MT. EVEREST RECORDS AND FIRSTS
Climbers of 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) Mt. Everest have competed to be the youngest, the oldest, the fastest, with and without oxygen. There are also record for the most successful ascents to the summit. Americans Peter Athans and Ed Viesturs summitted Mt. Everest seven times. Dave Hahn did it 15 times. But these feat are nothing compared to what Sherpas have achieved.
According to Guinness World Records : Mount Everest has been the inspiration for many Guinness World Records: from the simple fact of being the world's highest peak, to being the venue for the world's highest-altitude concert. Many of the records achieved on Everest are broken regularly. As the world's highest peak, Everest will always attract adventurous climbers and records will continue to be broken on its slopes.”
The oldest person to climb Mt. Everest is Yuichiro Miura (born 1932) from Japan. He summitted it when he 80 years, 224 days on May 23, 2013. He also climed when he 70 years old in 2003. At that he beat the record of 64-year-old American physician named Sherman Bull, who reached the summit in May 2001. He in turn had beat the record set by 63-year-old Japanese climber Toshio Yamamoto in May 1999. In 2003, the same year Miura accomplished his feat, a 73-year-old Texas millionaire, Dick Bass, tried to reach the summit but had to quit because of back problems.
Highest number of times to reach the summit: 24 by Kami Rita Sherpa from Nepal on May 20, 2019
Most ascents by a woman: 9 by Lhakpa Sherpa from Nepal
Most summits without supplemental oxygen: 10 by Ang Rita from Nepal on May 23, 1996
Most summits by a foreigner (non-Nepali or Tibetan): 15 by Dave Hahn from the United States
Most deaths in one day at Everest: 22 in the Everest base camp area on April 25, 2015 as a result of the avalanche caused by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed about 8,000 people, mostly in Nepal. [Source: Wikipedia]
Fastest ascents: Fastest ascent from Everest South Base Camp (with supplemental oxygen): 10 hours 56 min and 46 sec by Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa from Nepal on May 26, 2003
Fastest ascent without supplemental oxygen and fastest ascent from Everest North Base Camp: 16 hours and 45 minutes by Hans Kammerlander from Italy on May 24, 1996. [Source: Wikipedia]
Longest stay on the summit: 21 hours by Babu Chiri Sherpa from Nepal on May 6, 1999. According to Guinness World Records: Babu Chhiri Sherpa of Nepal completed a stay of 21 hours at the summit of Mt. Everest without the use of bottled oxygen in May 1999.
In 2003, Mingkipa Sherpa, a girl who had just turned 15, became the youngest person to scale Mt. Everest at the time. Ignoring a ban on climbers under the age of 16, she climbed the mountain with her 24-year-old brother and 30-year-old sister and beat the record set by a 15-year-old Sherpa eight-grade student named Temba Tsheri, who reached the summit in May 2001. He lost five fingers to frostbite during an attempt the year before when he was forced to turn back only 50 meters from the summit. He lost his fingers after he bared his hands for 45 minutes to tie his shoes.
Summitters of Mt. Everest
About 1,500 people try to reach the summit of Everest each year, with about half of them making it and between five and 15 dying. Those that make it are called summitters According to the 2018 edition of the Himalayan Database, the primary and most reliable source of Everest statistics, there were 8,306 summits of Everest through 2017 by 4,833 different people, compared to 7,646 summits by 4,469 people as of 2016 and 6,871 summits by 4,042 different people in 2013. In 2019 about 807 people summitted, a record. In 2020 no one did because climbing was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2016, 667 people reached the top. In 2017, there were 648 summits: 61 percent of those who went above base camp made it. The success rate of climbers more than tripled between 1990 and 2010, largely due to more guides and better gear.
According to Guinness World Records on May 19, 2012, a total of 234 climbers summited Everest — the most on a single day. According to the Kathmandu Post More than 200 climbers mountaineers ascended Everest and reached the summit on May 22, 2019. A record at the time of 94 people reached the summit of Mt. Everest on a single day on May 13, 2001. More than 500 people were aiming to reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hillary’s ascent. The climbers included a number of record hopefuls and even several reality television crews that planned to live broadcasts from the summit. They were hampered by snow storms and overcrowding.
Many more people reach the summit of Everest now than before. In the early years few people made it. Only 30 people reached it in the two decades that followed Hillary and Tenzing’s first ascent in 1953. As of 1988 about 200 men and women had stood on the top of Mt. Everest. In 2003, 137 people reached the summit, some of them more than once. Between 1953 and 2003, about 1,200 people had reached the summit — including climbers from 63 nations, more than 250 Nepalese and Sherpas, 160 Americans and 100 Japanese — and 175 had died out of the more than 10,000 who tried. About 100 people reach the summit every year in the 1990s and about 12 teams on the mountains at any given time during the April-May and October-November climbing seasons back then.
Mt. Everest Firsts
In 1933, two British Westland biplanes make the first flight over Mt. Everest. Powered by super charged engines designed for thin air, they almost crashed after being caught in violent downdrafts near the summit. The window of the cockpit of one aircraft was broken by ice fragments.
In 2003, Swaziland-born Sibusiso Vilane became the first black person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest . The same year a Chinese team made the first live television broadcast from the summit.
A 64-man Italian expedition in 1973 reportedly spent US$8 million. When one of their two helicopters crashed, while bring in supplies of lobster bisque an petit fours, among other things, it was quickly replaced by the Italian army. The same year a bunch of Sherpas went on strike against a low-budget Japanese expedition because they could not match the high wages paid by he Italians.
In 1980, Leszek Cichy and Krysttof Wielicki of Poland became the first to reach the summit in winter.
In October 2000, Slovenian Davo Karnicar became the first person to ski uninterrupted all the way from the summit to base camp. He descended more than three vertical kilometers (two vertical miles) in less than five hours without removing his skis. . He lost two fingers to frostbite in an unsuccessful attempt in 1996. This time he attributed his success to good weather and thick snow cover at Hillary Step.
First climbers confirmed as having reached the summit: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay from New Zealand, Nepal on May 29, 1953. See Separate Article: EDMUND HILLARY, TENZING NORGAY AND THE FIRST ASCENT OF MT. EVEREST
First woman to reach the summit: Junko Tabei from Japan on May 16, 1975
First ascent without supplemental oxygen: Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler from Italy, Austria on May 8, 1978
First winter ascent: Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy from Poland on February 17, 1980
First solo ascent and first solo ascent without supplemental oxygen: Reinhold Messner from Italy on August 20, 1980
First person to reach the summit from three different routes (South Col., North Face and Khangshung Face): Kushang Sherpa from India, 1993- 2003
First black man to summit Mount Everest: Sibusiso Emmanuel Vilane from South Africa on May 26, 2003
First to climb the Everest Triple Crown ( Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse in one expedition): Kenton Cool and Dorje Gylgen from the United Kingdom, Nepal on May 21, 2013
First female ascent without supplemental oxygen: Lydia Bradey from New Zealand on October 14, 1988
First Nepalese woman to successfully summit: Lhakpa Sherpa from Nepal on May 18, 2000
Most Times Summitting of Mt. Everest: 24 by Kami Rita Sherpa
Highest number of times to reach the summit: 24 by Kami Rita Sherpa from Nepal. On May 20, 2019, Rita Sherpa broke his own world record for the most Mt. Everest summits, with 24, breaking his own record of 23 which he set five days before on May 15, 2019.
Binaj Gurubacharya wrote in The Independent: A Sherpa mountaineer has extended his record for successful climbs of Mt. Everest with his 24th ascent of the world’s highest peak. Kami Rita reached the 29,035-foot peak earlier this week. It was his second time on the summit in a week. He climbed to the top on 15 May then returned to base camp, before climbing it again. Nepal Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said Mr Rita reached the summit along with several other climbers taking advantage of favourable weather. [Source: Binaj Gurubacharya, The Independent, May 21, 2019; Associated Press, May 15, 2019] . “His latest climb brings Mr Rita closer to his target of 25 ascents of Everest before he retires from high mountain climbing. The 49-year-old's two closest peers have climbed the peak 21 times each, but both of them have retired from mountain climbing. Mr Rita first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since. His father was among the first Sherpa guides employed to help climbers reach the summit, and Rita followed in his footsteps. In addition to his nearly two dozen summits of Everest, Mr Rita has scaled some of the other highest mountains, K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.
Kami Rita Sherpa’s Life and Climbing Career
Omkar Khandekar wrote in the South China Morning Post: Kami began his climbing career at 17, following in his father’s footsteps. The village of Thame, where he was born as the fifth of 10 children, consisted of 30 families who sustained themselves by growing potatoes and bartering the surplus for cornflour, rice and millet. [Source: Omkar Khandekar, South China Morning Post, June 23, 2019]
“Life was hard, but in 1987 being a mountain guide wasn’t much easier. “Back then, there was no proper equipment or shops in our country,” Kami said. “Even if we had equipment, it was so heavy, it made for a far tougher climb than it is today.” At first, he worked as a porter, hauling gear up some of the “smaller” peaks around 6,000 meters high. Once he was more experienced, he began to work as a guide — taking groups up some of the highest peaks in the Himalayas. Yet when the time came for his first ascent of the 8,848-meter Everest, Kami was still nervous. “A Sherpa going to Everest is no different from a soldier going to a war. You’re never sure if you’ll come back,” he said. Since that first ascent, in 1994, Kami has returned to the top of the world almost every summer — and more than once” during some years.
According to Associated Press: Rita has been an advocate for other Sherpa guides, who he said do not get the recognition they are due. He said that before climbers reach the summit to take their photographs announcing their success, there are months of hard work done by Sherpas. The Sherpas are the ones who take care of setting up the camps, carrying the loads on their backs, cooking food and carrying oxygen tanks. Perhaps most important, it is Sherpas who each year fix ropes and ladders over crevasses and icefalls that make things safer for the hundreds of climbers who will follow them. “However, when these climbers reach the summit, only their names are highlighted and nothing mentioned about the hard work done by the Sherpas," Rita said last month. Associated Press, May 15, 2019]
“Rita was at Everest's base camp in 2015 when an avalanche swept through, killing 19 people. After that tragedy, he came under intense family pressure to quit mountaineering altogether, but in the end decided against it. “I know Mt. Everest very well, having climbed it 22 times, but at the same time I know I may or may not come back," he told AP last month. "I am like a soldier who leaves behind their wives, children and family to battle for the pride of the country."
Kami Rita Sherpa Vows to Continue Climbing
Kami Rita Sherpa has an unblemished safety record and said he wanted to continue climbing. Omkar Khandekar wrote in the South China Morning Post: Upon his return to the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu” after the 24th Everest ascent, “he received a hero’s welcome. At the airport, his wife hugged him as a crowd of supporters danced, cheered and handed him flowers. Yet Kami shied away from much of the media circus that surrounded him, telling reporters he was simply doing his job and fending off requests for interviews and public engagements from across his home country and further afield. [Source: Omkar Khandekar, South China Morning Post, June 23, 2019]
“It took quite a bit of persuasion to get him to agree to talk. Concerned that his lack of proficiency in English might lead to him being misquoted, he consented to an interview under the sole proviso that his 20-year-old son Lakpa be allowed to translate. And so it was that the three of us found ourselves sat in the small, five-room apartment in Kathmandu that Kami, his son, daughter and wife all call home. That hot June afternoon was cleaning day, Lakpa cheerfully explained, meaning nearly every available surface was covered in climbing gear — socks, jackets, sleeping bags and safety harnesses — hanging out to dry.
“Initially, he had planned to call it a day after his 25th summit, but now thinks he might have a few more ascents left in him. Remarkably, he doesn’t have any special dietary or exercise regimes — eating simple meals of rice and lentils or chocolate bars while up in the mountains and keeping fit by leading expeditions in the Himalayas and other high-altitude areas throughout the year. For his part, Kami is proud to say that he has “never had any deaths” among his clients and claims a “100 per cent successful” record.
As for his new-found fame, the veteran guide doesn’t think it will amount to much. “Take Ang Rita Sherpa who climbed Everest 10 times without oxygen,” he said. “He was called the ‘Snow Leopard’. The government took him everywhere but didn’t do anything for him. Now he’s old and not in good shape, but the government isn’t looking after him.” “I’m new to the record. But when you look at the legends, it seems like their achievements have no value in this country.” Yet that will not stop Kami from continuing to climb the world’s highest mountains. It is, he said, “like an addiction. The more you do it, the more you want to do it”.
“Super Sherpa" Summits Mt. Everest for Record 21st Time
In May 2011, 51-year-old Apa Sherpa, nicknamed “Super Sherpa”, climbed Mt. Everest for a 21st time, a record at the time, breaking his own record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain. “It takes a lot of will power to do something as difficult and needing a lot of strength at very high altitude over and over and over again,” climbing historian Elizabeth Hawley said. “It is really a remarkable achievement.” [Source: Gopal Sharma, Reuters, May 11, 2011]
Apa, who lives in the United States, dedicated the ascent to the impact of climate change. He was accompanied by American Chris Shumate, Bruno Gremior of Switzerland and four other Sherpa climbers, Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Asian Trekking Agency, said. Reuters reported: “Apa’s Eco Everest Expedition team is made from climbers from different countries that set out to pick about five tonnes of decades-old old garbage — discarded oxygen cylinders, gas canisters, torn tents, ropes and plastic dumped by climbers on the mountain’s slopes in the past. “This expedition is focused on climbing in an eco-sensitive manner to keep Everest clean and collect garbage, debris and waste left by past expedition groups,” team leader Dawa Steven Sherpa said. Apa first climbed the summit of Everest in 1990. He was born in Solukhumbhu district, home to Everest, but now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 2010, Apa Sherpa climbed the mountain for the 20th time. In May 2003, Apa Sherpa reached the summit for the 13th time, bettering his own record. He was 43 when he did it was and was part of nine-man trash picking up expedition. He reached the summit for the first time in 1990.
According to Guinness World Records: Apa Sherpa reached the summit of Mt Everest for the 21st time on 11 May 2011, the most times anyone has ever successfully climbed the world's highest mountain at that time. His climbs were: 1) May 10, 1990: International; 2) May 8, 1991: Sherpa Support; 3) May 12, 1992: New Zealand; 4) October 7, 1992: International; 5) May 10, 1993: USA; 6) October 10, 1994: International; 7) May 15, 1995: American on Sagarmatha; 8) April 26. 1997: Indonesian; 9) May 10, 1998: EEE; 10) May 26, 1999: Asian-Trekking; 11) May 24, 2000: Everest Environmental; 12) May 16, 2002: Swiss 50th anniversary; 13) May 26, 2003: Commemorative US expedition; 14) May 17, 2004: Dream Everest; 15) May 31, 2005: Climbing for a Cure; 16) May 19, 2006: Team No Limit; 17) May 16, 2007: SuperSherpas; 18) May 22, 2008: Eco Everest; 19) May 21 2009: Eco Everest; 20) May 21, 2010: Eco Everest; 21) May 11, 2011: Eco Everest/
Women Climbers of Everest
First woman to reach the summit: Junko Tabei from Japan on May 16, 1975
First female ascent without supplemental oxygen: Lydia Bradey from New Zealand on October 14, 1988
First Nepalese woman to successfully summit: Lhakpa Sherpa from Nepal on May 18, 2000. In April 2000, the leader of the first team of Nepalese women to climb Mt. Everest, Migna Yangje said, "We're tired of being in the shadow of our men."
Most ascents by a woman: 9 by Lhakpa Sherpa from Nepal. She climbed the mountain for the first time in 2000, the sixth time in 2006 and the 7th time in 2016. For a while she worked at a 7-11 in Connecticut. Her ascents: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 (twice), 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Malavath Poorna from India is the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest: 13 years and 11 months old: on May 25, 2014. She is second youngest overall to summit Everest. Jordan Romero from the U.S. — the youngest person to climb Mount Everest — was one month younger when he summited. He was 13 years, 10 months, 10 days old and performed his feat on May 22, 2010.
In 2003, Mingkipa Sherpa, a girl who had just turned 15, became the youngest person to scale Mt. Everest at the time. Ignoring a ban on climbers under the age of 16, she climbed the mountain with her 24-year-old brother and 30-year-old sister and beat the record set by a 15-year-old Sherpa eight-grade student named Temba Tsheri, who reached the summit in May 2001. He lost five fingers to frostbite during an attempt the year before when he was forced to turn back only 50 meters from the summit. He lost his fingers after he bared his hands for 45 minutes to tie his shoes.
In 2016, after Lhakpa Sherpa summitted Everest for the seventh time, AFP reported: “The daughter of a yak herder, 43-year-old Lhakpa Sherpa worked as a porter and kitchen hand on trekking and mountaineering expeditions when she was young, before becoming a climber herself. The mother-of-three retired from climbing after her sixth summit of the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) high Mt. Everest in 2006 before deciding to make a comeback, 16 years after she first scaled the world's tallest peak. “Lhakpa summited Everest at 5:00 am (2315 GMT) today for the seventh time," said Svetlana Nujoom, program manager of 7 Summits Adventure, which organised her expedition. [Source: AFP, May 21, 2016]
“In an interview with AFP in March, Sherpa said she intended to summit Everest twice this season, although Nujoom was unable to confirm whether she still planned a second bid before weather conditions worsen by the end of the month. “The team is descending at the moment and I am not sure if she will go back up this season," Nujoom told AFP.
“Sherpa, who works as a part-time housekeeper in the United States, scaled the peak from its Tibetan side, unlike most climbers who begin their ascent from Everest base camp in Nepal, the easiest and most popular route. Sherpa has said she eventually wants to beat the record held by male climber Apa Sherpa which stands at 21 total summits.
According to Guinness World Records: Lakpa Sherpa successfully reached the summit of Mt Everest for the fifth time on June 2, 2005. She made the climb with her husband, George Dijmarescu, a Romanian-born American, who was himself completing his seventh ascent of the world's tallest mountain. Sherpa met Dijmarescu in Kathmandu. On a 2004 Everest Expedition Dijmarescu struck Lhapka. According to Michael Kodas, a journalist present during the expedition, Dijmarescu, "hooked a blow with his right hand to the side of his wife's head."The event "sparked a sort of media sensation in the mountaineering world". Dijmarescu and Lhapka divorced after 12 years of marriage.
First Woman to Climb Everest: Junko Tabei
The first woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest was Japanese climber Junko Tabei. Even though was less than a meter and half tall and weighed around 40 kilograms, she achieved the feat at 12:30pm on May 16, 1975, twelve days after being pulled out of an avalanche by her ankles by her Sherpa guides. She was the 36th person overall to reach the summit which she described as "smaller than a tatami mat and beat out two Chinese women coming from the Chinese side by 11 days. If people want to call me “that crazy mountain woman” Tabei said in an interview, then so be it. [Source: Robert Horn, Sports Illustrated, 1996]
Ed Douglas wrote in The Guardian: “Junko Tabei not only was the first woman to climb the mountain she also challenged cultural stereotypes in her homeland about a woman’s role in society while at the same time drawing on the deep spiritual feeling many Japanese people have for mountains. [Source: Ed Douglas, The Guardian, November 10, 2016]
Tabei died in October 2016 of cancer. She described herself as an individualist. She often lectured about the downside of conformity, telling her listeners to be "the nail that sticks out." She also said she refused corporate sponsorship. "If I accept sponsorship," she told Sports Illustrated, "then climbing the mountain is not my own experience. It's like working for the company."
Junko Tabei’s Life
The fifth daughter in a family with seven children, Tabei was born Junko Istibashi on September 22, 1939. in the small agricultural town of Miharu in Fukushima prefecture famous for its 1,000-year-old cherry tree. Her father was a printer. Northern Honshu where she she lived was not as badly affected by World War II as other parts of Japan, but like many Japanese children of the post-war generation she was thin and short and grew to a height of only 147 centimeters (4 feet 10 inches) as an adult.
She was labeled a weak child in elementary school and developed her interest in mountain when a teacher dragged her on a hike to nearby volcano, 1,917-meter-high Mount Nasu, at the age of 10 in nearby Nikko National Park. As an adult she recalled being shocked that the summit was not green, but the activity of hiking and climbing inspired her. A few years later she climbed Mount Fuji and later married mountain climber Masanobu Tabei.
Ed Douglas wrote in The Guardian: “Always self-deprecating and modest, she liked the non-competitive aspect of climbing mountains. The challenge was to herself and no one else. The pattern of her life was set. The poverty of Japan at that time, in the aftermath of the second world war, was a more pressing concern than notions of adventure, and cultural norms precluded the idea that a Japanese woman might become a mountain climber. Instead, she thought of a career in teaching, and studied English and American literature at Showa Women’s University in Tokyo. But on graduation, in 1962, she took up her passion for mountains, joining several men’s clubs, which prompted a mixed reaction. She would joke that while some older men were supportive, younger ones suspected she was after a husband. [Source: Ed Douglas, The Guardian, November 10, 2016]
“The irony was that she did precisely that. She met Masanobu Tabei, a well known figure in Japanese mountaineering circles, during an ascent of Mount Tanigawa, a notoriously dangerous peak that has seen hundreds of fatalities. Her mother disapproved of the match — the prospective son-in-law was not a college graduate — but her husband both understood her passion and supported her, holding down a job at Honda and caring for their children as she left for her most important climbs.
Junko Tabei’s Climbing Career
Tabei’s first makir Himalayan climb was Annapurna III in 1970. Douglas wrote in The Guardian: In 1969, Tabei’ “formed the Joshi-Tohan climbing club for women only, with the motto: “Let’s go on an overseas expedition by ourselves.” It was easier said than done. Workers in Japan were allowed only a fortnight’s holiday and money was tight. Tabei was now working long hours as an editor on a science journal and somehow managed to take on extra work offering piano lessons and tutoring in English. [Source: Ed Douglas, The Guardian, November 10, 2016]
“Her first expedition to the Himalayas was in 1970, with an all-women team, albeit with Sherpa support, led by Eiko Miyazaki, to Annapurna III in central Nepal. There had been only one previous ascent of the mountain, from the north, and Miyazaki and her group were attempting a new route from the south. Heavy snow prevented porters from reaching base camp, so the climbers were forced to start from a comparatively low altitude. They persevered, and it was no surprise that Tabei was one of four climbers to reach the summit on 19 May. It was so cold there that the film in their camera broke.
“Tabei learned a great deal from her experience on Annapurna III. She was struck by how the other women fulfilled familiar Japanese tropes, such as remaining stoically silent despite suffering from altitude sickness, and not admitting ignorance. She also realised that there would be no return to the previous pattern of her life as a dedicated employee working preposterous hours. If people wanted to call her “that crazy mountain woman”, she explained in an interview with Sports Illustrated, then so be it.
Junko Tabei’s Everest Ascent
Tabei said she had difficulty securing funding for her Everest climb because she said, "Most companies' reaction was that for a woman, its impossible to climb Mt. Everest." She eventually got help from the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun and Nihon Television.
Douglas wrote: “Back in Japan, she and her friends applied to the Nepali government for a permit to climb Everest, but at the time these were restricted to one per season, and they were made to wait until the spring of 1975. Raising the necessary funds proved a mountain in itself; she was frequently told that Everest was no place for a woman, and that she should stay at home to look after her young children. Almost at the last minute, the team secured backing from Japanese television and from Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, ironically perhaps given the paper’s conservative stance on social issues. Despite this financial support, team members had to make a large personal contribution and Tabei turned to her sewing machine to make critical pieces of gear. [Source: Ed Douglas, The Guardian, November 10, 2016]
“The expedition almost ended in tragedy. She and four companions were overwhelmed by an avalanche at Camp 2 early in the morning of 4 May. Tabei found herself crushed underneath their bodies, her face buried in a teammate’s hair. Sherpas from a neighbouring tent came to their rescue, but Tabei was barely able to stand for two days. Even so, on 16 May, she found herself, with typical determination, crawling along the upper reaches of the south-east ridge, the same route used by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary 22 years before. At the summit, that tatami-sized patch of snow, “all I felt was relief”.
Junko Tabei After Everest
Tabei had scaled 69 other major mountains as of 1996. In 1992, she became the first woman or climb the tallest mountains in the world's seven major regions. Her goal after that was to climb the highest mountains in every country in the world. In 1995, a typical year, she climbed the highest mountains in Panama, Costa Rica, South Korea, Venezuela and Sri Lanka.
Douglas wrote: “Thanks to the presence of the media, Tabei was instantly famous in Japan, but she disliked the attention and was wary of the demands of eager new sponsors. She did not want her passion to become “like working for the company”. Her son would tease her when she wrote “housewife” as her occupation, but mountains were far more to Tabei than her place of work. Nor did she hide her debt of gratitude to Ang Tsering, her Sherpa on summit day. [Source: Ed Douglas, The Guardian, November 10, 2016]
“If not technically of the first rank, Tabei became in later years a powerful advocate for the mountain environment and looked on in horror at the rapid commercialisation of Everest. She returned to university in 2000 to do a postgrad degree in environmental science, quantifying the impact of human waste on the mountain. She set new records, too, becoming the first woman to climb the highest peaks on seven continents, completing the list in 1992. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2012. “She continued to climb, both in Japan and abroad, and in July 2016, a few months befor she died, “she took young people affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster on an expedition up Mount Fuji.
Reinhold Messner: First Person to Climb Everest, Solo with No Oxygen
According to Guinness World Records Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria made the first successful ascent of Mt Everest without supplemental oxygen on May 8, 1978. This feat is regarded by some purist mountaineers as the first 'true' ascent of Everest, since overcoming the effects of altitude (i.e. the low oxygen content of the air) is the greatest challenge facing high-altitude climbers. Reinhold Messner was also the first person to successfully climb Mt Everest solo, reaching the summit on August 20, 1980. It took him three days to make the ascent from his base camp at 6,500 meters (21,325 feet). He made this ascent too without bottled oxygen.
Messner began his 1980 ascent of Everest without oxygen or a radio on the Tibetan side at 6,439 meters (21,125 feet), where he had camped out with his girlfriend. After his 1978, experience Messner wrote, “I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and the summits.”
Unlike large expeditions which use large numbers of Sherpas and porters to carry up the equipment and spend months going back and forth supplying camps for a dramatic final assault from 27,000 feet, Messner carried everything on his back — essentially just food, tent, a few carabineers, sleeping bag and camera — in what was to be a three day climb. All of his warm clothing was on his body, he carried only enough rope to tie down his tent and his only real tools were an ice ax and a ski pole. He had no radio. In 1970 Messner lost seven toes on Pakistan's Nanga Parbat, which claimed the life of his brother. To spare the three toes he had left he slept with his boots on on Everest. [Source: "I Climbed Everest Alone...At My Limit" by Reinhold Messner, National Geographic, October 1981☜]
Messner was not the first man to try to climb Everest alone.In 1934 a religious zealot by the name of Maurice Wilson tried to reach the summit. With no experience as a mountain climber he believed that God would guide him safely to the top. After plunges and snowstorms forced him to return to camp after his four day attempt he tried again as soon as he recovered...His body was found a year later on the North Col. The last words in his diary read: "Off again, gorgeous day."☜
Alison Hargreaves First Woman to Climb Everest, Solo with No Oxygen
Alison Hargreaves was the first woman to climb Mt. Everest alone and without oxygen. She died on the slopes of K2 in Pakistan in 1995.. The Scotland native once said "it is better to have lived one day as a tiger than a thousand as a sheep."
British climber Alison Hargreaves was the first woman to reach the summit of Everest without supplemental oxygen or the help of sherpas. She performed the feat on May 15, 1995. The Guardian reported: “Hargreaves, aged 33, reached the summit on after an ascent hailed by colleagues as the most important climb ever by a woman. Her first act after reaching the top was to radio her base camp with a message for her two young children. “I am on top of the world and I love you dearly,” she said. Ms Hargreaves is only the second climber in history, and the first woman, to reach the top of the 29,028ft mountain via the north ridge without artificial oxygen or sherpas to carry her gear. She spent more than a year preparing for the trip by training on Ben Nevis, where her husband, climber Jim Ballard, works part-time. It was her second attempt on the summit; last year she was driven back by freezing winds when only 1,500 feet from the top.”
“She began climbing as a 14-year-old in the Peak district, Mr Ballard said. He said his wife had been forced to take the most arduous route, almost on top of the north ridge, as the wind had left the slopes below virtually bare of snow. This was the route taken by the 1924 expedition which claimed the lives of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. Reinhold Messner, the only solo climber to have achieved the feat before, was able to take an easier line of approach in 1980 because of different snow conditions, Mr Ballard said.” Hargreaves died tragically on K2 three months later.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Nepal Tourism Board (ntb.gov.np), Nepal Government National Portal (nepal.gov.np), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022