Scaling
Mt.Everest
Pushing one's limit !
On
May 19, 2012, a 73-year old Japanese woman , Tamae Watanabe
, reached the peak for the second time. She did scaled the
peak when she was 63 year's old. So why do human's take
on this treacheorous adventure? Is it because it is there?
Such a feat has to be achieved against various odds - extreme
weather, lack of oxygen, exhaustion, frost bite, frozen
caverns, dangerous ice falls such as Khumbu ice fall. Don't
discount the fact that it costs a lot of money to plan such
an expedition. As Edmund Hillary rightly said "Strong
motivation is the most important factor in getting you to
the top". Every year approximately 4000 people attempt
to scale the mountain but only around 1500 has reached the
summit so far.
In
this brain tickler section, let us explore some interesting
aspects of the highest point on earth. Check yourself.
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What does the word "Everest" means?
a. God's mountain
b. Highest in excellence
c. Eponymn - a word based on a person
d. Beyond human's limit
Answer: [c]
Mt.Everest is named after the British Surveyor General of
India Sir. George Everest who helped in recording the location
and height of Peak 15 (later named as Mt.Everest) in 1875.
Even though it is known as Mt.Everest for the world, it
is known as "Sagarmatha (means: Goddess of the Sky)"
in Nepal, "Chomolungma" or "Qomolangma (means:
mother goddess of the universe)" in Tibet, "Shèngmu
Feng (means: mother godess of the universe)" in Chinese
and "Deodungha (means: Holy Mountain)" in Darjeeling.
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Do you know Mt. Everest is not the tallest
mountain on the earth. One of the following mountain is
taller than Mt.Everest. Find which one.
a. K2
b. Kangchenchunga
c. Nangaparbhat
d. Mauna Kea
Answer: [d]
The height of Mauna Kea is 10,200m from base however 5995m
is below sea and only 4205m is above the sea. Mt.Everest
is 8848m above the sea and none below sea.
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While the success rate for scaling Mt.Everest
is very low, one Nepali climber could not really understand
what the big fuss is about! He scaled the peak multiple
times and holds the highest record for reaching Mt.Everest
mutiple times. Do you know how many times he scaled
the peak?
a. 7
b. 9
c. 11
d. 13
Answer: [c]
Nepal's Apa Sherpa, has climbed Everest 11 times so
far. So what is the big fuss! How come he is not as
popular as many of our other celebrities?
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Many of us can only imagine reaching the
summit of Mt.Everest. How do you think the summit will
look like?
a. a peak covered with snow
b. a rocky peak
c. a wide slope for two men to go side by side
d. a lump of feathery snow
Answer: [d]
While the pictures floating around makes us believe that
the summit could be a peak covered with snow it is really
a wide slope for two men to go side by side. This is what
Tenzing wrote in his book "Tiger of the Snows, The
Autobiography of Tenzing of Everest", "We are
back among the snowy humps. They are curving off to the
right, and each time we pass one I wonder, "Is the
next the last one? Is the next the last?" Finally
we reach a place where we can see past the humps, and
beyond them is the great open sky and brown plains. We
are looking down the far side of the mountain upon Tibet.
Ahead of us now is only one more hump—the last hump.
It is not a pinnacle. The way to it is an easy slope,
wide enough for two men to go side by side. About
thirty feet away we stop for a minute and look up. Then
we go on...."
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Which of the following things you think might
be TRUE?
a. a couple married at the top of the mountain
b. a mountaineer stayed at the summit for 21 and half hours
c. one mountaineer descended the summit in a record 11 minutes
d. Both India and Nepal claimed Tenzing to be its citizen
once he conquered the summit
Answer: [a],[b],[c],[d]
a. Nepalese Mona Mulepati and Pem Dorje Sherpa
married at the top of the mountain on May 30th 2005
b. Babu Chiri Sherpa stayed at the summit for 21.5 hours.
c. Mr. Jean-Marc Boivin of France descended from the top
to bottom in just 11 minutes by paragliding in 1988.
d. There was much controversy and political intrigue after
Tenzing's summit of Everest. Nepalese government wanted
him to claim he was Nepalese while the Indian government
wanted him to say he was an Indian citizen. In fact, he
was both. As he said to the press at the time: "I was
born in the womb of Nepal and raised in the lap of India."
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