Brief History of Mountaineering in Nepal
Everest is a holy mountain in Nepal and is called "Chomolongma" meaning "Goddess of the Winds" by the Sherpas who reside in it's lap, and "Sagarmatha" by Nepalese People meaning "Head of the Ocean". You can see that Everest is more than just the tallest mountain in the world; it means a whole lot more to many people other than those who attempt to climb it!
Following is a brief list of events related to this mountain.
| 1841 | A Surveyor General from India, Sir George Everest, surveys and records the location of the mountain. |
| 1848 | Peak B, later to be renamed peak XV was surveyed and the official height recorded at 30,200 feet. The reading was taken from a distance of 110 miles. |
| 1852 | The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India determines the Peak XV is the highest mountain in the world. |
| 1856 | Surveyor Andrew Waugh completes the first height measurement, declaring Everest to be 8,840 meters high. |
| 1865 | Peak XV re-named Mt. Everest to honor Sir George Everest, the Surveyor General of India. |
| 1903 | Sir Francis Younghusband leads a British army Expedition to Lhasa in hope to be the first to climb Everest. |
| 1904 | The first ever recorded photograph of Everest is taken from a Tibetan village 94 miles away. |
| 1913 | A British military captain by the name of John Noel enters Tibet at a time when foreigners were forbidden. He searches for a route to Everest and gets within 40 miles. Unfortunately he comes across another mountain range between him and Everest and has to abort the mission. |
| 1920 | The Dalai Lama opens Tibet to outsiders. A British party explores a route to Everest from the North. |
| 1921 | First unsuccessful attempt to climb Everest by the British expedition. |
| 1922 | The first reported deaths on Everest of seven Sherpas from Nepal who perished in an avalanche. |
| 1924 | The allure of Everest begins when a British team lead by Lt. Col. Norton reaches 8580 meters without oxygen. George Mallory and Andrew Irvine where on this expedition and were last seen above Camp 1 making an attempt for the summit. Neither climbers were ever seen again and it still remains a mystery today if they reached the top or not. |
| 1931 | The first Mount Everest Committee is formed. |
| 1933 | First flight over Mount Everest by two British Westland bi-planes. The 4th British Expedition returns unsuccessful. |
| 1934 | Maurice Wilson solo attempts to reach the summit - his body is later found at 6400 meters. Still it is unknown if he was on the way up or down. |
| 1935 | Tenzing Sherpa's first trip to Everest as a porter on a British expedition lead by Eric Shipton. |
| 1936 | Sixth British Expedition with Hugh Ruttledge returning as Leader. |
| 1938 | Seventh British unsuccessful Expedition led by Bill Tilman. |
| 1947 | Canadian-born Briton Earl Denman attempts to illegally climb Everest from the north-side along with Sherpa Ang Dawa and Tenzing Norgay. |
| 1949 | Nepal opens up Everest for foreign expeditions for the first time ever. |
| 1950 | The Chinese invade Tibet, and Tibet falls under Chinese rule. Everest expeditions are closed from Tibet side of the mountain. |
| 1951 | Danish Klavs Becker-Larsen attempts to climb from northern route without permission. |
| 1951 | A failed post-monsoon exploration led by Eric Shipton returns. |
| 1952 | Swiss Expedition sponsored by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research including Tenzing Norgay and Raymond Lambert attempt Everest via the South-East Ridge Route turning around very high but before the South Summit. |
| 1953 | First successful Summit of Everest by Tenzing Norgay & Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) via the South-East Ridge Route. |
| 1955 | The height of Everest is adjusted to 8,848 meters. |
| 1956 | Swiss Everest/Lhotse Expedition led by A. Eggler. |
| 1960 | Chinese and Tibetan team of 214 men and women, led by Shih Chan-chun makes the first summit of Everest via the North Col and Northeast Ridge. |
| 1962 | Illegal four-men expedition led by the American Woodrow Wilson Sayre following the pre-war British route up the North Col and NE Ridge. Second Indian Expedition with Major John Dias as leader. |
| 1963 | James Whittaker reaches the Summit of Everest becoming the first American to do so. The first ascent of the Everest from the West Ridge. |
| 1965 | Nawang Gombu becomes the first person to Summit Everest twice. Both of his Summits were via the South East Ridge. |
| 1966-1969 | Nepal is closed to mountaineering during this politically tense period involving antagonists India and China. |
| 1970 | Japanese SW Face Expedition led by the seventy-year old veteran Saburo Matsukata. Japanese Ski Expedition. |
| 1971 | International Expedition. Norman Dyhrenfurth leads an expedition with thirty climbers from thirteen different countries. |
| 1973 | Sambhu Tamang of Nepal summits at the age of 16 years becoming youngest climber ever. It is later believed that Sambhu was 18. Success is achieved on the South Col route when Hisahi Ishiguro and Yasuo Kato reach the summit, the first post-monsoon success on the mountain. |
| 1975 | Japanese Ladies Expedition led by Mrs Eiko Hisana. On May 16 Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to reach the summit via the South-East Ridge. A Tibetan woman, Phantog, becomes the second woman to summit Everest and the first woman to summit from the Tibet side. |
| 1978 | First Ascent without bottled oxygen by Peter Habeler from Austria and Reinhold Messner from Italy. Wanda Rutkiewicz becomes the first European woman and the third woman in the row to summit Everest. |
| 1979 | The first woman, Hannelore Schmatz, dies on Everest descending from the Summit after becoming only the 4th woman to Summit. China opens up the north side (Tibet) again to western climbers. Andrej Stremfeli and Nejc Zaplotnik Summit via the West ridge and descend via the Hornbein. |
| 1980 | First Winter ascent made by Polands Krzysztof Wielicki. Reinhold Messner from Italy makes a solo ascent, he climbed for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6500 meters without the use of artificial oxygen via the North Col/North Face route. |
| 1982 | Laurie Skreslet became the first Canadian to reach the Summit. |
| 1988 | Marc Batard, a Frenchman, sets the speed record on Everest on the South East Ridge route from EBC to the Summit in 22.5 hours. |
| 1988 | The First American Woman, Stacey Allison reaches the Summit of Everest. |
| 1990 | First Married Couple to summit together from Slovenia. Son of Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter, makes a successful summit. |
| 1992 | The first time in history that two brothers have reached the summit of Everest together. |
| 1993 | The first Nepalese woman, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, summits Everest but sadly dies descending from the Summit. |
| 1995 | The first ascent of the Northeast Ridge, completed by Kiyoshi Furuno (Japan), Shigeki Imoto (Japan), Dawa Tshering Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, and Nima Sherpa. George Mallory, grandson of George Leigh Mallory, reaches the Summit of Everest. |
| 1996 | Rob Hall and 14 others die on Everest, the most number of deaths in a single year. |
| 1999 | Lev Sarkisov became the oldest man to summit Everest. His record was later broken. Babu Chiri Sherpa spent 21 hours and 30 minutes on the Summit of Everest. George Mallory's body is found by an expedition lead by Eric Simonson. The National Geographic Society revised the elevation of Everest to 8850 meters. Nepal does not accept the revised elevation. |
| 2000 | Babu Chiri Sherpa makes the record fastest summit from base camp to Summit via South East Ridge in 16 hrs 56 min. Apa Sherpa makes his 11th summit. Oldest woman Anna Czerwinska, climbed Everest from Nepal side. Davo Karnicar makes the first true Ski descent of Everest. |
| 2001 | Roche Bertrand and his wife Claire Bernier Roche flew together on a tandem paraglider from the North side Summit of Everest. Marco Siffredi on his Snowboard completed the first-ever descent of Everest on a snowboard from the Summit to ABC. 16 year old Temba Tsheri Sherpa become the youngest person to Summit Everest. American Sherman Bull, at age 64, is the oldest person to summit Mount Everest. American Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first ever blind person to Summit Everest. |