r/whowouldwin • u/ThePriestofVaranasi • Jul 09 '25

Challenge Every human on Earth vanishes, except for one random person in the US. A button is placed on the summit of Mount Everest that can be pressed to undo this change. Can humanity be restored?

Every human on Earth vanishes without a trace, except for one random survivor: Ethan from the United States. Moments after the disappearance, a mysterious device materializes before him, displaying a message:
"Humanity can be restored. To activate revival, you must press the button housed at the highest point on Earth—the summit of Mount Everest."

Ethan essentially has as much of a prep time as he wants to gather all the essentials like food, water, weapons, vehicles and everything else that has been suddenly abandoned. He can raid supermarkets, libraries, military depots, and pharmacies for supplies. Ethan can still die of old age so this prep time isn't unlimited.

Now, Ethan faces an impossible gauntlet:
He must travel to Nepal and ascend to the summit of Mount Everest without dying.

Can Ethan survive long enough to reach the button and restore humanity?

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u/toolatealreadyfapped Jul 09 '25

The electrical grid (and with it the Internet) is going to start crashing out within a week or so. So his research and training will be limited to books. That's going to be very slow.

Without electricity and running water, most of his energy and time will be devoted to survival. Meanwhile, gasoline has a limited shelf life. 2 year old gas is somewhere between completely unusable and dangerous to use.

Assuming this is an average guy with no special skills, it's going to take an insane amount of time to learn how to even get to Nepal.

I think this one is a complete L for humanity. Only way out is of our random guy happens to be a highly experienced mountain climber or pilot.

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u/SqueekyDickFartz Jul 09 '25

Yeah the only way I see this going from "absolutely not, never" to "1 %ish chance" would be if everything continued to magically work the way it currently does, just the actual people are somehow gone. Like invisible ghosts carry on as though nothing has happened. Then you'd have things continuously upkept and produced.

Then you know the GPS systems will work. You know there will be some kind of way to fuel up a ship at a port even if you don't currently know how to do it, you know that stores will be stocked and you'll have electricity.

Hell, maybe you could figure out where the president was the moment he disappeared, get the nuclear football, and somehow figure out how to launch a nuke at Everest. That'll push the fuck out of the button.

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u/Adventurous_Web_2181 Jul 09 '25

Generators and solar panel should be enough for one guy. Without electricity, I can't even start to think about how he would fill the oxygen tanks he will need for the climb.

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u/AideHot6729 Jul 10 '25

Can’t he just download everything he needs and just keep batteries?

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u/toolatealreadyfapped Jul 11 '25

If he knows to, sure. Again, this really all depends on who our guy is.

But honestly, the more I think about this scenario, the more I'm convinced that climbing/hiking, sailing or trekking this adventure is simply impossible solo. For literally anyone. Helicoptering to, or at least very near to the summit is the only chance he's got. And that shit can't be learned through a book. Even for the most experienced alpine flyers, you'd be flying pretty blind without weather forecasts or any radio communication at all. So even with the most careful selection for who our hero is, there's still less than a 1% chance of success.