The big-borrowing countries around the edge of the euro zone suffered a near-death experience in 2010, and they will be in a pretty miserable state in 2011 as austerity measures bite and households come to terms with their high debts and poor prospects.
The mountain's summit stands at 8, 848 metres high, and beyond 7, 600 metres climbers enter what is known as the "death zone" - so called because of the serious effects of oxygen deprivation on the body.