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AROUND THE WORLD 1: Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of Mt Everest Climb

May 29 marked the 50th anniversary of the first successful climb to the top of Mt. Everest. On this day in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and shirpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mt. Everest--the highest peak in the world. Celebrations took place throughout Nepal, especially in the capital city of Kathmandu. As part of the anniversary events, Sir Edmund Hillary was made an honorary citizen of Nepal--a small Hindu kingdom.

Mt. Everest is very important to the Nepalese people and the government there is hoping that the celebrations will help attract more tourists. Tourism has been bad recently because a group known as the Maoists have conducted violent revolts in the country. So far, the celebrations have been smooth and hundreds of climbers and other tourists have come to the country to participate in celebrations and to attemp to climb Mt. Everest themselves.

The mountain, called "the roof of the world", is part of the Himalyayan mountain chain in southern Asia, on the border of Tibet and Nepal. Everest is almost 30,000 feet high--an altitude that is normally only reached by airplanes. At this height, the air holds very little oxygen and temperatures are very cold, making the climb both difficult and dangerous. Many climbers have suffered from exhaustion, frost bite, and other injuries, and 175 people have died during the trek.

In spite of the dangers many people attempt to climb the mountain each year, and more than 1300 people have reached the peak since 1953. A lot of money is paid for climbing gear and equipment for the harsh conditions, and local climbing gurus known as shirpas also assist climbers on the way to the top. This makes the climb a little bit easier now than it was 50 years ago.

Sir Edmund Hillary and other veteran climbers have expressed disappointment at changes in climbing practices on Everest. For example, many people now pay money to have shirpas do all of the difficult work along the journey, large groups leave trash on the mountain, and there seems to be a general decrease in respect for the mountain. Nothing, however, could make climbing Mt. Everest easy.

Some other notable Everest climbers:
Junko Tabei, from Japan, was the first woman to reach the top. (1975)
Rheinhold Messner was the first person to reach the top without using the help of breathing equipment. (1978)

--Written by Betsy Mesard

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