Two days later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its second climbing pair, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali sherpa climber from Darjeeling, India. They reached the summit at 1130 local time on 29 May 1953 via the South Col Route.60 yrs. on, nowhere (not even the top of the world)is safe from the depredations of the miserable species that has deluded itself that it dominates this planet. Not only have they covered Mt. Everest in their litter, they've self-littered the mountain.
An hour above high camp on the Southeast Ridge of Everest, Panuru Sherpa and I passed the first body. The dead climber was on his side, as if napping in the snow, his head half covered by the hood of his parka, goose down blowing from holes torn in his insulated pants. Ten minutes later we stepped around another body, her torso shrouded in a Canadian flag, an abandoned oxygen bottle holding down the flapping fabric.
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Photograph by Kristoffer Erickson Climbers file past the body of Shriya Shah-Klorfine, a 33-year-old Nepali Canadian who died on May 19. Shah-Klorfine collapsed during her descent from the summit. |
Elde, the Norwegian summiteer, said relations between Sherpas and climbers in general had been "superb". He also said longstanding problems with rubbish on the mountain and particularly at base camp appeared largely to have been resolved.w/ the NatGeo article. NG does not have as positive an attitude.
(Both the Guardian & NG have links to related, possibly not uninteresting items.)
*More "authentic"
Sir Edmund Hillary is widely regarded as history's third greatest New Zealander.
ReplyDeleteKnow what those climbers need? Handguns.
ReplyDeleteSouthern Hemisphere Editor Agrees:
ReplyDeleteAn armed mtn. is indeed a polite mtn.
The negro version.
ReplyDelete