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/arbitrageME Jul 09 '25 edited Jul 09 '25

Supposing they're ready and fueled and everything, you have to then sale it single-handed across the ocean and dock. Granted you could just crash it into a beach somewhere and take off from there but even doing that is very difficult.

I would give the challenge a better than 50/50 chance if all existing vehicles were fueled and had their keys available for Ethan.

Even then, just crossing the Pacific in a motor yacht with no weather alerts and a compass or celestial navigation if he can manage it, no internet just paper encyclopedias and maps would make it one hell of a trip. Crossing the Atlantic might actually be easier as long as he can get to the Suez canal and then steal a boat on the other side. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope is just a suicide mission.

Then when he gets to India, he could take some vehicles to supply base camp for himself assuming he can find the appropriate amount of oxygen. But then the final push across the ice seracs and crevasses is treacherous. He would have no guide to set the route and if he takes longer than one year to prepare then this year's guide ropes would be invalid.

On the plus side, he doesn't have to survive the trip back. It would be okay for him to make it up then promptly die on the spot

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u/Louis_lousta Jul 10 '25

The Suez has no locks, so you could possibly make it through, if it wasn't full of crashed sideways container ships whose crew had vanished.

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

The USS Truman is in Virgina. That could make it over

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u/arbitrageME Jul 10 '25

the USS Truman is well-known for being easy to start up and operate single handed, with its crew of 1 and 4999 passengers, without even the need for crane and winch operators to do things like hoist anchors, release spring lines, pilot out of the harbor.

It also has a shallow and navigable draft, being able to cross most waterways with ease and totally won't get beached in a shallow part of the harbor

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u/UnicornWorldDominion Jul 10 '25

Im guessing this is sarcasm?

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u/Level9disaster Jul 10 '25

No no, he's serious.