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Everest is a documentary film about the struggles involved in climbing Mount Everest, It was released to IMAX theatres in March 1998.

Via Wikipedia »

The 45-minute documentary is narrated by Irish actor Liam Neeson and was filmed entirely in IMAX. It includes a description of the training required in order to climb the 29,029 feet to the summit of Mount Everest and the challenges faced during the ascent, such as avalanches, blizzards, and oxygen deprivation. The film centers on a team led by Ed Viesturs and Everest director David Breashears; among their number are Spanish climber Araceli Segarra, and Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of the pioneering Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay.

Everest was in production at the mountain during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which another group of climbers became trapped by a blizzard near the summit. The film includes footage of these events, as the IMAX team assist Beck Weathers and other survivors.

First released in 1998, Everest became the highest grossing giant screen documentary of all time. It is being re-released in IMAX theatres in 2021. If you have the opportunity, go see it on the big screen. In the meantime, you can view it below »

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Video » Why Mount Everest’s height keeps changing

VOX via YouTube »

In December of 2020, China and Nepal made a joint announcement about a new measurement for Mount Everest: 8,849 meters. This is just the latest of several different surveys of Everest since the first measurement was taken in 1855. The reasons why the height has fluctuated have to do with surveying methodology, challenges in determining sea level, and the people who have historically been able to measure Everest.

While Everest is the peak’s English name, the Nepalese have long called it Sagarmatha, and Tibetans call it Chomolungma – “Mother Goddess of the World.”

More » The Story of the First Sherpa to Climb to the Top of Mt. Everest – by Christopher Rand, The New Yorker, May 28, 1954

More » Indian mathematician Radhanath Sikdar first to identify Everest as highest mountain peak – The Economic Times, Jun 01, 2015

Mark Horrell has 10 facts about Everest summits and death rates

The excellent Mark Horrell looks at recent scientific research on success and death rates on the world’s highest mountain »

Once a year (except this year, obviously), there is an Everest feeding frenzy as traditional and social media sink their teeth into the latest Everest season, producing an avalanche of opinion about how overcrowded and easy Everest is to climb these days.

Barring a few lone voices, such as the excellent Alan Arnette whose annual Everest coverage has become the unrivalled source of contemporary Everest history and commentary, rarely does anyone delve into the data to try to connect opinion with reality.

Which is why I was very excited to see a paper entitled Mountaineers on Mount Everest: Effects of age, sex, experience, and crowding on rates of success and death published on the open-access scientific journal PLOS ONE last week. …

Here are some of the things we now understand better »

  1. Summit success is becoming more likely
  2. Women are more likely to summit and less likely to die
  3. Success rates plummet after age 40
  4. Previous experience at high altitude counts
  5. Experience matters less now than it used to
  6. Everest is becoming safer

Climb higher into the Mark Horrel’s post.

The 14 mountains over 8,000 metres elevation

A morning shot of Fairy Meadows and Nanga Parbat. » Photography by Imrankhakwani

A morning shot of Fairy Meadows and Nanga Parbat. » Photography by Imrankhakwani

  1. Mount Everest
    » 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level
    » Located on the border between Nepal and the autonomous region of Tibet (OpenStreetMap / Google Maps)
    » First summitted by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953
  2. K2
    » Also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori
    » 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level
    » Located on the border between China and Pakistan (OpenStreetMap / Google Maps)
    » First summitted gy Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni in 1954
  3. Kangchenjunga
    » Located on the border between Nepal and India, approximately 125 kilometres from Everest (OpenStreetMap / Google Maps)
    » At elevation of 8,586 metres (28,169 ft), it is the second highest mountain in the Himalayas
    » First summitted by Joe Brown and George Brand in 1955 Continue reading

Video » Were Sandy Irvine and George Mallory the first to summit Everest in 1924? » 12 year old Archie Price Siddiqui looks at the evidence

This short video was produced and presented by Archie Price Siddiqui for a school project.

Officially speaking, the first successful Everest climbers were Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Archie had a some help from Terry Abraham, the Mountain Heritage Trust, the BMC, the Alpine Club, Leo Houlding, Julie Summers and Dave Hahn (US Mountain Guide, journalist & Lecturer).

Filmed by Terry Abraham.

Mexican climber Viridiana Álvarez Chávez holds the world record for the fastest female to ascend the world’s three highest mountains

Guinness World Records »

Many little girls dream of one day being on top of the world, but Mexican climber Viridiana Álvarez Chávez grew up and actually did so.

In an incredible one year and 364 days, she scaled three peaks to achieve an adventurous Guinness World Records title.

In an admirable display of strength and determination, she has broken the record for the fastest ascent of the top three highest mountains with supplementary oxygen (female).

Viridiana’s journey started with Everest (8,848 meters; 29,029 feet high) on May 16, 2017, followed by K2 (8,611 meters; 28,251 feet) on July 21, 2018, and finished at Kangchenjunga (8,856 meters; 28,169 feet) on May 15, 2019.

Read the rest of the story »

How Mount Everest is and isn’t the highest mountain

Mount Everest is Chomolungma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ-Tibetan) “Goddess Mother of the World” or Sagarmatha (सगरमाथा-Nepali) “Sky Head” or “Peak of Heaven”.

It was named “Mount Everest” in 1865 to honour British surveyor Colonel Sir George Everest, who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.

The commercialization of Mount Everest

The crowds climbing Everest are spoiling one another’s views and polluting the region. Less than one-third will summit. 4% will die trying.

However the economies of Nepal and Tibet depend on these climbers, contributing some 10% of Nepal’s GDP.

A typical Everest package costs US$66,000 per climber — including $11,000 for government permits, US$14,000 for guides, US$5,000 for sherpas, US$4,000 for oxygen, plus US$1,000 for yaks and porters.

It’s an additional US$70,000 to retrieve your body should you fail trying.

Zachary Crockett, The Hustle »

When Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary first reached the summit of Everest in 1953, mountaineering was a sport reserved for alpine clubs, national expeditions, and scientific pursuits.

For decades, the governments of Nepal and Tibet (which share access to Everest) denied access to most foreign climbers. Throughout the 1980s, access was limited to one Everest permit per season.

But in the early 1990s, everything changed.

Realizing that there was a business opportunity in leading Western adventure seekers up Everest, climbers like Rob Hall (Adventure Consultants) and Scott Fischer (Mountain Madness) convinced Nepalese officials to expand foreign access. John Krakauer’s 1997 bestseller Into Thin Air, which chronicled the death of 8 climbers (including Hall and Fischer) on one of these early expeditions, only further stoked demand.

More » NYTimes (paywall) » After Deadly Jam on Everest, Nepal Delays New Safety Rules

 

Nepalese Kami Rita Sherpa Sets Second Mount Everest Record This Week

Amazing.

Bill Chappell writing for NPR:

A Nepalese mountain climber has now climbed Mount Everest a record 24 times — and he’s hoping to do it one more time before he retires. Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, has been climbing Everest since 1994.

“It’s also the second time in a week that he’s made the arduous trek,” NPR’s Sushmita Pathak reports from Mumbai. “The 49-year-old Sherpa guide had already broken his own record on May 15, when he scaled the summit for the 23rd time.”

Rita started his most recent climb just three days after his 23rd summit of Everest. Early Tuesday morning, he stepped on the tallest peak in an area known as the roof of the world, leading a team of Indian police officers on the climb, according to The Kathmandu Post.

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