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Then why did the government do the only expedition on record vertically?
There must have been some other benefit besides just ego?

Well I would have to look into that, see if there was an ulterior motive, I had never really heard about that expedition.

Just wanted to mention that I dug a lil deeper and I'm having trouble finding if it's a government sponsored expedition or not.. It may not have been. I'm not sure why I was under that impression since I can't find it now. But.. I guess it's possible it might have just been a regular expedition and not sponsored by the government.