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lust for Everest

Sixty-four years after the first successful ascent to the world's highest summit, the giant siren continues to call. Hundreds answer, a few do not return

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When exploration and mountaineering took off in the late 1800s, it was the domain of a select few. Most considered these to be eccentric men, whose heroics were only acknowledged at a later time.

Once the high mountains were discovered and measured, it set off a chain reaction as each country sent out their best climbers in a bid to get to the top first. While Annapurna was the first of the 14 8,000-metre peaks to be climbed in 1950, all eyes were still on Everest after it had been recorded as the highest of them all. It explains why there was a hullabaloo surrounding its first ascent by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. On May 29, it will be 64 years to that day when the duo stepped on top of Everest; not much has changed since.

Enlisting as an Everester

Even today, climbing Everest brings the same glamour that it did back in the day. And to think there are 13 other mountains over 8,000 metres out there and some that are harder to climb despite being lower. But there is little glory there. Getting to the top of Everest enlists one on the ever-growing list of Everesters; on the contrary, have you ever heard of a K2er or any such moniker attached to a person following the successful ascent of another mountain?

No longer lonely at the top

The definition of what one can call a mountaineer too has evolved over a period of time. Back in the day, most of these were folks who set out for a mountain stood below it to figure out a possible way to the top. There were times when a route could not be found as a result of which, they had to come back the following season to attend to the unfinished business. Once commercial expeditions to Everest started in the early 90s, all that changed.

Some members of the mountaineering community, who were disgruntled at the commercialisation of these virgin territories, labelled these paying clients as high altitude tourists. Each mountaineering agency bragged of an informally derived success ratio, depending on how many clients they put on top. These days, most ascents bank on the ropes laid out by a team of Sherpas called route openers, which extend from base camp all the way to the top.

"Pretty soon, climbing Everest will be like a trip over a long weekend, where these so called 'climbers' will be dropped high up on the mountain, and reach the top using all the aid they can get before descending in the same way they got there and flying out again," believes Cathy O'Dowd, the first South African to climb Everest in 1996.

The rush to the summit

As the number of climbers increased, so did the Sherpas or high altitude guides who accompanied them to the top. With so many people on the mountain, accidents were bound to happen and when the weather turned, it became a death trap of sorts, especially for those who were inexperienced and were on the mountain only because they could cough up the ridiculous sums upward of $45,000 (approximately Rs 29 lakh). When there's that kind of money at stake, it can lead to a lot of desperation to achieve success. It is a serious cause for concern in conditions where the human body degenerates every minute and the mind is unable to think rationally under duress of physical strain that one experiences in the perpetually thinning atmosphere. At times, there's little that can be done but pray and await any news that comes from the slopes.

One of these situations struck the mountain in 1996, when a storm wiped out 16 climbers.

Get it right or perish

In 2014, an accident in the Khumbu Icefall region (just beyond Everest Base Camp) killed 17 Sherpas. Worse was to come the following year when the earthquake struck Nepal, and all expeditions were cancelled after a deadly avalanche wiped out Everest Base Camp.

What the Nepal government then did was to validate the permits of the climbers from 2015 for another two years, given that each climber had paid up to $11,000 (Rs 7,09,000) for it. As a result, there are a record 371 permits issued for the current season, though so far, none of the 10 deaths on the mountain have been attributed to crowding. One of them was India's Ravi Kumar, who reportedly fell to his death while descending from the summit.

His body was spotted by Sherpas some 200 metres below the Balcony — a feature at 8,200 metres on Everest. And it will lie there alongside the many others who perished in what is called the Death Zone (over 8,000 metres), from where it is impossible to retrieve anyone who is unable to walk under his own strength. The cold is so intense in these environs that a body is preserved for years and today act as natural markers. The best known is Green Boots (see right) — an Indian climber, Tsewang Paljor, whose green boots were a familiar sight in a cave quite close to the summit, until the body disappeared, perhaps in an avalanche.

Heightened risks

The world’s highest summit is punctuated by death traps at every level. There’s an estimated average of one death per 10 ascents

Base Camp

Located at 17,7000 ft, it’s a 10 to 17-day trek to the camp located in the Sagarmatha National Park. Up here, oxygen levels already fall to 50 % of sea level. There’s risk of High Altitude Sickness, but the highest risk comes from hygiene challenges. The camp is crowded and waste is not disposed off properly, so gastrointestinal diseases are common.

Khumbu Icefall

Just above base camp, at 17,999 ft, global warming shaves house-sized blocks of ice and snow off the Khumbu Glacier. The glacier advances 3 to 4ft down the mountain every day, at such speed that large crevasses open up suddenly. These have to be traversed using ladders that lie across them. Some crevasses are covered by a layer of fresh ice and snow, and are not visible, causing climbers to fall through. Climbers aim to pass this area in the wee hours of the morning after the glacier has frozen overnight. By afternoon, there’s ‘dusting’ – clouds of displaced snow and ice — that blinds climbers. There is risk of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema and Cerebral Edema at this level.

Descent riskier than Ascent

Most climbers die while coming down the Summit. The high elevation, lack of oxygen and fatigue makes them give in to the ‘reward’ of resting for a bit, making them vulnerable to icefalls and hypothermia.
The most famous example is British adventurer David Sharp, who took a moment to sit down under an overhang below the summit in 2006, after climbing down from the peak. He began freezing in place on the coldest night of the season. Climbers trudged past him, taking him to be dead already, or not attempting to evacuate him due to lack of resources. He was claimed by hypoxia.

The Death zone

At 26,247 ft, where oxygen levels are 30 per cent of what the human body would breathe at sea-level, lies the area where most casualties on Everest take place – the Death Zone.

Hillary Step

At 28,750 feet, a 39-foot wall of rock and ice is the last obstacle before the top. The Hillary Step stands at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees and is overcome using fixed ropes. Increasing number of climbers jams this point, with a line-up of two hours or more. This uses up oxygen, drops body temperature, exposes them to frostbite, hypothermia and hampers decision-making skills.

Ecological battering

An estimated 30,000 trekkers visit the Sagarmathan national park surrounding Mt Everest. Each visitor is accompanied by one or two porter and guides. In 2016, according to the Himalayan Database, 641 climbers made it the summit. All of this traffic generates about 50 tonnes of waste every year in an eco-system without an efficient solid waste management. Decades of ambition have embedded the snowscape with faecal banks and streams of excrement that are regurgitated by the glaciers. At higher levels, snow is melted for drinking water. There have been efforts by expedition operators to bring down their waste with them from the lower camps. The quickest solution would be to limit permits, but the local economy relies heavily on tourism.

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