One of the most interesting women involved with Mount Everest never climbed a mountain in her life, and never even reached Base Camp. But without Liz Hawley’s seal of approval, you hadn’t climbed the mountains you just claimed you had. Elizabeth “Liz” Hawley became the Kathmandu-based chronicler of all the Himalayan expeditions that came to … Read more
Can you imagine the devastation if Mount Everest was a volcano, and it erupted? The whole of China and India could be covered in lava! Fortunately, this is unlikely to happen. And here’s why: Mount Everest is not a volcano, instead it is a mountain made of sedimentary layers of rock. So the summit of … Read more
Many people are unaware that it was a British expedition that first climbed Mount Everest, in 1953. Or that this was after no less than eight previous British attempts on the mountain. In this article, I will look at the strange British obsession with the world’s highest mountain. Even though the first people to climb … Read more
The first recorded yeti sighting was on Everest 100 years ago. In the course of thirty or so trips to the Himalayas, I’ve heard many tales about the Yeti from Sherpas and they were clearly believers. There are very similar stories from local villagers all along the Himalayas, from Arunachal Pradesh to Ladakh, and even … Read more
Everest is the highest mountain in the world. But it isn’t next to the sea, so how was the measurement of 29,031 feet (8,848m) above sea level arrived at? And who first measured Mount Everest, and why? Mount Everest was measured using imaginary triangles and basic mathematics. Everest was measured by British surveyors, who figured … Read more
Before Mount Everest was “discovered”, there were many mountains in the past presumed to be the highest in the world. One by one, higher mountains were found and measured, until Everest topped them all. So which mountains used to hold the title of tallest in the world? Here’s a list of each mountain that was … Read more
When I climbed Mount Everest in 1993 I saw five dead bodies in the snow along the route. And on my descent, a fellow climber fell to his death. Dead bodies on the mountain are sadly nothing new. But whose was the oldest body on Everest? Norbu Sherpa was the first climber to be killed … Read more
