First ascent of Everest

Earth’s highest mountain was first conquered

at 11:30 a.m. on 29 May 1953, when the summit

was reached by Edmund Percival Hillary (NZ)

and Tenzing Norgay (IND/Tibet). The successful

expedition was led by Colonel John Hunt (UK).

The first ascent of Everest without

supplementary oxygen was completed by

Reinhold Messner (ITA) and Peter Habeler

(AUT) on 8 May 1978. This is regarded by

some mountaineers as the first “true” ascent

of Everest, since overcoming the effects of

altitude (i.e., the low oxygen content of air) is the

greatest challenge facing high-altitude climbers.

Fastest ascent of Everest and K2

without supplementary oxygen

Karl Unterkircher (ITA) summitted the world’s

two tallest mountains in 63 days, finishing at

the top of K2 on 26 Jul 2004.

The fastest ascent of Everest and K2

without supplementary oxygen (female)

is 92 days, achieved on 13 Aug 1995 by Alison

Hargreaves (UK, see opposite).

The fastest ascent of Everest and K2 by

a married couple without supplementary

oxygen is 295 days, by Nives Meroi and

Romano Benet (both ITA). They completed

the two climbs on 17 May 2007.

First person to climb all 8,000‑m mountains

Reinhold Messner became the first person to

climb the world’s 14 mountains over 8,000 m

(26,246 ft) when he summitted Lhotse (8,516 m;

27,939 ft), on the border of Nepal and Tibet, on

16 Oct 1986. In doing so, he also became the

first person to climb all 8,000‑m mountains

without supplementary oxygen. As of 2017,

only 14 other climbers have achieved this feat.

First climb of Saser Kangri II

A Japanese-Indian expedition summitted the

north-west peak of the Indian mountain on

7 Sep 1985, but the higher south-east peak

(7,518 m; 24,665 ft) wasn’t reached until 24 Aug

2011, by Mark Richey, Steve Swenson and Freddie

Wilkinson (all USA). Until then, Saser Kangri II had

been the second-highest unclimbed mountain

after Kangkar Pünzum (aka Gangkhar Puensum;

7,570 m; 24,836 ft) in Bhutan (see left).

Mountaineering

JOURNEYS

OLDEST PERSON

TO CLIMB MOUNT

KILIMANJARO

Angela Vorobeva

(RUS, b. 4 Feb

1929) summitted

Mount Kilimanjaro

in Tanzania aged

86 years 267 days.

Her expedition left

Londorossi Gate

(2,360 m; 7,742 ft) on

23 Oct 2015, reaching

Uhuru Peak (5,895 m;

19,340 ft) on 29 Oct.

The oldest man

to climb Mount

Kilimanjaro is

Robert Wheeler (USA,

b. 15 Mar 1929). He

reached the summit

on 2 Oct 2014, aged

85 years 201 days.

FIRST ASCENT OF EVEREST (FEMALE)

On 20 Oct 2016, Junko Tabei (JPN, b. 22 Sep 1939)

passed away at the age of 77. The trailblazing

mountaineer reached the summit of Everest

on 16 May 1975 (far left). En route, she survived

an avalanche that buried her expedition’s camp

in snow and knocked her unconscious for 6 min.

Tabei was also the first female to climb the Seven

Summits. She achieved this by topping Puncak Jaya

(or Carstensz Pyramid) in Indonesia on 28 Jun 1992,

before completing both the Kosciuszko and Carstensz

lists by climbing Russia’s Mount Elbrus on 28 Jul 1992.

First person to climb the Seven Summits

The highest mountains on each of the

continents are known as the Seven Summits.

Patrick Morrow (CAN) completed the Carstensz

list (which recognizes Puncak Jaya in Indonesia

as the highest point in Oceania, as opposed to

Mount Kosciuszko in Australia) on 5 Aug 1986.

The first person to climb the Seven

Summits (Kosciuszko list) was Richard “Dick”

Bass (USA), who finished on 30 Apr 1985.

Youngest person to climb

the Seven Summits

Johnny Collinson (USA, b. 29 Mar 1992) reached

the peak of Vinson Massif in Antarctica on 18 Jan

2010, aged 17 years 295 days. It had taken him

exactly a year to climb the highest mountain

on every continent.

Jordan Romero (USA, b. 12 Jul 1996) was aged

15 years 165 days when he completed the Seven

Summits on 24 Dec 2011. However, given the

dangerous nature of mountaineering, Guinness

World Records does not accept applications

from climbers under the age of 16.

Most Snow Leopard awards won

Boris Korshunov (RUS, b. 31 Aug 1935) won nine

Snow Leopard awards (see opposite) between

1981 and 2004 – two with the original four-

mountain list, and seven with the current five-

mountain list. He was aged 69 when he received

his ninth award in 2004, making him the oldest

person to win the Snow Leopard award.

Fastest time to climb

the North Face of the Eiger (solo)

On 16 Nov 2015, Ueli Steck (CHE) scaled the

north face of the Eiger, in the Swiss Alps, along

the Heckmair route in 2 hr 22 min 50 sec. This

was his third speed record on the Eiger, after

those achieved in 2007 and 2008.

Most nationalities on Everest in one season

During the spring climbing season of 2013,

661 ascents of Everest were recorded by

climbers from 46 nations. The largest group

by nationality was Nepali, with 362 climbers.

In Nepal, Mount Everest is known as Sagarmāthā, which

translates as “Forehead in the Sky”.

The 2016 climbing season

on the Nepalese side of

Everest (Apr–May)

in figures:

34

289

5

20+

$11,000

$15 m

11 May

23 May

Teams at base camp by the

start of the season

Climbing permits issued,

with a further 265 extended

from 2015. Two permits were

issued for the south-west

face; all others were for the

standard route.

reported deaths

cases of reported frostbite

Cost of a climbing

permit (£7,523)

generated for the Nepali

economy (£10.26 m)

First recorded summit of the

season, achieved by nine

Nepali climbers

Last recorded summit

of the season

In Bhutan,

climbing mountains

higher than 6,000

m

(19,685

ft) has been

prohibited on religious

grounds since 1994. For

this reason, Kangkar

Pünzum might never

be climbed.

Q: How many of the 169

true mountains above

7,000 m remain unclimbed?

A: 10

EVEREST 2016