To Inspire People to Achieve their Dreams
On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay scaled the peaks of Mound Everest, becoming the first humans to do so. Since 2008, the day has been observed as International Everest Day to commemorate the event. The significance of International Everest Day extends beyond celebrating their historic feat. It serves as an opportunity to inspire people to pursue their dreams. The year 2024 will celebrate the 70th anniversary of this momentous achievement. As of December 2023, 6,664 different people have climbed Mount Everest. 799 of them are women. 544 Indians have climbed the peak. Nepal, the USA and India have the highest number of summits by different climbers. More than 300 people are known to have died on Everest, and an estimated 200 of their bodies remain there because they were too hard to retrieve. Mount Everest is to be known as Sagar-Matha (Sanskrit name). The significance of Mount Everest Day is to inspire people to achieve their dreams and to raise awareness about the importance of the environment. Climb your own personal Everest. Complete a task you have always wanted to accomplish.
The Significance of Mount Everest Day
is to Inspire People to Achieve their Dreams.
It is the early morning of May 29, 1953. Two mountaineering enthusiasts got up early in the morning. They got ready to achieve something no human has achieved till then. Yes, it is about Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s journey of the final few hundred feet to reach the peak of Mount Everest. They stumbled upon a challenging rock face. Hillary found a way to climb (the step is now called Hillary’s Step). Both completed the journey and were the first human beings to conquer Everest. Since 2008, the day has been observed as International Everest Day to commemorate the event. The significance of International Everest Day extends beyond celebrating their historic feat. It serves as an opportunity to inspire people to pursue their dreams. It raises awareness about the importance of the environment. Climbing Mount Everest is incredibly challenging, taking approximately two months to climb. The year 2024 will celebrate the 70th anniversary of this momentous achievement. Hillary’s passion for adventure is enormous. In addition to being the first person to climb Mount Everest, he has reached both the South and North Poles. Hillary and Tenzing came from humble backgrounds, one being a beekeeper and the other a helper.
Mount Everest, situated in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and between Nepal and China, stands as the highest mountain in the world. There were numerous attempts to climb Mount Everest, mainly from the Chinese side. Edmund and Tenzing, who attempted to climb from the southern Nepali side, succeeded in climbing Mount Everest. Before this, two other expeditions got close, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, in 1924. They died during the exploration, and there is no proof that they climbed the peak or not.
As of December 2023, 6,664 different people have climbed Mount Everest. 799 of them are women. 544 Indians have climbed the peak. Nepal, the USA and India have the highest number of summits by different climbers, 1,856, 783 and 544, respectively. Purnima Shrestha, a woman mountaineer who reached the peak of Mount Everest three times in just 14 days, from May 12 to May 25, 2024. She climbed earlier once, making her a unique woman who could climb it four times. The year also saw the world’s fastest ascent by a woman (Nepali climber Phunjo Lamam in 14 hours and 31 minutes). Kami Rita Sherpa (Everest Man) reached the peak for a record 30th time, three decades after his first summit. People with disabilities also endured the pain and reached the peak, one of them being Erik Weihenmayer, the first visually impaired person to reach the summit. These efforts reflect humans’ determination to endure the challenges and achieve their goals.
More than 300 people are known to have died on Everest, and an estimated 200 of their bodies remain there because they were too hard to retrieve. The year passed by has seen a grim record of 18 people dying. Latest to join the casualty list is an Indian climber, Banshi Lal, aged 46, who was rescued from Everest last week. All the deaths occur at an elevation higher than 8,000 meters, known as the “death zone”. Thin air and low oxygen levels enhance the risk of altitude sickness.
It has been reported that Mount Everest formed when India’s continental plate collided with Asia’s plate approximately 60 million years ago. Tectonic plate shifting is still occurring, so Mount Everest grows by about 44 millimetres yearly. Its elevation is 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (established in 2020). The height of the mountain need not necessarily indicate the difficulty of climbing it. Annapurna, the tenth-highest peak globally, has a 40% summit fatality rate. Mount Everest is not the tallest peak in the world. It is Mauna Kea (in Hawaii), and though it is 10,200 meters tall, most of it is underwater.
Even though the mountain peaks in the Himalayan region carry names like Kanchenjunga and Dhaulagiri, the Peak XV is called Mount Everest. Its Sanskrit name is Sagar-Matha. The Tibetan name is Qomolangma (holy mother). Siting the reason for not being able to find commonly used local names, the Peak XV was named Everest after the surveyor Sir George Everest in 1865. People attribute Indian mathematician and surveyor Radhanath Sikdar to being the first to identify the mountain known as Peak XV.
Accumulated waste is a problem mounting for Everest, human waste in particular. In recent times, expeditions began using improvised toilets. In addition to human waste, there is the accumulation of anodyne waste. The Nepali government has devised a novel approach of asking the climbers to bring back the waste when they descend the mountain. It is time for stringent steps to be implemented before it becomes too late.
The significance of Mount Everest Day is to inspire people to achieve their dreams and to raise awareness about the importance of the environment.
Climb your own personal Everest.
Complete a task you have always wanted
to accomplish.
Toons: Reema
Logs: M Sai Baba
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