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?

[u/ThePriestofVaranasi]

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?

[u/Caleth]

Do you realize that one thing humans really positively hate doing is surviving a solo trip up Everest? To the point it's never been done successfully?

Basically a helo is the only way Ethan is making this happen at all. Yes helicopters are basically man giving physics and god the middle finger with both hands, but it's still less dangerous than any alternative in this scenario.

[u/No_Constant_1026 → u/Caleth]

Multiple people have solo climbed Everest, starting with Rheinhold Messner

[u/Caleth → u/No_Constant_1026]

He had a base camp with people on Rongbuk Glacier. His pregnant girlfriend was there at the time. He had major logistical support for a month while prepping for his climb.

This situation is nothing like what he didn't and while it's impressive what Rheinhold did it wasn't 100% solo. He left a well stocked and supplied base camp ~halfway up the mountains. A place he stayed for a month getting used to the lower air content.

The person in this prompt has no one to support him anywhere. Not from the time he walked off whatever he uses to get there from the US until the time he touches the button.

Even setting aside the trans pacific flight solo, no one has 100% from the time the left the plateau until they came back down done a solo journey.

That's what I meant; sorry if I was not sufficiently pedantic. Everyone who has ever scaled Everest has had some level of major logistical support even if they did the final leg of the journey on their own.

The person in the prompt has to do 100% of everything every step of the way 100% alone all the time. No one has done that.

[u/No_Constant_1026 → u/Caleth]

Fair points.

If anyone at all could do this, Rheinhold in his prime could give it a good try. Ethan would be dead in the first storm.

[u/CrabAppleBapple → u/Caleth]

Far, far more people have solo'd Everest than landed a helicopter on it.

One person has landed on it and even then, it was a technicality, with a skid touching and the engine running. The guy who'd did it a) was an ex fighter pilot with decades of experience and b) had to test and practice extensively.

Unless that specific guy is the last person there's no chance. If they are, there's basically no chance as he's not getting there in a helicopter with not support.

[u/Caleth → u/CrabAppleBapple]

Again no one has solo'd Everest 100% they typically had help and a base camp with people on the glacier. The one other guy talked about the first person to "solo" Everest and the story for Reinhold is essentially he did the last part of the trip up on his own after acclimating in a base camp half way up the mountain on a glacier.

All the people that have "solo'ed" Everest were top level climbers in great shape with training, the Prompt is for an average American.

The prompt is more or less a drawn out suicide for the guy either way. No one has soloed the mountain from the time they walk off the plateau to the time they hit the top. They have all had massive logisitical support for weeks or longer before doing the last half of the approach on their own.

Ethan from the prompt has none of that, which is why IMO even if it's a long shot getting a chopper and landing and scaling will be more likely than 100% solo attempting the mountain. He'll die in the first storm or pass out at the 60% mark alone.

He's also incredibly likely to just put the chopper into the mountain in a bad wind, but again if we're talking the average unhealthy American there's a 0% chance of scaling a mountain physically anyway.

The prompt it essentially unwinnable but there's an IMO incredibly slim chance of navigating up with a chopper compared to 0% climbing.