The King of All Climbs: Exploring Mount Everest

In 1852, the ‘Great Trigonometric Survey’ of India proclaimed Mt. Everest the largest mountain in the world. Named after the Welsh geographer, George Everest, the mountain stands at 29,029 ft. climbing the mountain was a dream shared by explorers everywhere all, but any effort to do so had to wait until 1921 when the reclusive kingdom of Tibet finally began to interact with the outside world.

Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal, and the north-ridge from Tibet. The southeast is the more popular and easier route and most attempts are made here during the month of May, before the summer monsoon season. In June 1924, two British mountaineers, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, attempted to reach the peak. Sadly both men got engulfed in a storm and disappeared. Mallory’s body was discovered 75 years later, but it could not be determined whether he made it to the summit before his death.

Many early attempts to climb Everest were severely marred by the limited access the Chinese authorities gave outsiders following the 1950 Tibetan occupation. However, when a Swiss expedition was granted permission from Nepal in 1952, a new record in climbing altitude was set at 8,000 feet. The first excursion to reach the very top was in 1953 when a ninth British effort finally achieved the much sought after record. When news reached England, the expedition team were instantly given knighthoods from the newly appointed Queen Elizabeth 2nd.

Figures published in 2010 show there has so far been a total of 5,104 successful summit expeditions with a staggering 77% of these ascents having occurred since 2000. A trek to the peak has been achieved every year since 1975. Kilimanjaro is not one of the more technically difficult mountains to climb, but it is deadly in other ways, as a number of natural hazards are frequent on Everest expeditions, such as avalanches, crevasses, sudden storms and temperatures below 40°F.

While climbing Everest is a mission solely for professionals with years of training, there are a number of other mountains that are equally as satisfying to climb, yet not nearly as deadly. A trek up Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the safest and fulfilling feats of mountain expedition available. You can be guaranteed the experience of a lifetime with trained professional always on hand to help you with the trek.