Written by Kyle Slagley
Earlier this week I read a news story that, while brief, was
amazingly inspirational. Eli Reimer, a 15-year-old young man from Oregon, has
become the first teenager with Downs Syndrome to reach Mount Everest Base Camp.
The South Base Camp in Nepal is at an elevation of 17,598 feet above sea level
and the climb is no small feat for even the fittest of adults.
The story got me thinking about all the stories that have
come from Everest over the years. According to the website wisegeek.com, as of
2011, over 3100 people have been recorded as summiting Mt. Everest, while over
220 have died in the attempt. It is worth noting that the elevation difference
between the South Base Camp and the Summit is still over 11,000 feet.
There have been some great memoirs written about Everest and
her climbers over the years. Perhaps the most famous climber in Everest’s
history, George Mallory, may not have made it to the summit at all. In 1924,
Mallory died on the mountain, and since the last time he was seen was 800 feet
below the summit, it has never been determined whether he died going up, or was
one of the dozens that died in the descent. In
Climbing Everest, Mallory takes the
reader with him on each of his three attempts to summit the mountain. For the
further story,
The Wildest Dream is a documentary
that was released in 2010 and gives mountaineer Conrad Anker’s firsthand
account of discovering George Mallory’s body on the North Face of Mt. Everest
over 2000 feet below the summit.
The fatality rate for climbers has dropped dramatically in
the past couple decades thanks to advances in the equipment. Unfortunately,
however, gear is only part of the equation. Like many extreme sports, the
weather is an uncontrollable and often unpredictable variable, and in May of
1996, eight people would die after a massive storm bore down on three
expeditions of climbers.
Into Thin Air was written by
Jon
Krakauer, who was on assignment from
Outside
magazine. His party lost four climbers—one guide and three clients. Published a
year later,
The Climb was written by guide
Anatoli Boukreev, whose party lost one guide that same day.
For a more inspirational look at the attempts on Everest,
look no further than
Touch the Top of the World by Erik
Weihenmayer. In May 2001, Weihenmayer became the first blind person to summit
the world’s tallest peak, and this documentary chronicles his life.
Finally, if you happen to have it on the shelves already,
pull out The Boy Who Conquered Everest:
The Jordan Romero Story, by Katharine Blanc and Jordan Romero. Not only did
Romero become the youngest person to summit Everest at 13 years, 10 months, 10
days of age, he also became the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits at
age 15 years, 5 months, 12 days. The Seven Summits consist of the highest
points of elevation on all seven continents in the world, and it is likely that
his record will remain unbroken for the foreseeable future, now that Nepal and
China no longer issue licenses to climb Everest to climbers under age 16.