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Journalism of Courage
WHY NOW?
Kami Rita Sherpa, a 55-year-old Nepali Sherpa guide, broke a record he set last year by scaling Mount Everest for the 31st time on Tuesday (May 27). He led a 22-member team of the Indian Army through the traditional southeast ridge route to scale the world’s highest peak. The group was accompanied by 27 other Sherpas.
The Sherpas are a Tibetan ethnic group hailing from the Himalayan regions of India, Nepal and Tibet. The term is Tibetan for ‘people from the East’.
Sherpas have been valued for their guidance and knowledge, especially of use to climbers who aim to scale the Himalayas and Mount Everest. Their valued status has also been recognised by the G20 grouping, which has dubbed each country’s delegate a “Sherpa” for their role in facilitating discussion and agreements for the final summit with Heads of Government and State.
New Zealander mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb the Everest in 1953.
Kami Rita, or the ‘Everest Man’, holds the world record in climbing Everest. He first scaled the peak in 1994 as a guide on a commercial expedition. He has since climbed the mountain at least once a year.
The world’s highest mountain, at 8,848.86 metres high or around 29,030 feet, is located in Nepal. It is also known as Sagarmata in Nepal and Qomolangma, and is revered by Hindus and Buddhists as a sacred peak.
While mountaineers have long set their sights on scaling the peak, the momentum to scale Everest picked up in the 19th century once alpinists, or European mountaineers, had successfully climbed about every significant peak in Europe.
In the iconic words of George Mallory, the veteran climber regarded as the best of his era, “Because it’s there.” Mallory and Sandy Irvine undertook the ill-fated 1924 expedition and have been speculated to be the first to reach the summit. However, the duo did not survive the expedition, with their bodies found years later.
Adults aged over 18, who have completed basic and advanced courses in mountaineering from recognised training institutes, are eligible. They are required to exhibit above-average physical and mental fitness.
Experts have maintained that only those with four to five years of experience trekking in the Himalayas, including a few peaks at heights over 7,000 metres, should attempt to climb Everest.
The Nepal Tourism Board approves applications, and the climbing season, the period best suited for the task, lasts three months, ending May 31.
DO MOUNTAINEERS SCALE ALL 8,000+ KM?
Not usually. Most climbers commence their expedition from one of two base camps: the North Base Camp in Tibet, at a height of 5,150 metres (16,900 feet), or the more frequented Southern Base Camp in Nepal, at a height of 5,364 metres (17,598 feet).
The first person to climb Everest from sea level to the peak was the Australian Tim Macartney-Snape, who began the trek from Gangasagar along the Bay of Bengal in February 1990, and reached the peak on May 11, 1990. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he climbed via the Normal Route, alone without the assistance of sherpas, fellow climbers or bottled oxygen.
