Everest: The Roof of the World

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Everest The Roof of the World
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Discovery

• Originally designated Peak IV by the Great
  Trigonometrical Survey of India by the British
• Surveyed from six survey stations in Northern
  India using theodolites in 1849
• In 1852 Radhanath Sikhdar compiled the data and
  calculated the height at 29,002ft.

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Whats in a Name

• In 1865 Sir Andrew Waugh, the Surveyor General of
  India, named Peak IV after his predecessor, Sir
  George Everest
• Tibetans to the north call the mountain
  Jomolungma - Goddess, mother of the world
• Nepalis to the south call it Sagarmatha
  goddess of the sky

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Height

• First Measured at 29,002 feet.
• Height adjusted upward 26 feet in 1955 after a
  Chinese sponsored surveying expedition to a
  height of 29,028 feet
• The National Geographic Society sponored a survey
  of Everest and adjusts the height to 29,035 feet
  a number still debated by the government of
  Nepal and many climbing circles.
• Everest rises approximately 2.4 inches every year
  due to tectonic plate activity

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Attempts to Climb

• First expedition to Mt. Everest was in 1921 by
  the British
• Nepals borders were closed so all attempts were
  made from the Northern Tibetan side.
• The British lead subsequent attempts from the
  north side in 1922, and 1924
• In 1949 Nepal opened its borders and China closed
  Tibet forcing climbers to focus on the south side
• Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the
  summit in 1953

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The Risk

• Since its discovery in 1852 it would take 101
  years, 15 expeditions, and the lives of 24 men
  before Everest was climbed
• To date 186 people have died on Everest, most of
  their bodies are still there
• To date 2249 people have reached the summit,
  meaning that for every ten people that climb
  Everest, one dies
• The deadliest year on the mountain was 1996 when
  15 climbers perished.

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Firsts on Everest

• First assent 1953-Tenzing Norgay and Edmund
  Hillary
• First American 1963-James Whitaker
• First to summit twice 1965-Nawang Gombu Sherpa
• First Woman 1975-Junko Tabei
• First oxygenless assent 1978-Peter Habeler and
  Reinhold Messner
• First blind man to summit 2001-Erik Weihenmayor
• 2003-Apa Sherpa climbs Everest for the 13th time

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Why Climb Everest?

• Because its there George Leigh Mallory
• Attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically
  irrational act a triumph of desire of
  sensibility Jon Krakauer
• Everest was the embodiment of the physical
  forces of the world. Against it he had to pit
  the spirit of man. Sir Francis Younghusband

• How much of the appeal of mountaineering lies in
  its simplification of interpersonal
  relationshipsin Hastons words, If anything
  goes wrong it will be a fight to the end. If your
  training is good enough, survival is there if
  not nature claims its forfeit. David Roberts

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Pictures