Chapter 29 Mount Everest: Climbing the World

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Chapter 29Mount Everest Climbing the Worlds
Tallest Physical Feature
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I. Geoterms
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• a. Acclimatize the process of adjusting to lower
  oxygen levels at high elevation. Climbers adjust
  through exercise and rest as they gradually move
  higher. Prevents climbers from getting ill from
  the lack of oxygen.
• b. Carrying capacity the number of people or
  animals the environment of an area can support. A
  places carrying capacity depends on the
  environment.
• c. Exposure the harmful effects (injury or
  death) of cold, wind, or other extreme weather
  conditions.
• d. World Heritage Site a place of great natural
  or cultural value that has been placed on
  UNESCOs World Heritage List. UNESCO helps
  countries preserve these sites for future
  generations.

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II. Geographic Setting
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• a. Many Ways to the Top
• i. Key facts
• 1. Located in the Himalaya Mountains of southern
  Asia, along the border between Nepal and the
  Chinese region of Tibet. Also, it is within
  Nepals Sagarmatha National Park, which was named
  a World Heritage site in 1979.
• 2. 1999 measured summit height as 29,035 feet.
  (More than 5 miles high)
• 3. Mountain named Everest for a British official
  in India.
• 4. In Nepal, its known as Sagarmatha, meaning
  forehead in the sky
• 5. In Tibet, its known as Chomolungma, meaning
  mother of the world

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• ii. May 29, 1953 first successful ascent of
  Mount Everest by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand
  and Tenzing Norgay (a Sherpas) of Nepal.
• 1. Since then, a few thousand have attempted to
  climb the mountain, approx. 2,000 have reached
  the summit, and 180 or more have died ascending
  or descending Everests slopes.

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• iii. Many routes to the top.
• 1. Two main approaches
• a. Southeast ridge from Nepal. Most popular.
• b. Northwest ridge from Tibet.
• 2. Climbers climb in stages for weeks stopping at
  camps on the side of the mountain at each stage
  where climbers acclimate.
• iv. April and May most summit attempts when the
  weather is at its best.
• 1. Temperature never rises above freezing at the
  summit.
• 2. Weather conditions can still be deadly.

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• b. Protecting the Future of Mount Everest
• i. With increased popularity, increased overuse
  problems
• 1. Trash climbers in the past left cans,
  bottles, and garbage at camps. Most of the trash
  has since been picked up, but the necessity to
  keep the mountain clean remains a concern.

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• 2. Overcrowding during climbing season, camps
  become small villages, with dozens of people. 30
  climbers might reach the summit per day with
  lines forming to reach the summit.
• a. Raises the issue of carrying capacity how
  many people are animals can the mountain support
  before damages occur to the site.
• b. The issue of overcrowding is one reason why
  Sagarmatha National Park was declared a World
  Heritage site. UNESCO hopes to protect the site
  by drawing attention to it.

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III. From Lukla to Base Camp
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• a. A Slow Start Helps Climbers Acclimatize
• i. Generally, climbers start in Kathmandu,
  capital of Nepal, and fly to Lukla, at 9,350 feet
  above sea level. Then they hike to Base Camp, at
  17,600 feet, taking 6 to 8 days. This hike helps
  them acclimatize to the thinning air.

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• ii. Base Camp is set up every climbing season at
  the edge of Khumbu Glacier. With dozens or
  hundreds of tents, it is a tent city with
  kitchens, dining halls, and solar-powered lights.
  Typically, climbers spend several weeks at Base
  Camp adjusting to the thin air. Without
  successfully acclimatizing, climbers begin
  exhibiting symptoms of altitude sickness, also
  called Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), at Base
  Camp. Symptoms include nausea, headaches, and in
  severe cases, fluid accumulation in the lungs,
  swelling of the brain, and death.

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• b. The Impact of Tourism
• i. Nepal is a poor developing country.
• ii. Positive side
• 1. Tourism brings in money, with tourists
  purchasing food, lodging, and supplies.
• 2. Villagers earn wages as porters, carrying
  heavy loads of equipment and supplies for
  climbers. Porters use yaks for transportation.

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• iii. Harmful effects
• 1. Porters are sometimes overworked and
  mistreated.
• 2. Some of the villages have cut down trees to
  construct lodging for the tourist trade.
• 3. More trees have been cut down to provide fuel
  for cooking and heating for tourists.
• 4. Loss of trees has led to deforestation and
  soil erosion in the Everest region.

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IV. From Base Camp to Camp I
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• a. Surviving the Khumbu Icefall
• i. It is the second stage of the journey at
  19,500 feet.
• ii. Khumbu Icefall consists of giant chunks of
  ice known as seracs.
• iii. It is the most dangerous and deadly section
  of the climb with climbers being crushed by
  shifting seracs, falling into a crevasse (deep
  crack in the ice), or swept down the mountain by
  an avalanche. Climbers reduce their risks by
  starting before dawn, before the sun melts the
  ice, allowing the ice to shift.
• iv. Generally takes one to three weeks to set up
  Camp 1, as climbers move up and down the icefall
  each day, transporting supplies to the higher
  camp. This helps climbers acclimatize.

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Khumbu Icefall
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• b. Everests Expert Climbers The Sherpas
• i. On an expedition climb, much of the work is
  done by a Himalayan people known as Sherpas.
  They function as guides, cooks, and porters.
  They set up camps and carry supplies. They set
  up ladders and ropes for safe passage through the
  Khumbu Icefall. Many have died doing so.
• ii. Sirdar head sherpa. One for every
  expedition. Sometimes two, one stays at Base
  Camp and the other climbs to the summit.

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The Sherpas
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V. From Camp I to Camp IV
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• a. Through the Valley of Silence
• i. Third stage takes climbers from Camp I to
  three more camps, the highest being Camp IV, at
  26,000 feet.
• ii. Lhotse Face steep rock wall covered in ice.
  One of the most difficult parts of the climb.
• iii. When climbers depart Camp I, they enter the
  Western Cwm (pronounced koom), also known as the
  Valley of Silence, a long valley with ridges on
  either side blocking the wind. Its a gradual
  climb that can become extremely hot on a sunny
  day.

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Lhotse Face
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Western Cwm
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• b. Crampons and Rocks Ascending to Camp IV
• i. Camp II lies at the base of the Lhotse Face.
  Climbers use crampons (spikes attached to
  climbers boots) and ropes to ascend the ice
  covered wall, which rises up 3,700 feet.
• ii. Camp III is perched on a narrow ledge halfway
  up the Lhotse Face.
• iii. Climbers ascend another 1,500 feet to the
  South Col, a saddle (low point on a ridge
  connecting two peaks) between the Lhotse Face and
  the summit of Mount Everest, and the location of
  Camp IV.

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South Col
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• iv. Camp IV is the Death Zone and final camp
  before the summit. Its difficult to breathe and
  the lack of oxygen puts climbers at risk for
  experiencing altitude sickness and they are more
  likely to make fatal mistakes. It is difficult
  to remain at this altitude for more than 2 or 3
  days, even with bottled oxygen. Most climbers
  are forced to turn back when the weather turns
  bad.

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• c. Cleaning Up the Worlds Highest Junkyard
• i. Camp IV earned the nickname, the worlds
  highest junkyard. It was a dumping ground for
  oxygen bottles, used climbing equipment, human
  waste, and dead bodies. From 1953 to the
  mid-1990s, 50 tons of glass, plastic, and metal
  were discarded on the slopes of Mount Everest.
  Since then, groups of climbers have scaled the
  mountain to bring down trash, making the mountain
  significantly cleaner.
• ii. The government of Nepal charges climbers a
  fee for mountain use, using part of the money for
  waste cleanup.

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• iii. Climbing groups must leave a 4,000 garbage
  deposit with the government. Leaving trash
  losses climbers their deposit.
• iv. Nepals government is working to reduce
  deforestation, by prohibiting the cutting down of
  trees for fires and requiring climbers to bring
  their own fuel with them to Everest.
• v. Tree-planting programs have been organized in
  many parts of Nepal.

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VI. From Camp IV to the Summit
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• a. Climbing in the Death Zone
• i. Its 3,000 vertical feet from Camp IV to the
  summit at 29,035, taking approximately 12 hours
  to reach the summit and four hours to make the
  descent back to camp, beginning at around 11 P.M.
  The descent is dangerous due to fatigue.
• ii. First, climbers ascend a long, steep ridge
  covered in unstable snow to the South Summit, a
  small dome of snow and ice just below the summit.
• iii. Second, climbers ascend a knife-edge ridge.
• iv. Third, climbers must get over the Hillary
  Step, a rock cliff 40 feet high. Its one of the
  toughest obstacles on Everest.

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South Summit
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Hillary Step
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• b. On Top of the World
• i. From the summit, climbers see Tibet to the
  north and Nepal to the south.
• ii. Summit is the size of a picnic table and
  covered with flags, photographs, offerings from
  previous visitors, used oxygen bottles, and other
  trash.

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• c. Seeking Even Greater Challenges
• i. Some climbers make the ascent without oxygen.
• ii. Some climbers ascend rapidly (8 hour record
  set by a Sherpa in 2004 from Base Camp to
  Summit).
• iii. 2001 first blind person to scale Everest.
• iv. 2003 71 year old Japanese climber became the
  oldest person to reach the summit.
• v. People have skied, snowboarded, and paraglided
  down.
• vi. Some climbers consider the challenge of
  Everest to be one of the Seven Summits, the
  tallest mountains on all seven continents.

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Oldest Person Katsusuke Yanagisawa
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Blind Climber Erik Weihenmeyer
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Snowboarding Everest
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Seven Summits
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VII. Beginning to Think Globally
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• a. Climbers must acclimatize as they ascend Mount
  Everest.
• b. The danger of exposure to extreme weather
  conditions.
• c. Effects of tourism on the Mount Everest
  region.
• d. Tourism raises questions about the carrying
  capacity of the mountain environment.

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VIII. Global Connections
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• a. How does a place become a World Heritage Site?
• i. Countries can nominate special places to be
  included on the World Heritage List, and a
  committee at UNESCO votes.
• ii. Three types of World Heritage sites natural,
  cultural, and mixed.
• iii. Natural sites areas with unique physical
  features (ex Grand Canyon in Arizona).
• iv. Cultural sites great historic, artistic, or
  scientific value. They include monuments, groups
  of buildings, or an old city (ex Indias Taj
  Mahal).
• v. Mixed sites combine natural and cultural
  features (ex the Mayan ruin of Tikal in the
  rainforest of Guatemala).

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• b. What risks do World Heritage sites face today?
• i. Threatened by ethnic conflict or war.
• ii. Endangered by pollution or development.
• iii. Overuse when visitors exceed carrying
  capacity. Danger of being loved to death.

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• c. Why should World Heritage sites be protected?
• i. Sites are among the greatest treasures in the
  world because they represent the wonders of
  nature or the finest expressions of human
  cultural.
• ii. People visit to enjoy their beauty or learn
  more about the history and achievements of
  humankind.
• iii. Protect them to preserve them for ourselves
  and the future.

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World Heritage Sites