Bravehearts Write New Records on Mt Everest


By Sudeshna Sarkar

Kathmandu, May 7 (IANS) Braving torrential winds and vagaries of the weather, adventurous climbers have begun summiting Mt Everest, the highest peak in the world, in an unusually early accomplishment this year.

The first successful climb occurred Thursday and by early Saturday, a total of 13 people had stood on the 8,848-metre peak, the majority of them Sherpas.

Of the 11 Sherpas who have reached the top this season, the most illustrious name is that of Phurba Tashi Sherpa Mendewa, who now holds the record of achieving the feat 18 times.

In 2007 alone, Phurba had climbed the peak thrice.

The first non-Sherpa Everest hero of this season is England-born Adrian Ballinger, a professional Everest guide, whose ascent Thursday becomes his fourth conquest of the world's highest peak.

He was followed by Charlie Wittmack, an American attorney and adventurer, who reached the peak Friday, making it his second ascent.

At 9.50 a.m. Saturday, braving gale-like winds, two Brazilians pulled off the feat -- Carlos Canellas and Carlos Santalena, together with their Sherpas, Sherap Gyalzen and Pasang Rita.

Santalena, 24, becomes the youngest Brazilian to have scaled Mt Everest.

There are more than two dozen expeditions heading for Mt Everest from Nepal this season with more climbers aspiring to set new records. They include Nepal's former foreign minister Shailendra Kumar Upadhayay, who at 82, will become the world's oldest Everest hero if he succeeds, and legendary climber Apa Sherpa, who is trying to best his own record of having summited Mt Everest the highest number of times: 20.

For the first time, the Indian Air Force has sent an 11-member women's expedition led by Wing Commander Bhawana Mehra.

The IAF team is currently in the Everest base camp and Camp II, located above 6,000 metres, getting acclimatised.

They are expected to make their attempt next week.

Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, the first men to conquer Mt Everest, had achieved the feat May 29, 1953.

The subsequent ascents were made after May 20 but this time, there have been quicker summits due to better coordination between the expeditions, Ang Tshering said.

"Due to the improved coordination, the ropes (to help climbers) were laid down much earlier," he said. "In the past, it was only after the teams reached the base camp that they would decide who would contribute how much and the work would start only then."

The Everest and 13 other high Himalayan peaks are said to be in the Death Zone, the altitude above 8,000 metres where breathing becomes difficult due to the scarcity of oxygen in the rarefied air, having claimed scores of lives.

Mt Everest got its first victim Sunday, even before the conquests started, when a 55-year-old American, Rick Hitch, died while acclimatising between Camp II and III.

  

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