other year. Almost all of these deaths occurred in the unforgiving "death-zone" above 26,000 feet. Oddly, though, the 2006 season enjoyed exceptionally ideal climbing weather compared to more typical years.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the apparent contradiction in the above passage?

B. In 2006, fewer climbing teams than usual were forced to turn back at some point during the ascent prior to reaching the "death-zone."
C. In recent years, more amateurs have attempted to climb the world's great peaks, including Everest.

boaz, I would conceptualize it this way. B says that more climbing teams ended up going through the "death-zone". C says that more amateurs attempted to climb the mountain (and thus went through the "death-zone"). Which is a better explanation of why more people died? I would assume that if we have climbing teams going through as well as amateurs, amateurs are more likely to be unprepared and die. As for the "recent years" time frame, that is throughout the argument so it's relevant. I've marked in blue the times that this time frame is mentioned.

bumping into an old thread,

I got this in the MGMAT CAT-2, and the OA given is B.

(B) CORRECT. If more climbers were able to get into the "death-zone" than usual, then there were more opportunities for climbers to die in that area. This choice opens up the possibility that climbers in the death-zone died at the same rate as they always have but, because there were more of them, the absolute number of deaths was higher.

(C) This choice is too general ("In recent years," including both 2006 and other years) to address whatever difference occurred specifically, and only, in 2006 that resulted in more deaths in the "death-zone" despite more ideal weather conditions.

Anyone any thoughts on this ?

[tim]

you're going to have to ask a specific question or do some analysis on your own if you want any help from the instructors. copying and pasting the explanations of B and C from our database doesn't really help move the discussion forward..