source Discovery channel
MOUNTAINEERING
Home to eight of the world's ten highest mountains, Nepal has long been a Mecca for mountaineers, both professionals and ambitious amateurs.
The shattering force of the tectonic collision, which formed the Nepal Himalaya, gave birth to eight of the world's fourteen 8,000-metre (26,250-ft) mountains and eight of the ten highest mountains in the world. These huge mountain masses range eastwards from Dhaulagiri to form a natural frontier with Nepal's neighbors. Everest and Cho Oyu border with Tibet, with Tibet, while Kanchenjunga shares its multi- summited crest with Indian state of Sikkim. The history of the ascents of these awesome 8,000-metre mountains by teams from an increasing number of developed and emerging nations reflects the importance today of ''sporting'' success. as yardsticks of national and personal achievement, Nepal's peaks have become the ultimate playground for the mountaineering elite.
SCALING THE HEIGHTS
The true age of mountaineering began at eh end of the 1940s, when Nepal, and therefore its mountains, was opened up to the outside world. Climbers were quick to take up the challenge. From this point, the development of mountaineering mirrored the evolution of alpine exploration in Europe: early expeditions sought to reach summits by the easiest or most obvious routes. the major difference between Nepal and Europe was that the effort, cost and size were escalated for Himalayan expeditions. Vast armies of climbers, porters and Sherpas marched towards base camps to lay siege to the mountains in question. The expeditions often lasted for months.
Once the virgin summits had been scaled, those at the cutting-edge of mountaineering looked towards more difficult routes on steeper ridges and faces. in recent years, Himalayan endeavour has taken individuals to the very limits of endurance in solo, turbo-charged, record-breaking climbs. the mountains have seen an increasing number of wild performances-flying in hot air balloons or hang gliding and ski descents.
yet, despite predictions for a future of multi ascents and even faster descents, in reality this approach to Himalayan climbing will remain the preserve of the extreme few because of the high level of expertise required. In the meantime, the majority of mountaineers are confined to the traditional approach utilizing fixed camps, fixed ropes,'' tinned'' air, and the help of Sherpas.
EVERST-HIGHEST POINT ON EARTH
the ''mother of the universe'' is known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma (mother goddess or goddess Langma) in Tibet. in 1999 the height of the summit was recalculated, using the global positioning system (GPS) satellite, to be 8,850 meters (29,035ft); previously it had been measured at 8,848 meters (29,028 ft). the increase is due to the movements of the earth's plates' as the Indian plate continues to push into the Eurasian, the Himalayan continue to be thrust upwards.
Everest had challenged the skills of British mountaineers over several decades prior to the opening up of Nepal, although always from the north and without success. The closing of Tibet coincided fortuitously with Nepal's opening, and efforts were renewed to find a way to the top from the south side of the mountain.
The leading lights of British mountaineering were soon probing the corrugated foothills east of Katmandu to find an approach to the Khumbu. Bill Tilman and American Charles Houston traced a way to the foot of the Khumbu icefall in 1950 and a year later Eric Shipton's team went through the icefall to reach the western Cwm. The British, however, were not alone in their endeavour and all but lost the great prize in 1952 when a Swiss expedition gathered from the finest mountaineers of Britain and New Zealand. On the first summit Bid Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon reached the south summit, lying the way open to the top. Two days later, on 29 may 1953, New Zealander Edemund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first people to stand on the summit of the highest mountain in the world. they proudly brought to a close what has been called ''an edwardian quest for the poles of the earth'' and made an auspicious start to the new Elizabethan age as the news reached London for the coronation of queen Elizabeth ii.
KANCHENJUNGA-THIRD HIGHEST
visible in the distant mists from Darjeeling and with access from Sikkim, the history of Kanchenjunga (8,586 metres\28,169 ft), like that of Everest, goes back far beyond the opening of Nepal to foreigners. this mountain is the best documented of all, having been attempted as early as 1905.
Kanchenjunga is vast: some 13 km (8 miles) in length by 8 km (5 miles) wide. After an optimistic British reconnaissance in 1954, the alpine club and the royal geographical society of London dispatched an expedition the following spring, led by Charles Evans. This particularly strong team included George Band, Joe Brown, John Jackson and Tony Streather.
After a hard struggle, plagued by avalanches and not without mishap- a young Sherpa died after falling into a crevasses-band and brown left for the summit, using artificial oxygen, on 25 may 1955. They had chosen a route on the southwest face and, having gained the main ridge, the top lay beyond a tower of grey green rock. Joe Brown, acclaimed as the finest rock climber of his generation. Man aged to overcome this obstacle to reach the easy slope leading to the summit. Next day, two teammates followed in their footsteps.
The four climbers kept a promise made to the Sikkemise not to stand on the sacred credited with the first ascent; Kanchenjunga remained the ''untrodden peak''.
LHOTSE-FOURTH HIGHEST
for a long time the fourth peak, Lhotse (8,516 metres\27,940 ft), had no separate identity from its dominating neighbour to the north, mount Everest. Even its name, which translates as ''south peak'', implies it is not a mountain in its own right. Once Nepal opened fro the south Lhotse forms an enormous mountain wall.
Although un attempted until 1953, Norman Dyhrenfurth had identified a route to the summit from the south Col of Everest. European and us assaults did not make much impact until spring 1956 when a Swiss expedition established a base camp beneath the Khumbu icefall. Poor weather hampered progress, but on 18 may Swiss climbers Ernest Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger reached the summit of the world's fourth highest peak.
The most recent star in the firmament of Himalayan climbing was thought to be Tomocesen from Yugoslavia, who at first confounded his peers by climbing the massive south face of Lhotse in April 1990. The 30 year-old sports journalist claimed he had climbed not only without fixed camps or bottled oxygen but also entirely alone, with very little fixed rope and in the amazing total elapsed time of 45 hours and 20 minutes from the bottom of the face to the summit. This is now widely disbelieved, however, following an investigation by Yugoslavian mountaineering experts. This has in turn led to many of cesen's earlier claims being discredited. Lhotse's south face was successfully climbed in the autumn of 1990, however, by a large Russian expedition consisting of 17 mountaineers an d13 Sherpas; two soviet members, Sergeibershov and Vladimir Kareataev reached the summit on 16 October.
Note Daunting Face. The south face of Lhotse is ranked as "amongst the most difficult in the world". As Reinhold Messner wrote in 1977" . ...... This vertical face may well be impossible."
MAKALU-FIFTH HIGHEST
Makalu (8,463 metres\27,766ft), in eastern Nepal, is the highest peak between Everest and kanchenjunga and is a mountain of exceptional beauty. As with Annapurna i.e. the French have laid claim to Makalu, although us and Newzealand teams had explored the region earlier the same year. The French reconnaissance party headed by jean Franco visited the mountain in1954, returning a year later with an expedition consisting of the very best guides alpinist France could muster, among them Jean Couzy, Lionel Terray, Guido Magnone and serge coupe. they were also ably supported by an expedition doctor, geologists, some 23 Sherpas and an army of no less than 315 porters.
Their route to camp 5 on the Makalu la proved technically very difficult and required a large amount of fixed rope. From there, they were able to traverse easy slopes on the north side. a steep couloir led to the knife-edged ridge leading to the summit, first reached on 15 may 1955 by Couzy and Terray. in total eight Frenchmen and one Sherpa reached the summit that year.
This outstandingly successful expedition was a combination of a strong, well-organized and highly motivated team aided by the finest equipment and blessed with good weather providing ideal climbing conditions. The latter is critical to success on 8,000-metre mountains.
CHO OYU-SIXTH HIGHEST
Cho Oyu (8,201 metres\26,906 ft) rises 32 km (20 miles) west of Everest. Known as the ''goddess of turquoise'', it was the third of Nepal's 8,000-metre peaks to e climbed.
The first reconnaissance took place in 1951, followed a year later by the British Cho Oyu expedition led by Eric Shipton. Once again this was an experienced team including many who were to take part in the first ascent of Everest. From the Nangpa La, the traditional yak trade route to Tibet, a route was found that looked feasible, though the north flank was out of bounds in closed Tibet.
In 1954 a Viennese author, Dr Herbert Tichy, put together an expedition which proved the exception to the rule that 8,000-metre mountains needed large scale expeditions. With only two European companions he organized a lightweight party very much in keeping with the ''small is beautiful'' philosophy expounded by Tilman and Shipton. Accompanied by half a dozen Sherpas they left Namche Bazar for the Nangpa La in late September. Finding a way through the icefall they established a high camp but a storm drove them down and left Tichy with frostbitten hands.
In the meantime two members of a Swiss\ French expedition to Gauri Shankar arrived at base camp, hoping to ''poach'' Cho Oyu. though not yet fully recuperated, the Austrians were driven back onto the mountain and an epic ascent followed. Unable to use his damaged hands, Tichy had to be helped over the rock band, but at 3pm on 19 October 1954 the summit was reached by Tichy, Sepp Joechler and Pasang Dawa Lama. It was the first ascent of an 8,000-metre peak in Nepal without the use of artificial oxygen.
Note Peak of Joy. On reaching Cho Oyu's summit, Tichy left ".... a sense of complete harmony such as we had never known before, an almost unearthly sense of Joy - worth far more than a few frozen fingers."
DHAULAGIRI 1-SEVENTH HIGHEST
This spectacular peak's name means, benignly enough, the ''white mountain'', but Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres\26,795 ft) has come to be known as the mountain of storms and sorrows.
Although first of the 8,000-metre peaks to be attempted by the French in 1950, who abandoned their bid in favour of Annapurna I, ironically it was the very last 8,000-metre peak in Nepal to be climbed.
Seven expeditions attempted Dhaulagiri, including one sponsored by president Peron of Argentina, but it was not until 1960 that a massive Swiss attempt was successful via the northeast spur. supplied by a small glacier plane piloted by Ernst Saxer, the expedition finally ended the ''golden decade'' of Nepal's giants by putting two Europeans and two Sherpas on the summit on 23 may 1960.
MANASLU-EIGHTH HIGHEST
if Europeans can lay claim to many of the Himalayan giants, Manaslu (8,163 meters\ 26,781 ft) is determinedly an Asian mountain. not only was it first climbed by a Japanese expeditions, but a high number of Nepalese, Japanese and south Korean lives have been lost on this daunting mountain whose name means ''soul'' in Sanskrit. During two days of avalanches during the spring of 1972, in the largest death toll yet on any Nepalese peak, 15 men lost their lives.
the mountain itself is stunning; the highest of a cluster of glorious summits including peak 29 (Ngadi Himal) and Himal Chuli, Manaslu stands in splendid isolation, between the Annapurna range and Ganesh Himal.
between 1953 and 1956 the Japanese mountaineering elite served their Himalayan apprenticeship by making several attempts on manaslu. in 1956 the venerable 62-year-old expedition leader, Yuka Maki, approached via the Buri Gandaki. The Japanese set about climbing the northeast face, despite some disputes with the local villagers. Toshio Imanishi and sirdar Gyalzen Norbu Sherpa reached the rocky pinnacle of the summit by midday on 9 may.
Annapurna I - Tenth Highest
Annpurna I (8091 m) metres/26545ft was the first 8,000 metre mountain to be climbed when, in 1950, a strong French expedition, led by the north face. Having failed to find a way up Dhaulagiri, they had turned their attention to the tenth highest peak.
The team included such notable Chamonix guide as Gaston Rebuffat, Lionel Terray and Louis Lachenal. Lachenal and Herzog reached series of mishaps almost turned success into disaster. Herzog suffered severe frostbiting during an epic descent, resulting in amputations. Despite this, their success is generally credited with heralding the beginning of the "Golden Decade" of Nepal's 8,000 metre mountains.
The Everest 1996 Disaster And IMAX film
Despite its size and perilous conditions, Everest is now big business. Tibet and China have opened the peak to tourism, charging climbers up to $65,000 to be walked to the top, often regardless of their expertise. On 11 may 1996, however, The Mountain's worst disaster took place, which may go some way to halt this dangerous onslaught.
In spring 1996, 14 groups from 11 countries swarmed team, Base camp, including a 26 - member New Zealand team, headed by Rob Hall, a US group led by Scott Fisher and teams from Japan. South Africa and Taiwan. Though the south ridge is barely wide enough to accommodate one climber at a time, 33 people planned to climb to the top the same day. This human "traffic Jam", combined with an unpredicted blizzard, led to tragedy. Hall and Fischer were among the eight who perished along with tow Sherpas, two clients and two other leaders.
The disaster, one of the worst in climbing history, became the subject of TV specials and books, notably the bestseller into Thin Air by survivor Jon Krakauer. Also on the mountain that week were film-makers David Breashears and Ed Viesturs, there to capture the ascent on the realistic IMAX format film. Unwittingly, their film, completed on the summit on 23 may, tells not the story of Everest, but the tragedy that unfolded on the 12 days earlier.
Problems at high altitude
Heroic feats by some of the world’s finest mountaineers has led the way for more amateur climbers eager to test their skills on Nepal’s highest peaks, but scaling such heights has its own, very specific problems. Will I make it up Kala Pattar (5,545 metres/18,192 ft) or over Throng La (5,416 metres/17,769 ft)? These are the questions that begin months before the trip. Some people have never hiked in a true mountain atmosphere, and have no experience with felling breathless walking uphill. Others have been to 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) or more, and wonder what an additional 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) in altitude will add to the exertion. Although these questions are valid (some people will find it too difficult to get to these heights at all), it is important heights are just at the base of the peaks in the Himalaya.
At Mount Everest Base Camp (5,357 metres/17,575 ft) the amount of oxygen in each breath is half of sea level. At the top of Everest this has shrunk to one third of that at sea level. The tiny amount of oxygen in each breath at that altitude was at one time one time though to be inadequate to support human exertion, and that therefore the summit could not be reached without carrying and breathing supplemental oxygen. This was the felling of many scientists prior to 1978, when Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler set off from the Base Camp of Everest with no artificial oxygen and went all the way to the summit. Some people even doubted their claims when they came down, so convinced were they that it was impossible! Messner put the issue to rest two years later when he left Base Camp on the Tibet side of Everest all alone without oxygen, and went to the summit and back in four days.
Messner himself, the first man to climb all of the earth’s 148,000 meter peaks, speaks of the environment above 8,000 meters (26,250 ft ) as the “death Zone” . At these heights the body cannot adjust, it can only slowly deteriorate. Thinking is slowed and neurological function is impaired (and remains impaired for months after descent). You inevitably lose weight, both fat and muscle, and along with that you lose strength. Panting rapidly in the high dry air cause you to lose liters of fluid that must be painstakingly replaced by chopping, melting it on a stove, forcing the lukewarm result past parched lips, spending up to four or five hours a day replacing what has been lost. Four or five day above 8,000 meters (26,250 ft) is the most time that a human has spent at that height and survival; people have perished who have tried to stay longer, trapped by storms or delayed by injuries. In a sense, they “vanished” into thin air.
Human beings evolved genetically at sea level. Yet the potential to adapt to even these great heights is built in to our bodies. Breathing automatically accelerates and red cell production is increased to carry more oxygen. Other, as yet undefined, changes also facilitate carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues that need it. If you were deposited by helicopter at the summit of Everest, without prior acclimatization and without artificial oxygen, you would lose consciousness within minutes and die within hours. The fact that an acclimatized person can live and function at that height is a genetic miracle. Further mystery is added by the discovery that the summit of Everest is probably exactly the limit that a human being could go on earth without supplemental oxygen. In other words, the highest point on the planet is the highest point at which a human being could survive.
The weather at high altitude cal also changes abruptly. Winds can exceed 200 kph (125 mph) and temperatures drop far below freezing. Frostbite is a constant risk, but stopping to warm frozen toes or fingers can be impossible in precarious, exposed situations. The throat and lungs become parched and coughing becomes severe and uncontrollable. Climbers have been known to break their ribs during severe coughing spells and have had to climb down unassisted with this additional pain.
Coping with altitude
The speed at which the human body can adapt to altitude is limited by a condition known as acute mountain sickness (AMS). This results when you ascend to altitude faster than you’re when body can adjust. Initially you have headaches, nausea and tiredness, but the symptoms can progress to coma or fluid on the lungs. Usually this process takes several days. Dr Charles Clarke, the British climber and physician, fells that this process may be even more accelerated at high altitude. Case reports suggest that a milder, preventable form of AMS may prevail at altitudes up to 5,500 meters (18,000 ft), what Dr Clarke refers to as the “mountain sickness of acclimatization”. Above that height, the syndrome can sometimes strike with devastating speed and often gets worse even as the victim struggles to descend. He calls this the “mountain sickness of extreme altitude”.
Climbers are always trying to strike a balance between spending sufficient time adapting to altitude and safeguarding the route, whilst trying to restrict the time spent at high altitude to a minimum. However, as climbers attempt to ascend more quickly, minimizing exposure to altitude and weather, they are liable to succumb to the sudden onset of severe altitude sickness.
Physical fitness also plays a large role in helping climbers at extreme altitude. Most mountaineers who have ambitions to climb high already have some success and experience in scaling lesser peaks and have a high degree of fitness. World-Class mountaineers moreover have a different concept of fitness compared to ordinary people. At what many would think was the end of a hard day’s climbing, these strong men and women say, “it’s not dark for half an hour yet, let’s climb..”, However, even these great athletes are leveled by exposure to altitudes above 8,000 meters (26,250 ft) . Messner has stated that fitness no longer matters at these heights; it is willpower and experience alone, from there to the summit and back.
What does this mean for the Himalayan trekker? Suddenly 5,500 meters (18,000 ft) does not seem so high. If you have an interest in hiking, do it regularly and are willing to take time adjust as you gain altitude, you have every chance of being able to comfortably gain your trekking goal. Not allowing enough time is the road to defeat in the Himalaya. Although the air is thin, you can be quite comfortable at rest at 5,500 meters (18,000 ft), only noticing the altitude when you start to walk uphill. The air is clean and dry, the sky is a deep blue and surrounding walls are white and massive. These moderate heights (by Himalayan standards) are an environment to be enjoyed rather than a goal to be accomplished. For a few days, your worldly problems can be left behind as your mind soar free.
Note Rates of Ascent The recommended rate of ascent is 500 meters (1,650 ft) per day at altitude above 3,000 meters (10,000 ft). Beyond 5,000 meters (16,500 ft) more caution is required.
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