Here’s an interesting website: Mt Everest History and facts – just all the basic stats for Mt. Everest climbs. It’s amazing what human beings do and can do once someone proves it’s possible, like the 4-minute mile that everyone thought was impossible, and now is practically expected.
| Everest was ‘summitted’ for the first time in recorded history in May of 1953, and since then, we’ve gotten to where there’s close to 200 people a year making it up there, including a blind guy, and a guy with one arm! Some people have skied or snowboarded down now, and one guy came down in 11 minutes on a hang glider. All of this is just further evidence for why I frequently say, ‘what won’t these pathetic, crazy, hairless monkey-creatures think of to do next?’
I’ve actually become aware of this page only because we publish a tape by the blind guy, Eric Weihenmayer, called Touch the Top of the World, available on our website at Audio Editions. |
Don’t let these stats fool you though – in the best year, fully 1/16th of the people who tried to summit died on the mountain.