Trivia on Mount Everest

Mount Everest, located between the border separating Nepal and China, is the tallest mountain in the world. At 8,848 meters high, it fascinates mountaineers. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norway were credited with being the first to reach the summit on May 29, 1953. It's no surprise, then, that May 29 is designated Mount Everest Day. There have been previous attempts before, but all have been for naught. Some ended on a tragic note, the most notable of which was the 1924 British exhibition led by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine.

Mallory and Irvine were first believed to be the ones who could achieve the record. In fact, Mallory scaled the Alps many times before setting his sights on the Himalayas, a mountain range where many of the world's highest peaks can be found. The native of Mobberley, Cheshire would turn 37 on 1924, which meant time was not on his side. It was now or never, but something happened. Both gentlemen were spotted 800 meters from the summit, never to be seen afterwards. Not a few to wonder if they ever reached the top, which would be Everest's greatest mystery. Mallory's body was discovered seventy five years later, but nothing else was revealed. Irvine's remains were never been found.

After Hillary and Tensing, more people reached the tip of Everest. The list is long, and expect more to scale the alp. Don't be surprised if the success of the 1953 expidition led to the Seven Summits, the ultimate mountaineering challenge. It refers to the eight highest peaks of each of the seven continents, namely Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson (Antarctica), Everest (Asia), Kosciuszko (Australia), Puncak Jaya (Australia Continent), Blanc (Europe), McKinley (North America), and Aconcagua (South America). Everest will always come first.

Here are ten interesting trivia on Mount Everest:

1. In 1856, the mountain was named after George Everest, a Welsh surveyor and geographer who never even set foot on the peak.

2. The first flight over Everest took place in April 1933. Douglas Douglas-Hamilton and fellow pilot David Fowler MacIntyre flew a Westland PV-3 biplane.

3. The last year that no one climbed to the summit was 1974.

4. In 1978, Reinhold Messner was the first to climb the mountain without oxygen, along with Peter Habeler.

5. Peter Hillary, Sir Edmund Hillary's son, climbed the mountain in 1990, making them the first father and son to do so.

6. The worst year on Everest, in terms of deaths, was 1996 when 15 climbers died.

7. The mountain has even been skied down. On October 7, 2000, Davorin Karnicar, a 38-year-old Slovenian, skied almost 3,700 meters back to the south-side Base Camp.

8. The first two men to snowboard down Everest were Marco Siffredi and Stefan Gatt in May 2001.

9. In May 2005, Didier Delsalle claimed to be the first helicopter pilot to land on the summit of Everest.

10. The oldest person to climb Everest is 80 year-old Yuichiro Miura of Japan, which he did last month.