WORLD REPORT EDITION TOP STORY
May 9, 2003
On Top Of The World
It has been 50 years since two adventurers first climbed Mt. Everest
On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and his mountain-climbing companion, Tenzing Norgay, got a glimpse of Asia that no other human had ever enjoyed. They became the first to look down from the dizzying height of the world's tallest mountain, Everest, while standing on its snowy top. But it wasn't a time for celebrating.
"I didn't leap or throw my hands in the air or something," Hillary, now 83, recalled in an interview with Robert Sullivan of Life books. "We were tired, of course." This month, the party's on! Hillary, who lives in New Zealand, will join his friends and fans in Kathmandu, Nepal, to honor the 50th anniversary of his towering feat.
THE QUEST FOR THE TOP
Sir George Everest, an English surveyor who mapped India and part of the Himalaya range, probably never even saw the big mountain. But his colleagues, who measured the peak and declared it the world's tallest in 1852, wanted to honor his work by naming it after him. The 29,035-foot-tall mountain straddles the border of Nepal and the Tibet region of China.
Climbing to its summit became an irresistible goal for adventurers. When a reporter asked George Mallory, a British mountaineer, why he wanted to climb Everest, he famously replied, "Because it is there." Mallory's final attempt to reach the top ended in his death in 1924. At least 175 climbers are known to have died on Everest since 1920. Nearly 1,200 others made it to the top.
ONE MEAN MOUNTAIN
Anyone who has climbed Everest can tell you that human beings are not meant to hang around 5.5 miles above sea level. The ice, snow, frigid wind, deep ice cracks called crevasses and lack of oxygen are constant threats to climbers' safety and health. Because of the thin air, most climbers breathe from oxygen tanks. Others have lost toes, ears and fingers to frostbite. All of these factors force climbers who do reach the top to turn around and scramble back down right away.
"You cannot conquer Everest. It's not possible," says Jamling Norgay, 38, a son of Tenzing Norgay's, who has climbed Everest with Hillary's son, Peter. "Everest will give you a chance to stand on the top for a few minutes, and that's it."
IT'S STILL THERE
The mountain is much less a mystery 50 years later. Climbers have attacked it from all sides, reaching the peak by 15 different routes. Satellite phones and other equipment keep the adventurers in touch with the world below. Climbing clothes are made of high-tech thermal fabrics now. Hillary and Norgay had layers of wool and cotton, and a simple cotton tent, to keep them warm.
Some modern climbers are inexperienced but pay a lot of money to have professional guides take them to the top. This can be risky, and in 1996, tragedy struck. On one of the mountain's busiest days, a storm blew in, and eight climbers died in a single night.
Edmund Hillary continued a life of achievement. After being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Edmund led a team across Antarctica to the South Pole and climbed many mountains. He has worked for decades to build desperately needed schools and hospitals for Tenzing Norgay's people, the Sherpas of Nepal. "That's how I'd like to be remembered," says Hillary. "Not for Everest but for the work I did and the cooperation I had with my Sherpa friends."
THINK! People who climb Mount Everest risk their lives to get to the top. Is the challenge worth the serious risk? Why or why not?
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