One of the seven natural wonders of the world, Mount Everest is the most desirable spot for every hike-lover. Adventurers dream to step at its peak at least once in their life. Nepal’s biggest treasure Everest with the height 8,848 meters is the earth’s highest mountain. The fascinating Himalaya witnessed the human ascent for the first time on 29 May 1953. Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa are the two heroes who created the history. Everest recently marked its 62nd annual day celebrations.
Explore more about the world’s highest snowy peak, Everest.
Everest history includes many amazing records.
1. The oldest person to reach Everest peak is 80-year-old Yuichiro Miura of Japan.
Japanese alpinist Yuichiro successfully climbed the Everest at the age of 80 on 23 May, 2013 with his physician son Gota. Before this, he climbed the Everest in 2003 and in 2008 as well. Yuichiro is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
2. Malavath Poorna (India) is the youngest climber to reach the peak.
She scaled the Everest when she was 13 years and 11 months. Poorna reached the peak on May 25, 2014. She belongs to a small tribal village and learned to climb during school days.
3. Arunima Sinha (India) is the first female amputee to climb Everest.
Arunima lost her leg after she was pushed from a moving train. She is a former national volleyball and football player. In April 2011, while travelling to Delhi from Lucknow in Padmavati Express, looters pushed her out of the train to snatch her gold chain and bag. Arunima is inspired by Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh who successfully battled Cancer and thought of doing something big in life. She summited Everest peak on 21 May 2013 with prosthesis legs. Ramakrishna Mission raised funds and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering trained Arunima.
4. Traffic jam in Everest.
Ralf Dujmovits (Germany) in 2012 captured a shocking photograph of hundreds of mountaineers who were jockeying for the position at the top. Large numbers of climbers climb Everest each year either to fulfill their hiking satisfaction or to hold a record. Ralf is the first German to climb the 14 mountains more than a height of 8km.
5. Height of pollution.
During long years of ascent, Everest witnessed huge garbage and trash spoiling its beauty. It dragged Nepal’s attention and the cleaning campaign launched in 2010 with the help of Mountaineering Association. Tonnes of litter left at Everest collected during the expedition. The trash included corpses, remains of helicopters, oxygen bottles, cans, tents etc.
6. 65 porters and 75 yaks were hired over two years to bring the trash down.
The authorities say around 50 tons of litter is left on Everest over the last 60 years. The photograph above shows members of Art Club sorting the trash.
7. Trash to treasure.
During ”Everest 8848 Art Project”, eight tons of litter turned into 75 beautiful works of art. The art pieces were displayed in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
8. New policy says every climber has to return with 8 kilograms of litter.
A climber leaves up to 18 pounds of wastage during a trek. Since, the extreme collection of trash in the Everest emerged as the serious issue, the Nepal government has announced that every climber has to return with 8 kilograms of litter. Otherwise, they will be charged $4,000.
9. Each climber has to pay $65,000 (£41,000) in fees to the Nepali government.
Tourism plays a vital role in Nepal’s economy. Everest climbing has turned commercial and Nepal charges the high amount of money to permit the climbers. One has to manage the money for commercial guides, porters and other essential stuff as well.
10. The height above 8,000 meters is deadly, it’s called the Death zone.
Conquering Everest is not really an easy task. Climbers face chilling wind beyond 200 mph, ice collapse and health problems.
11. Around 270 deaths occurred in the Everest’s ascent history of 62 years.
Lastly, 19 climbers died due to the base camp avalanche followed by the devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude.
12. The first tweet from the peak was sent by Kenton Cool in 2011.
British explorer Kenton Cool has successfully climbed Everest 11 times and holds the British record for the most Everest summits. In 2011, he sent the first tweet from the world’s highest peak and also made a 3G call by his Samsung Galaxy SII. According to a British news portal, Samsung sponsored Cool’s ascent and gave him a free handset to tweet from.
13. Nepali citizens Appa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi hold the record of climbing Everest for amazing 21 times.
Appa is nicknamed ”The Tiger Of The Himalayas” and ”Super Sherpa” while Tashi is known for a superior climber who holds the record of climbing Everest for three times in a season in 2007.
14. Mount Everest has many names.
Nepali people call Everest by the names Sagarmatha i.e. “forehead of the sky” and Chomolungma i.e. ”mother of the universe”. In early 1960s, the government of Nepal officially named it Mount Everest.
