Mount Everest

Click on any photo to see a larger version with description. Click on the larger photo to go back to this page. For information about our attempt on Everest in 2007 and postponement of our 2008 climb to 2009, please click on 2007 & 2009.

The following is a brief summary of the mountain with some facts and statistics, updated through the end of the spring 2007 climbing season. My source is the Himalayan Database, created and updated by Elizabeth Hawley and Richard Salisbury.

Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet (8,648 meters), is the highest mountain in the world and is located on the Nepal/Tibet border.  It was named in 1865 after Sir George Everest, the British surveyor general of India. The Nepalese name for the mountain is Sagarmatha, which means Goddess of the Sky.  The Tibetan name is Chomolungma (or Quomolongma), which means Mother Goddess of the Universe. 

There are two main routes on Everest - the southeast ridge from Nepal (Hillary's 1953 route) and the northeast ridge from Tibet (Mallory's 1924 route) as well as many other less frequently climbed routes. Climbers go up and down the mountain to acclimatize and establish camps along the way before the final summit push. 

The first to summit were Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal, via the southeast ridge, on 5/29/53. The first American to summit was James Whittaker, on 5/1/63, also via the southeast ridge.  Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) were the first to climb without oxygen, on 5/8/78.  Reinhold  Messner also did the first solo ascent, on 8/20/80, via the northeast ridge.

The first woman to summit was Junko Tabei of Japan, on 5/16/75, via the southeast ridge.  Stacy Allison was the first American woman to summit, on 9/28/88, also via the southeast ridge. 

By the end of 2007, there were 3,644 total summits of Everest, 154 without the use of supplemental oxygen.  This includes multiple ascents for several people.  217 people died, 56 after reaching the summit. 

Only 186 of total summits were reached by women (5 died following a summit - 7 women died total).  9 women summited twice and one woman, Lhakpa Sherpa, summited 6 times.  Taking into account multiple ascents, 173 women (includes 5 Sherpas)  have reached the summit of Everest, including 30 American women (2 twice).  5 women reached the summit without using supplemental oxygen; one of them died on the descent.  Women make up just 5% of total summits. 

There has been a staggering increase in the number of people and summits per year on Everest. In 1996, documented in Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air and David Breashear's IMAX movie, Everest, there were 98 summits and 15 deaths (the most deaths in a single year).  In 2003, there were 264 summits, 4 deaths; and in 2006, 480 summits, 11 deaths.

During 2007, there were 607 summits on Mount Everest, 10 without the use of supplemental oxygen (2 women).  The 607 summits includes Sherpas who reached the summit more than once in the year.  350 non-Sherpa climbers summited Everest.  There were 7 deaths, 2 after summiting. 

34 women reached the summit in 2007, 26 via the north route (no Americans) and 8 via the south route (2 Americans).  Two women, Nives Meroi (Italy) and Alexia Zuberer (Switzerland) summited without using supplemental oxygen (both north route).

The Nepalese, most hired as climbing Sherpas, easily top the number of summits with 1,528.  They've also suffered the most deaths - 76.  Apa Sherpa holds the record for the most summits - 17 (now 18 in 2008!).  The number of American summits is 389, followed by the UK (196), China (182), and Japan (148).  Again, these numbers include multiple summits for several individuals.

Is it really so shocking that there is an increasing number of climbers on Everest?  The two main routes are extremely high but not extremely technical.  There's really only one time of year to climb it (few climbers are there in the fall).  All of the Seven Summits are crowded.  I couldn't believe the line-up of climbers heading to the summit of Denali when I was there in 2005.  We were on the West Buttress route, considered the easiest and because of that, most popular route on Denali.  Local mountains are also crowded.  When a few of us reached the top of Shasta via the steeper and more remote northern route, we saw an anthill of people ascending the popular southern route, Avalanche Gulch.  The summit was full of climbers, some chatting on their cell phones like they were in their homes.  I initially gasped in disgust, but then I laughed because until the moment when we reached the top of a snow slope that brought us within a few hundred feet of the summit, we thought we were the only climbers on the mountain.  Despite the surprise party on top, I was still thrilled to be there.  The beauty of mountain climbing is that on another route, it's like another mountain.  Because of mountain climbing's increasing popularity, to escape the crowds, you have to climb the more remote routes or mountains or during an off season.

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