The Republic of Nepal, known as the birthplace of Buddha, is the highest mountain country in the world. On the north side, it is bordered by the Great Himalayan Range, famous for several peaks exceeding 8,000 meters, including Everest - the highest mountain on the planet (8848 meters).
Everest: who conquered the place of the gods
According to popular belief, this place was considered the abode of the gods, so no one came up with the idea to climb there.
The top of the world even had special names: Chomolungma (“Mother is the goddess of the world”) - among the Tibetans and Sagarmatha (“Forehead of the heavens”) - among the Nepalese. They began to call it Everest only in 1856, which China, India did not agree with, as well as the immediate culprit of the renaming - the British aristocrat, geodesist scientist, military man in one person - George Everest, who was the first to determine the exact location of the Himalayan peak and its height. There are still disputes in the press from time to time that a mountain located in Asia should not have a European name. Who was the first to conquer Everest - the peak that almost every climber dreams of?
The graceful beauty of the top of the world
The nature of Everest with rocks, snows and eternal ice is menacingly harsh and silently beautiful. It is almost always dominated by severe frosts (up to -60 ° C), frequent events - avalanches and snowfalls, and the tops of mountains from all sides are blown by the worst winds, the gusts of which reach 200 km / h. At an altitude of about 8 thousand meters, the "death zone" begins, referred to as such for the lack of oxygen (30% of the amount present at sea level).
Risk for what?
Nevertheless, despite such harsh environmental conditions, the conquest of Everest was and is a cherished dream of many climbers of the world. Stand on top for a few minutes to go down in history, look at the world from under heaven — isn't that happiness? For the sake of such an unforgettable moment, climbers are ready to risk their own lives. And they risk it, knowing that they can remain in a stranded land forever and ever. The factors of possible death of the person who got there are lack of oxygen, frostbite, injury, heart failure, fatal accidents and even the indifference of partners.
So, in 1996, a group of climbers from Japan, while climbing Mount Everest, met with three Indians - climbers who were in a half-fainting state. They died because the Japanese did not help the "competitors", indifferently passing by. In 2006, 42 climbers, along with the television crews of the Discovery Channel, indifferently walked past the Englishman David Sharpe, who was slowly dying from overcooling , and also tried to interview him and take photographs. As a result, the daredevil, who dared to conquer Everest alone, died from frostbite and oxygen starvation. One of the Russian climbers, Alexander Abramov, explains the similar actions of his colleagues as follows: “At an altitude of more than 8000 meters, a person seeking to conquer the peak is fully occupied with himself and does not have unnecessary strength to assist in such transcendental conditions.”
George Mallory's Attempt: Successful or Not?
So after all, who was the first to conquer Everest? The discovery of George Everest, which never conquered this mountain, served as an impetus to the unbridled desire of many climbers to reach the top of the world, which was the first (in 1921) George Mallory - compatriot of Everest.
Unfortunately, his attempt was unsuccessful: heavy snowfalls, strong winds and the lack of experience of climbing to such a height stopped the British climber. However, an unattainable peak beckoned Mallory, and he made two more unsuccessful ascents (in 1922 and 1924). During the last expedition,
George Mallory and his team mate Andrew Irwin disappeared without a trace. The last one through the gap in the clouds rising to the top was one of the expedition members Noel Odell. Only after 75 years, the remains of Mallory were discovered by an American search expedition at an altitude of 8155 meters. Judging by their location, climbers fell into the abyss. Also in academia, when researching the same remains and their location, it was suggested that George Mallory was the first person to conquer Everest. The body of Andrew Irwin was never found.
The years 1924-1938 were marked by the organization of a number of expeditions, though unsuccessful. After them, Everest was forgotten for a while, because the Second World War began.
Pioneers
Who first conquered Everest? The Swiss decided to storm the unchallenged peak in 1952, however, the maximum altitude they traveled stopped at around 8500 meters, 348 meters were not amenable to climbers due to bad weather conditions.
If we assume that Mallory could not get to the top of the highest mountain in the world, then the question of who first conquered Everest can be answered with confidence - New Zealander Edmund Hillary in 1953, and then not himself, but with an assistant - Sherp Norge Tenzing .
By the way, sherpas (from Tibetan, “sher” - east, “pa” - people) are the very people without whom, perhaps, hardly anyone would have managed to reach such a desirable peak. This is a mountain people who settled in Nepal more than 500 years ago. It was the Sherpas who managed to climb Mount Everest the easiest, since this mountain is their homeland, where each path has been familiar from childhood.
Sherpas - reliable helpers on the way to the top
Sherpas are a very good-natured people who are not able to offend anyone. For them, the murder of an ordinary mosquito or a field mouse is considered a terrible sin, which requires a very strong grind. Sherpas have their own language, but nowadays they almost all speak English. This is the great merit of Edmund Hillary - the first conqueror of Everest. In gratitude for the invaluable help, he built a school at his own expense in one of the main villages.
Although with all the penetration into the life of the Sherpas of civilization, their lifestyle remains largely patriarchal. Traditional settlements are stone two-story houses, on the ground floor of which cattle are usually kept: yaks, sheep, goats, and the family itself, as a rule, is located on the second floor; there are also a kitchen, bedrooms, a common room. Furniture minimum. Thanks to the pioneer climbers, electricity recently appeared; they still don’t have gas or any central heating. As fuel for cooking, they use yak litter, which is pre-harvested and dried on stones.
Inaccessible Mount Everest ... Who was the first to conquer this distant peak: Edmund Hillary or George Mallory? Scientists are looking for an answer to this day, as well as the answer to the question of which year Everest was conquered: in 1924 or in 1953.
Everest Conquest Records
Everest succumbed to more than one person, even set records for a temporary ascent to the top. For example, in 2004, Sherp Pemba Dorzh reached her from the base camp in 10 hours 46 minutes, while most climbers take up to several days for the same operation. The fastest descended from the mountain in 1988, the Frenchman Jean-Marc Boisin, however, he made the jump on a paraglider.
Women who have conquered Everest are in no way inferior to men, also stubbornly and persistently overcoming every meter of climbing up. The first representative of the weak half of humanity in 1975 was Japanese Yunko Tabey, and 10 days later - Phantog, a Tibetan mountain climber.
Who was the first to conquer Everest among the elderly? The oldest conqueror of the summit is the 76-year-old resident of Nepal - Min Bahadur Sherkhan, and the youngest is the 13-year-old American Jordan Romero. The persistence of another young conqueror of the “top of the world”, 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tseri, whose first attempt was unsuccessful due to lack of strength and frostbite of the hands of both hands, is of interest. Upon returning to Tembe, 5 fingers were amputated, which did not stop him; he conquered Everest in his second ascent.
Among the disabled, there is also the first person to conquer Everest. This is Mark Inglis, who climbed to the top of the world in 2006 with the help of prostheses.
The hero even joked that, unlike other climbers, he would not freeze his toes. Moreover, he froze his legs earlier, while trying to climb the highest peak of New Zealand - Cook Peak, after which they were amputated to him.
Apparently, Everest has a certain magical power if hundreds of climbers rush towards it. The one who conquered him once more than once returned, trying to do it again.
Alluring Peak - Everest
Who first conquered Everest? Why are people so drawn to this place? There are many reasons for this. Tickling nerves, lack of thrills, desire to test oneself, dullness of everyday life ....
Texas millionaire Dick Bass is the man who conquered Everest. He, not being a professional mountaineer, was not going to spend years carefully preparing for a dangerous climb and decided to conquer the peak of the world immediately, as they say: here and now. Bass was ready to pay any money to someone who would contribute to the realization of his seemingly unrealistic dream.
Dick Bass was able to conquer the summit of Everest, and the assembled team turned out to be assistants in the expedition, providing the millionaire with comfort when climbing up; people carried all the cargo, tents,
oxygen tanks, water, food. So to say, the climb was an all-inclusive type, and this was the beginning of commercial trips to the top.
Since then, since 1985, anyone who has enough money to do this can conquer the summit. Today, the cost of one such ascent varies from 40 to 85 thousand dollars, depending on the side of the ascent to the mountain. If the trip is from Nepal, then it is more expensive, because it requires a special permission of the king, worth 10 thousand dollars. The remaining amount is paid for the organization of the expedition.
And there was even a wedding ...
In 2005, Mona Mule and Pem Georgie played a wedding on top of the world. Climbing upstairs, the newlyweds took off their oxygen masks for several minutes , wearing traditional colored garlands around their necks. Then Pem anointed his bride’s forehead with scarlet powder, which symbolized marriage. The newlyweds kept their act a secret from everyone: parents, acquaintances, partners on the expedition, because they were not sure about the successful outcome of the event.
So how many people have conquered Everest? Surprisingly, today more than 4000 people. And the most optimal period for climbing gentle weather is spring and autumn. True, such an idyll does not last long - only a few weeks, which climbers try to use as fruitfully as possible.
According to statistics, every tenth of those who storm Everest dies, and most of the accidents occur during the descent, when there is practically no power left. Theoretically, you can conquer Everest in a few days. In practice, however, gradualness and the optimal combination of climbs and rests are required.