Reading about the lamentations of previous record holders regarding a new technique to drastically reduce the time spent climbing the mountain reminds me of video game speed runners crying "glitch" or "hacks" whenever someone figures out a better way. They are bitching because some dudes where able to reduce altitude acclimatization. This is a natural process for a healthy person, its not a feat of strength. Acclimatization time really shouldn't be included it the climb time for record purposes. Its the age old story of man getting in the way of improvement to preserve his own accolades. Also known as "Resting on laurels". This is occasionally done by businesses, and they always enter a death spiral when it happens. (The fall of Blockbuster Video is a great example of this) Innovation/technological breakthroughs occur and is best to roll with them (within reason) rather than outright reject them.