The Republic of Nepal, known as the birthplace of the Buddha, is the highest country in the world. On the north side, it is bordered by the Great Himalayan Range, famous for several peaks exceeding 8000 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 it never occurred to anyone to climb there.
The top of the world even had special names: Chomolungma ("Mother - Goddess of the World") - among the Tibetans and Sagarmatha ("Forehead of Heaven") - among the Nepalese. Everest began to be called Everest only in 1856, with which China, India did not agree, as well as the direct culprit of the renaming - the British aristocrat, geodesic scientist, military man in one person - George Everest, who was the first to determine the exact location of the Himalayan peak andher height. In the press, there are still disputes 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?
Graceful beauty of the top of the world
The nature of Everest with rocks, snow and eternal ice is ominously harsh and silently beautiful. Severe frosts almost always prevail here (up to -60 ° C), frequent phenomena are avalanches and snow falls, and the worst winds blow from all sides of the mountains, the speed of which reaches 200 km / h. At an altitude of about 8 thousand meters, the "death zone" begins, called as such for the lack of oxygen (30% of the amount present at sea level).
Risk for what?
Nevertheless, despite such cruel natural conditions, the conquest of Everest was and is the cherished dream of many climbers in the world. To stand on top for a few minutes to go down in history, to look at the world from a heavenly height - isn't that happiness? For the sake of such an unforgettable moment, climbers are ready to risk their own lives. And they take risks, knowing that they can remain in the untrodden land for ages and eternity. Factors in the possible death of a person who got there are lack of oxygen, frostbite, trauma, heart failure, fatal accidents, and even the indifference of partners.
So, in 1996, a group of climbers from Japan, while climbing Everest, met with three Indian climbers who were in a semi-conscious state. They died because the Japanese did not provide assistance to the "competitors", indifferentlypassing by. In 2006, 42 climbers, along with the television people of the Discovery channel, indifferently walked past the Englishman David Sharp, who was slowly dying of hypothermia, and also tried to interview him and take photographs. As a result, the daredevil, who ventured to conquer Everest alone, died from frostbite and oxygen starvation. One of the Russian climbers Alexander Abramov explains such actions of his colleagues as follows: “At an altitude of more than 8000 meters, a person striving to conquer the summit is completely occupied with himself and does not have extra strength to help in such outrageous conditions.”
George Mallory's attempt: successful or not?
So after all, who was the first to conquer Everest? The discovery of George Everest, who had 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) decided by George Mallory, a compatriot of Everest.
Unfortunately, his attempt was unsuccessful: heavy snowfalls, strong winds and lack of experience in climbing to such a height stopped the British climber. However, the inaccessible peak attracted Mallory, and he made two more unsuccessful ascents (in 1922 and 1924). During the last expedition, George Mallory and his teammate Andrew Irvine disappeared without a trace. One of the members of the expedition, Noel Odell, was the last to see them through a gap in the clouds rising to the top. Only after 75 years, the remains of Mallory were discovered by an American search expedition at an altitude of 8155 meters. Judging by theirlocation, climbers fell into the abyss. Also in scientific circles, when studying all the same remains and their location, there was an assumption that George Mallory was the first person to conquer Everest. Andrew Irwin's body was never found.
1924-1938 were marked by the organization of a number of expeditions, however, unsuccessful. After them, Everest was forgotten for a while, because the Second World War began.
Pioneers
Everest who first conquered? The Swiss decided to storm the invincible peak in 1952, but the maximum height they climbed stopped at around 8500 meters, 348 meters did not succumb to climbers due to bad weather conditions.
If we assume that Mallory could not reach the top of the highest mountain in the world, then the question of who first conquered Everest can be safely answered - New Zealander Edmund Hillary in 1953, and then not himself, but with assistant - Sherpa Norgay Tenzing.
By the way, Sherpas (from Tibetan, "sher" - east, "pa" - people) are the same people, without whom, perhaps, hardly anyone would have been able to reach such a coveted peak. They are a mountain people who settled in Nepal over 500 years ago. It was the Sherpas who most easily managed to climb Everest, since this mountain is their homeland, where every path is familiar from childhood.
Sherpas are reliable assistants on the way to the top
Sherpas are very good-natured people, unable to offend anyone. For them, killing an ordinary mosquito or a field mouseIt is considered a terrible sin that needs to be very strongly prayed for. The Sherpas have their own language, but nowadays almost all of them speak English. This is a great merit of Edmund Hillary - the first conqueror of Everest. As a token of gratitude for the invaluable help, he built a school in one of the main villages at his own expense.
Although with all the penetration into the life of the Sherpas of civilization, their way of life remains largely patriarchal. Traditional settlements are stone two-story houses, on the ground floor of which livestock is usually kept: yaks, sheep, goats, and the family itself, as a rule, is located on the second floor; there is also a kitchen, bedrooms, a common room. Minimum furniture. Thanks to pioneer climbers, electricity has recently appeared; They still have no gas or some kind of central heating. As fuel for cooking, they use yak droppings, which are pre-collected and dried on stones.
Inaccessible Mount Everest… Who was the first to conquer this distant peak: Edmund Hillary or George Mallory? Scientists are still looking for an answer to this day, as well as an answer to the question of what year they conquered Everest: in 1924 or in 1953.
Everest records
Everest succumbed to more than one person, even records were set for a temporary ascent to the top. For example, in 2004, Pemba Dorj Sherpa reached it from the base camp in 10 hours and 46 minutes, while most climbers take up to several days to complete the same operation. Frenchman Jean-Marc Boivin was the fastest to descend the mountain in 1988, however, he made the jump on a steam plane.
Women who conquered Everest are in no way inferior to men, also stubbornly and persistently overcoming every meter of the ascent. The first representative of the weaker half of humanity in 1975 was the Japanese Junko Tabei, after 10 days - Phantog, a Tibetan climber.
Who was the first to conquer Everest among the elderly? The oldest conqueror of the summit is 76-year-old Nepalese Min Bahadur Sherkhan, and the youngest is 13-year-old American Jordan Romero. The tenacity of another young conqueror of the "top of the world" is of interest - 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tseri, whose first attempt was unsuccessful due to lack of strength and frostbite on both hands. Upon his return, Tembe had 5 fingers amputated, which did not stop him, he conquered Everest on his second ascent.
Among the disabled, there is also the first person to summit Everest. This is Mark Inglis, who climbed to the top of the world in 2006 with prosthetic legs.
The hero even joked that, unlike other climbers, he would not get frostbite on his toes. Moreover, he had frostbite on his legs earlier, when trying to climb the highest peak in New Zealand - Cook Peak, after which they were amputated for him.
Apparently, Everest has some magical power if hundreds of climbers rush towards it. The one who conquered it once returned more than once, trying to do it again.
Alluring peak - Everest
Who was the first to conquer Everest? Why are people so drawn toto this place? There are quite a few reasons to explain this. Tickling nerves, lack of thrills, the desire to test yourself, the dullness of everyday life….
Texas millionaire Dick Bass is the man who conquered Everest. He, not being a professional climber, was not going to spend years carefully preparing for a dangerous ascent and decided to conquer the peak of the world at once, as they say: here and now. Bass was willing to pay any amount of money to anyone who would help make his seemingly unrealistic dream come true.
Dick Bass still managed to conquer the summit of Everest, and the assembled team turned out to be assistants on the expedition, which provided the millionaire with comfort when climbing up; people carried all the cargo, tents, oxygen tanks, water, food. So to speak, the ascent was of the all-inclusive type, and this was the beginning of commercial travel to the top.
It is since then, since 1985, that anyone who has enough money for this can conquer the summit. To date, 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 journey comes from Nepal, then it is more expensive, because a special permission from the king is required, which costs 10 thousand dollars. The rest of the amount is paid for the organization of the expedition.
And there was even a wedding…
In 2005, Mona Mule and Pem Giorgi got married on top of the world. Climbing up, the newlyweds took off their oxygen masks for a few minutes, wearing traditionalcolored garlands. Then Pem anointed the forehead of his bride with scarlet powder, which symbolized marriage. The newlyweds kept their act a secret from everyone: parents, acquaintances, expedition partners, because they were not sure of the successful outcome of the planned event.
So how many people have climbed Everest? Surprisingly, today there are more than 4,000 people. And the most optimal period for climbing in gentle weather conditions is spring and autumn. True, such an idyll lasts a short time - 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 strength left. Theoretically, you can conquer Everest in a few days. In practice, gradualness and the optimal combination of climbs and h alts are required.
