The Top of the World

1
The Top of the World

• Getting to the summit is optional getting down
  is mandatory
• Ed Viesturs

2
Statistics

• Everest is 29,035 feet high.
• Everest is moving northeast at a rate of 2.4
  inches a year.
• Temperatures can fall below -60F.
• Wind speeds can approach 120 mph.

3
Climbing Everest

• Everest is usually climbed in spring.
• Climbers spend up to a month becoming acclimated.
• From base camp to summit and back can take over
  six weeks.
• Between 300 and 400 climbers and support staff
  gather at Everest Base Camp each year.

4
Risky Business

• Climbing Everest is extremely dangerous.
• Altitude sickness causes many to return without
  reaching the summit.
• Weather can change abruptly into life-threatening
  storms.
• For every five who make the attempt, one person
  dies.

5
Tough Terrain

• Khumbu Ice Fall, 17,600 feet
• Massive crevasses and fissures in moving ice
• Yellow Band, 25,000 feet
• Transition from ice/snow to rock
• South Col, 26,000 feet
• Severe winds
• Hillary Step, 28,750 feet
• 40-foot section of rock, ice, and snow

6
Record Book

• First ascent Hillary and Norgay, 1953
• First ascent without oxygen Messner and Habeler,
  1978
• First ascent by a woman Tabei, 1975