January 11th, 2009Mount Everest and its challenges
The top of Mount Everest is the highest spot in all the world. No place on the earth’s surface is closer to the sky. On a sunny day, it can be seen from some points at least 100 miles away. If the wind is blowing, and it usually is, a great plume of snow and ice particles strectches out downward for several miles. For the top of Everest is so high that it reaches into the jet stream where winds up to 200 miles an hour are not uncommon. The sumt ridge is wind-blasted snow and rock, a desolate wasteland seen from nearby but serene and beautiful from a distance
The most recent official height for Mount Everest is 29,028 feet. This huge peak is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet, just North of India. It is part of the giant Himalayan mountain range. Mount Everest was first calculated to be the highest mountain in the world in 1852 during the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. It was named for George Everest, the former surveyor-general of the survey. But the peak has another name, given to it long before the people of Tibet. To these reverent and poetic people it was Chomolungma – Goddess Mother of the World.
In the last hundred years mountains have increasingly challenged men’s spirit of adventure. The higher or more difficult the mountain peak, the greater is the desire to climb it. Everes, being the highest of all, naturally stood as one of the supreme challenges for all mountaineers. However, it was not until December 9, 1920, that permission was granted to approach the mountain on its north side through Tibet.
Then nine attempts were made on that side without success. Men did not reach over 28000 feet without oxygen, however, and they did learn that they could sleep, live, and work at height up to 27000 feet and more, at least for a while. They also learned from hard experience quite a bit about the best food, fuel, clothing, and equipment to take. At these altitudes everything must be as light s possible, as efficient as possible, and as reliable as possible. Men are living in a semi vacuum with only a fraction of the oxygen they need. So they have no extra energy to deal with bulky of inefficient equipment.
Everest continued to resist all attacks. Men began ti despair and to say that the task was beyond human endurance. But others refused to give up. Tibet was taken over by the Chinese Communists, and the route on the North face was closed. But a new route was pioneered on the south west side through Nepal. The Swiss almost succeeded in 1952. Then in 1953. the British made an all-out attack. Under the leadership of Colonel John Hunt, ten climbers were selected, and they and the tons of necessary equipment were transported to the mountain. Every detail was carefully planned. As far as possible, every contingency was foreseen. For the British realised that this might be their last chance to climb to the top. They hoped to accomplish t in time for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.
In April and May supplies and equipment were relayed up the mountain. Camps were established roughly every 1000 to 2000 vertical feet. Then finall, on the morning of May 29, 1953, two climbers set out fo the summit from their high camp at 27,900 feet. They were Edmund P. Hillary and Tenzing Norkey. The latter was a Sherpa – a member of one of the hill tribes that live in the high valleys around Everest. By his endurance and his desires he had earned the right to be part of the summit team. On that historic morning, they accomplished one of the great mountaineering feats of all time. They stood an the highest spot in the world. They had climbed Everest.
As the news was flashed througthout the world, it was deemed appropriate that a man from the East and a man from the West should have shared in the Victory. The victory was also shared with all other members of their party and with all those who had gone before the Everest, without whom the final success could never have been achieved.
But Everest remains a gripping challenge. In 1956, following the same route as the British, the swiss put four men on top. Other attempts have been made by several others. In 1962, a four man American expedition under the leadership of Woodro Wilson Sayre made a secret dash through Tibet and tried the north route. They used no oxygen, no porters and no fixed camps carrying everything they needed for the 42 days on their own backs. The expedition carried to about 25400 feet and was then forced to give up. Then in 196, a second American expedition, under the Norman G. Dyhrenfurth, succeeded in putting six men on the summit.
When president Kennedy presented medals to these heroes, he said: “Though Amercians we take special pride that our countrymen have gone to the far horizon of experience, this is an international effort in which man pits himself against his friend enemy and nature”.
For years, Everest fired the imagination of men and spirit and courage. Although, it has now climbed. Mount Everest still stands as a symbol of the Challenge of beauty and of mans aspiration.
