60 Years Ago Today

[blackrock13]

Surprised no one mentioned it, but man came closer to the heavens than ever before. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Nurqay climbed to the peak of Mt Everest.

There is some debate, but only from some that TN was the first to make it before Hillary on the climb and even some think George Mallory did it 30 years before, but it is still amazing to think of the event.

The announcement was delayed so as not to over shadow the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Hillary and Nurqay

Mallory

 

[oil&gas]

No other adventurers have inspired more people to wilfully
climb to their doom (at a cost of only US$60k+ today) in history.
What a magnificent achievement of Sir Hillary.

 

[Conway_Stewart]

There's an interesting book by a mountain climber named Jon Krakauer called "Into Thin Air" about his party's disastrous attempt to climb Mount Everest. It was an interesting look into the world of mountain climbing not to mention how badly things can get fucked up during a climb.

 

[Stoo]

There is some debate, but only from some that TN was the first to make it before Hillary on the climb and even some think George Mallory did it 30 years before, but it is still amazing to think of the event.

Neither Hillary nor Tenzing broke their vow to remain silent about who summitted first and took that secret to their graves.

Regarding Mallory, on an expedition to try to locate (successfully) his body, Conrad Anker successfully climbed the "Hillary Step" in period climbing gear. It had long been thought that the Step would not have been climbable in the equipment that Mallory had, but Anker proved that to be incorrect, opening the door to the real possibility that Mallory did actually summit.

Many Hillary fans argue that Mallory still couldn't have done it due to there being a much greater snow-pack during his time, making the climb that much more difficult.

The location of Mallory's body didn't provide an answer either, since he would have had to pass that same point on the way up and the way down.

There's an interesting article in the current National Geographic about the sorry state of Everest these days. The lower camps are littered with garbage and sewage, and the higher altitudes have frozen corpses scattered about.

 

[oldjones]

…and there's a proposal to save lives by permanently installing a couple of aluminum ladders on a the more challenging bts of the final ascent.

 

[DukeSSk]

…and there's a proposal to save lives by permanently installing a couple of aluminum ladders on a the more challenging bts of the final ascent.

The hardcore climbers would probably avoid them!!

 

[red]

the problem is oxygen deprivation not falling. ladders won't help with that.

now-a-days- with the masses of people who go up and down- the issue is a traffic jam of people who delay others who run out of O2

 

[abv]

The ladders are to alleviate the traffic jam on the 40 foot Hillary step.
Less time on the step more oxygen in the tanks.