My Son: Sliding Down Mt. Everest

Sam (6-year-old): Dad can you burn your hand off?

Me: Yes. You can burn it off if it gets in a fire for very long.  You can even "burn it off" in the COLD by getting frost"burned".

Sam: Really?  You can burn it off by getting it too cold?

Me: Yeah, basically.

Sam: Has anyone ever done that?

Me. Yeah.  In fact, I was just listening to a story of someone who climbed Mt. Everest--the tallest mountain--who got injured, could not climb down, had to stay on the mountain for days to be rescued, and lost both of his hands and part of his face due to exposure to the cold.  He lost his hands while he was sleeping for days in the cold.

Sam: Why didn't he just go ZOOM and slide down?

Me: Well, buddy, you can't just slide down.  It is a long way down.

Sam: Why can't you just slide down?

Me: Because it is MILES and MILES down and it takes weeks to go up or down.  Some of it is very steep, too, and you will get hurt if you try to slide rather than climb.  There are cliffs.

Sam: Could I slide down Mt. Everest on my bum if I were asleep?

Me:  Are you asking whether you could survive the cold by sliding down Mt. Everest on your bum WHILE YOU ARE SLEEPING??

Sam: Yes.

Me: Maybe.  I don't think anyone has ever tried it.

Jondo [4-year-old]: I would wear a spiky hat and a spiky suit and the cold would just bounce off me because I have tons of spikes.

Me: [...]