Just in case it's passed you by, this year marks the 50th
Anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest by the mighty
British Everest Expedition of 1953, the summiteers, of course, being a
Kiwi and a Sherpa.
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'We knocked the b*stard up!
(oops) classic view of Everest from Kalar Patar
the mountain is the rocky pyramid on the left, what a
pllaver about a rocky pyramid eh.
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To mark this momentous anniversary, we're going to produce an
all-singing, all-dancing special Everest section of the site,
complete with all the latest Everest news, a virtual ascent of the
mountain, interviews with main movers in the history of Himalayan
climbing, dozens of pictures of Everest, erm... just joking.
In fact someone else got there first and we didn't think it was
worthwhile duplicating all that hard work, so instead, here's E for
Everest, our guide to what's out there if you fancy an extended
Everest browsing session on and off the computer. It's not
comprehensive, but it should prevent you from paying full and total
attention to your work for a good couple of hours.
So here goes...
Everest
News
Want to know what's going down on the mountain right now? There's
one obvious stopping off point on the web and it's the excellent
everestnews.com.
It's had a minor makeover this year, but it's not slick and it's not
lavish.
What it does have is daily updated news direct from the mountain
and a well-established inside track to the main movers in the Everest
circus with individual updates from most of the main expeditions on
the mountain.
In case you were wondering, teams are close to the summit, but
conditions are poor today, Friday, so climbers are holding back for a
day.
It's not just Everest either - lots of news about other Himalayan
peaks too, archives of previous years news back to 1999, interviews
with top Himalayan climbers and more.
In a high altitude nutshell: If you want to know what's
happening now, this is the obvious place to be.
Everest.net
Everest.net is a climber-run site providing a wealth of Everest information, there's up to the minute reports from the mountain, summit videos, details of all the expeditions, other anniversary related news stories and loads more. It's well worth checking out.
In a high altitude nutshell: Great place for the latest news and summit video clips.
National
Geographic
The May 2003 issue of National Geographic magazine was an Everest
Special complete with free pull-out map of the mountain and it was excellent. Don't forget the web site though, there's a load of
Everest stuff there too, though slightly confusingly, it's split
between the magazine site and the related TV site.
You'll be wanting the May
2003 magazine archive which features a manouverable 3D Quicktime
view from the summit, a movie ascent, sights and sounds of the
Sherpas, Ed Viesturs on video talking about the physiology of
climbing the mountain and a load more.
In a high altitude nutshell: Imaginative and innovative use
of web resources. Top stuff.
Outside
Magazine - Into Thin Air
Unlike British outdoor mags, American magazine Outside archives
its past content on the web with each issue appearing as the next one
pops up on the shelves. And not surprisingly, it's not escaped their
attention that this is the 50th Anniversary year.
To mark it, they've collected some of their best Everest articles
and stuck them in one place under the title Solid--Gold Everest.
Here's the link,
but if there's one thing you shouldn't miss, it's Jon Krakauer's
orginal article about the 1996 Everest tragedy which formed the basis
for his best-selling book 'Into Thin Air'. Krakauer went to Everest
with the Rob Hall team as Outside's reporter - the magazine paid for
him to take part as a client - and he was up there and involved as the
events unfolded.
If you've read Boukreev's book 'The Climb', you'll be aware that
some of what Krakauer says is controversial, but it's still worth
reading. As are the other articles here including a profile of
Hillary, Krakauer's one year on retrospective, the take on base camp
and more.
In a high altitude nutshell: Excellent outdoor writing that
originally featured in the magazine. Put the kettle on pet.
Geographical
Magazine
The entire May issue of Geographical is an Everest special and,
we're told, very good too. Not much on the web site though, bar
this
page, so if you want to read it, you'd best buy the magazine.
Sorry.
In a high altitude nutshell: You'd best buy the magazine.
The
Times
The Times ran its own Everest special supplement on 15 May and
most of it is up on the web site as well.
Real Everest freaks though should note that the newspaper is
planning an eight-page souvenir broadsheet for 29 May which will
include previously unpublished images and archive material as well as
facsimile reports of the expedition as published in 1953. Neat.
Anyway, here's the online
Everest special.
In a high altitude nutshell: Surprisingly good and with a
strong historical bent. The broadsheet special should be worth
getting hold of too.
Mount
Everest Foundation
The organisation set up to further mountaineering on Everest has a
special 50th anniversary section as you'd expect, it's purpose is
mainly to promote a special 'Endeavour On Everest' Show at the Odeon
Leicester Square. Hosted by Sir David Attenborough CH, FRS and
Stephen Venables who will interview some of the veterans of 1953 and
excerpts from the 1953 film The Conquest of Everest.
The evening performance is sold out - the Queen's going along yer
know - but there are still some tickets for the matinee performance
if you fancy throwing a sicky and tucking into a little slice of
history here
are the details.
In a high altitude nutshell: Not much on the web, but the
Leicester Square event should be fascinating.
National
Mountaineering Exhibition
As we reported recently, the NME at Rheged in Cumbria has been
revamped for the anniversary with 'the largest ever collection of
Everest material on display including original artifacts, graphics,
photography and film to tell the mountain's story. Visitors will also
have the chance to take part in a competition to win a trek to
Everest Base Camp with KE Adventure Travel.
There are also a series of Everest lectures both in May and June
and, of course, you can see the awesome Imax Everest film, which is
worth a visit in itself. Full details and links in our earlier
story.
In a high altitude nutshell: Humbling and astonishing
experience. Warning: seeing the kit that the 1953 guys used may make
you feel drastically overprivileged...
OUTDOORSmagic
The little known UK outdoors web site may be occasionally silly,
but has actually carried some interesting Everest material.
In particular, this
feature with photos of the Everest Base Camp trek might just
light your trekking fire.
We take a dispassionate look at what you'd actually need to do if
you wanted to climb Everest starting as a rank beginner in Beginners'
Guide To Everest then interviewed a man who attempted to do just
that and almost died above the South Col as a result in 'Everest
- The Inexperienced Way'.
We've also profiled Tashi
Tenzing, the grandson of first ascentist, Tenzing Norgay, who we
met and trekked with in Nepal. Tashi's now climbed the mountain twice
and is the third generation of his family to stand on the summit.
And last but not least, or maybe least, in the last
ever Leeside, the inimitable Alastair Lee gave Everest the
benefit of his unique and somewhat bizarre vision.
In a high altitude nutshell: We try our best.
And if you think that's it...
Well, maybe for now, but expect more Everest stuff coming to a web
site near you soon...
