What the final hours of a Mount Everest climb are like, as written by a Canadian medical team last year (photographs enlarge nicely if opened in a new window). The month of May is the only safe window for climbing Sagarmatha, and this week Sherpas are desperately trying to get the route prepped. Journal entries from the mountain during the past day show excited teams awaiting the big push: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The Discovery film crew got some nice shots last week, too. The climb is not without immense danger -- about 6 die on the mountain every year, and in 2006 David Sharp died right on the trail, raising a firestorm of debate.
posted by crapmatic on May 5, 2009 - 56 comments

PBS's Frontline has just released Storm Over Everest, a new report that chronicles the 1996 Everest disaster. The story was most notably told by Jon Krakauer in his award-winning book Into Thin Air, which ignited a flurry of letters (pun definitely intended) about the roles of guides and Sherpas on the mountain.
posted by aheckler on May 14, 2008 - 17 comments

Sir Edmund Hillary died today, aged 88. Best known as the man who "knocked the bastard off", by scaling Mt Everest, Hillary was an adventurer, activist, and all round kiwi bloke. We will miss you.
posted by pivotal on Jan 10, 2008 - 88 comments

Paraglider survives 32,000ft fall. A German paragliding champion named Ewa Wisnierska was "sucked into a storm that pulled her higher than Mount Everest." She "soared skywards," and was soon "covered in ice" as she "battled hailstones the size of oranges," becoming one with the weather. "I could see the Earth coming," she later said, "wow, like Apollo 13 – I can see the Earth."
posted by BLDGBLOG on Feb 16, 2007 - 57 comments

"The situation didn't have any intrinsic calm to it," he says, "There was some excited radio communication and the roar of the wind and storm was also very cautionary. I knew it was in the process of killing people out there..."

Dr. Stuart Hutchison, a Canadian cardiologist, was a member of one of three expeditions climbing the southern route on Mount Everest in early May of 1996. Just after midnight on the morning of May 10, he and 34 other climbers crawled out of their tents on the South Col and started their final summit push. After weeks of climbing up and down between camps on the mountain; scaling the treacherous Khumbu Ice Fall and waliking the Western Cwm to acclimatize their bodies to the to the rarefied air at and above 14,000 feet above sea level, everything came down to the next 24 hours.

The day would end with 11 climbers dead on the mountain. Until now Dr. Hutchison has maintained his silence about his role in, and experience of, that tragic day on Everest. [more inside]
posted by persona non grata on Jul 31, 2006 - 50 comments

Would you leave a dying man to reach the top of Everest? Mark Inglis, who lost both legs in a climbing accident years ago, triumphantly scaled Mt. Everest earlier this month. About two and a half hours into the climb, they passed David Sharp, a climber on his way down who was clearly in distress and only hours from death. Inglis and his team left him there and continued to the summit and, as expected, David Sharp died.

Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary is displeased, and this fellow is lucky the group that found him decided his "weak attributes of life" were enough for an effort at rescue.
posted by thirteenkiller on May 27, 2006 - 211 comments

Death of a birdman: the first man to fly in a hang glider over Everest, Siberia and Sahara, breaking altitude records, flying with eagles, cranes and condors born in captivity (Flash video), he lost his life today in a plane crash. Angelo D'Arrigo, 1961-2006.
posted by funambulist on Mar 26, 2006 - 12 comments

To the summit of Everest by helicopter.  Is nothing sacred? (direct link to WMV video)
posted by planetkyoto on Jun 2, 2005 - 32 comments

X-explorersweb - Articles and information on key figures, events, news and technology in the world of adventure, exploration and science. Read explorer gossip like the guy who climbed Everest 6 times, and beat up his Sherpa wife in Base Camp. List of current polar expeditions. Links to ongoing Ocean explorations. Expedition technology and lots more.
posted by stbalbach on Nov 20, 2004 - 3 comments

It's mid-May and for outdoor adventurer fans that means one thing: thanks to major weather pattern shifts, the tiny window of opportunity for climbing Mt. Everest is upon us. The first to summit this year looks to be a team from Mexico and Canada, planning to hit the top on Sunday morning. Of course, summiting Everest is a dangerous endeavor, and the crowds on the trail can often lead to disaster. In other mt. climbing news, the north face of the Eiger is unclimbable this year.
posted by mathowie on May 14, 2004 - 16 comments

The Great Arc of India is a travelling exhibition that celebrates the two hundredth anniversary of the trigonometric survey of the Indian subcontinent by William Lambton, George Everest, and many others. The exhibition will visit Edinburgh, Birmingham, London, and Manchester. In case you can't catch the actual exhibition, the site includes a PDF of the exhibition guide, in two parts. Along with the exhibition there is a programme of performances and visual events by Indian artists.
posted by carter on Jul 27, 2003 - 5 comments

Panoramic view from top of Everest (requires QuickTime) [via kottke.org]
posted by kirkaracha on May 24, 2003 - 16 comments

A Sad Day. Sometimes it seems like all the people I admire die before their time. It's a long list: Dan Eldon, Ned Gillette, Ciriello, Galen Rowell, Alex Lowe, Dan Osman, (plus many others), and now: Goran Kropp, died a few days ago. "The Crazy Swede" became famous for riding a bicycle from Stockholm to Everest, climbing it solo and without oxygen, and riding back. This story is told in Ultimate High:My Everest Odyssey.
posted by ig on Oct 3, 2002 - 7 comments

Fan summits Everest, burns Yankee cap This is what I call a real fan. I tip my hat. (only a redsox fan can understand)
posted by justgary on Jun 20, 2001 - 19 comments

Mans with no hands fails to climb Everest. He lost his hands climbing McKinley, which is a sure sign that hands or non-hands you're a crappy climber, pal.
posted by skallas on Oct 10, 2000 - 7 comments

A 38-year-old Slovenian became the first person ever to ski non-stop down the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, on Saturday. "I feel only absolute happiness and absolute fatigue," Davo Karnicar told Reuters by satellite phone after the descent
posted by Mars Saxman on Oct 8, 2000 - 10 comments