The highest mountain on the planet is Everest. She is also known as Chomolungma (translated from Tibetan as the Divine Mother of Life). The international name Everest was given to the mountain in honor of the head of the British India Geodetic Survey, Sir George Everest, simply because it was the employees of this institution who first measured the height of Chomolungma in 1852, proving that its Peak XV is the highest in the region and, probably, in the whole world.
Here, in the world of rocks, snow and eternal ice, frosts down to minus 60 ° C prevail, and strong winds blow at the top at a speed of up to 200 km / h. At an altitude of 7925 meters, the so-called “death zone” begins, where only 30% of oxygen is concentrated. Add to this constant ice collapses and snow avalanches – and it becomes obvious why no one could climb to the top for a long time. And now, despite the progress and all kinds of technologies, the ascent takes an average of two months, since it is carried out in stages, with the installation of an acclimatization camp.
The desire to conquer the “divine”, after a series of similar unsuccessful campaigns, was repulsed by the British for a long time, and only after the Second World War did the person again turn his gaze to the top of the recalcitrant mountain. Again, a number of preliminary expeditions were carried out, the purpose of which was to deliver equipment to the slopes of Everest. These were the preparations for the main group’s push. And on May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgam and Edmund Hillary ascended to the top of the world …
However, Everest is, in the full sense of the word, the mountain of death. Storming this height, the climber knows that he has a chance of not returning. Death can be caused by a lack of oxygen, heart failure, frostbite or injury. Fatal accidents also lead to death, such as a frozen valve of an oxygen cylinder. Moreover, the path to the summit is so difficult that, as Alexander Abramov, one of the participants in the Russian Himalayan expedition, said, at an altitude of more than 8000 meters one cannot afford the luxury of morality. Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself, and in such extreme conditions you have no extra strength to help your friend. The tragedy that happened on Everest in May 2006 shocked the whole world: 42 climbers passed by the slowly freezing Englishman David Sharpe, but no one helped him. One of them was the television people of the Discovery channel, who tried to interview the dying man and, having photographed him, left him alone …
During all these years of climbing Everest, more than 200 people died, and only the bodies of a few were lowered from the top. The rest are buried in meter-long snow or are exposed by the winds and “meet” other climbers on the way to the top. These are the laws of Everest: the higher the height, the less humanity remains in people. More than once it happened that the rising group could help those in trouble, but to help means to complete the campaign, to abandon the dream. Many passed by, and when they walked back, help was no longer required. It is impossible not to mention the feat of the Russian climber Anatoly Boukreev, who in 1996 rescued three climbers from Scott Fisher’s “Mountain Madness” team.
The first ascent of Russian (Soviet) climbers to the highest peak of the Earth took place in May 1982. A team of 9 people climbed to the top of Everest, along a very difficult, previously untraveled route along the southwestern wall.
In total, approximately 4,000 people have conquered Everest to date – we are talking about those who made it to the top. It is not possible to count the number of tourists with their shortened tours. Many of those who reached the very “roof of the world” set various kinds of records. This includes climbing without oxygen tanks, staying without oxygen for almost a day, and skiing down Everest … In 2001, the blind American Eric Weihenmayer climbed to the top of Everest, in 2006 – Mark Inglis, a climber with two amputated legs. And the first woman to conquer Chomolungma was in 1976 the Japanese Junko Tabei.
