Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. It is located in the Himalayan Mountain Range between Nepal and Tibet. Its elevation is roughly 8,844 meters tall, although this claim remains disputed by the two nations.
Pre-Doomsday[]
Everest was first recorded in 1721 in an atlas at the behest of Emperor Kangxi of China under the Qing dynasty. Its original name of Tibetan origin was Qomolangma.
The British began surveying the mountain in the early 1800's during the early colonization of the Indian subcontinent under the rule of the British East India Company. Surveying the mountain proved difficult due to the outbreak of several bacterial diseases at the time. Despite these conditions, the British Surveyor General Andrew Waugh dispatched James Nicolson to study the area in 1849. While Nicolson could not continue due to a malarial infection, his calculations were later used by Indian mathematician Radhanath Sikdar to prove Everest as the world's highest peak three years later.
Several attempts were made to climb the peak in the 20th century. British expeditioners George Mallory and Guy Bullock were the first to ascend the northern face of the mountain in 1921, reaching a height of 7,005 meters. Mallory would continue his attempts to summit Everest for three more times, all unsuccessful. In 1933, a British baroness funded a flyover of the summit in what would be known as the Houston Everest Flight of 1933. This would be the first time anyone would see the peak of the mountain until the 1950's.
In 1953, a British expedition led by John Hunt selected four people which he grouped in pairs with the task of reaching the summit. The first pair came within 100 meters of the summit but stopped short due to oxygen problems. The second pair, two days later, achieved their goal at 11:30 on the 29th of May. The Auckland born expeditioner Edmund Hillary along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who had previously attempted the climb with a Swiss team the year prior, had become the first people to summit the tallest mountain in the world. All three men were given honors by the United Kingdom. Hunt and Hillary were each knighted by Queen Elizabeth II the same year, with Hillary becoming a founding member of the Order of New Zealand.
Many accomplishments would later be made on future expeditions. In 1970, Japanese alpinist Yuichiro Miura became the first man to ski down the mountain. He would sustain severe injuries but ultimately survive the endeavor. In 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Everest. In 1978, Reinhold Messner (a South Tyrolian) and Peter Habeler (an Austrian) would become the first to ascend Everest without supplemental oxygen.
Doomsday[]
Three expeditions were being led to the top of Everest, one American and two Japanese expeditions respectively. Contact with the base had been made by each group in late September, although many refused to turn back due to the honor that came with the title of being the last people to summit Everest. On October 8, three Americans by the names of Kim Momb, Lou Reichart, and Carlos Buhler became the first people to summit the mountain along the eastern face. They had reportedly shocked one of the Japanese groups that were traveling shortly behind them. Sadly, many in the Japanese groups including the leader of the Yeti Dojin expedition, Hiroshi Yoshino, would not make it back alive. The men that survived these expeditions would all contact their respective embassies in Kathmandu in November of 1983.
Post-Doomsday[]
Climbing to the summit of Mount Everest has not been attempted by anyone since 1983 until two expeditions led by Indian Hukam Singh and New Zealander Rob Hall in 1992. Both men were determined to bring forth a new era of climbing in a time of rapid de-globalization. Sir Edmund Hillary commended Hall for his actions later that year.
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