They called her the Sleeping Beauty of Mount Everest. She lay on her back, one arm outflung, with her head pillowed on the eternal snow. Her face, now waxy in death, seemed so perfect that the new name suited her well. Francys Arsentiev reached the summit without oxygen on 22nd May 1998 in company with … Read more
Leo Oración claims to have been the first Filipino to reach the summit of Mount Everest, asserting that he did so on the South Col route on May 17, 2006 when he was 32 years old. But then so does Filipino Dale Abenojar, who claims he got to the top two days earlier from the … Read more
The great nation of India has a deep fascination with Mount Everest and has given us many fine mountaineers. We hear a great deal about the first Indian men to climb Everest, but who was the first Indian woman to climb the world’s highest mountain? The first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest was Bachendri … Read more
To be the first climber from your country to climb Mount Everest is a great ambition. But to be the first woman from your country is even harder to achieve. Stacey Allison was the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, arriving there on September 29, 1988. She showed all the usual … Read more
Many climbers dream of summiting Mount Everest, but to be the first to do so from your own country is a very special ambition. When answering the question: “who was the first Indian summiteer?” it is important to make the distinction between Indian born, and Indian citizen. Avtar Singh Cheema was the first Indian-born man … Read more
After Mount Everest was climbed, mountaineers around the world scrambled to be the first from their country to climb the world’s highest mountain. The first American man to climb Mount Everest was Jim Whittaker, reaching the summit by the South Col route on May 1, 1963. He was born on February 10, 1929 which made … Read more
Tenzing Norgay was named by Time magazine as one of 100 most influential people of the Twentieth Century, being one of the two climbers who are known to have first reached the summit of Mount Everest. Despite that huge achievement it is fair to say that he had mixed feelings about it. His huge fame … Read more
We Western climbers are very quick to make sure our Mount Everest climb to the summit is recorded. But what about the Sherpa and other Nepali climbers who put in all the ropes, carry all our stuff and then lead us to the top? Who records how many Sherpas have climbed Everest? The simple, scandalous … Read more
In 2006 I met David Sharp at Advanced Base Camp on Mount Everest and later listened on the radio to his discovery by members of my expedition. I was there filming a series for the Discovery channel about expedition leader Russell Brice’s commercial trips. The working title was a comment on the situation that has … Read more
George Mallory was an English mountaineer who became obsessed with becoming the first person to climb Mount Everest. He disappeared on the mountain in 1924. I decided to look for his body in 1969 and my Mallory and Irvine Research expedition found Mallory in 1999. George Mallory’s body was discovered on the North side of … Read more
