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Geopolitics

On 60th Anniversary Of Reaching Summit, Mount Everest By the Numbers

Worldcrunch

SAGARMATHA - Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay ascending to the highest point on earth - the summit of Mount Everest. Since May 29, 1953, an estimated 4,000 alpinists have climbed to the ‘roof of the world.’ We have crunched Everest, by the numbers...

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8,848 - The height of Mount Everest in meters.

5 - The New Zealand Dollar bill on which Hillary appears. He is the only New Zealander to appear on a banknote during his own lifetime.

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5 - Average number of days to make the climb (after a month adjusting to the altitude at base camp)

11 - The time of the quickest descent ever. In 1988, Frenchman Jean-Marc Boivin paraglided from the summit to the base in just 11 minutes.

350 - The number of meters between the final Camp Nine and the summit.

11:30 - The time of morning Hillary and Norgay reached the summit. They left from Camp Nine at 6:30 a.m..

14 - The number of kilograms Hillary and Norgay carried on their backs to the top.

-19 - The average summit temperature (in Celsius) in July. (-2 Fahrenheit)

15 - The highest number of fatalities recorded on the mountain in one year (1996).

21 - The number of times Apa Sherpa has reached the summit.

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Apa Sherpa. Photo by Mogens Engelund

29 - The age of Chhurim, the Nepalese mountaineer who climbed Everest twice in one week (May 12 and 19 2012).

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Guinness World Record holder, Chhurim. Photo by S2 krish

50 - On the fiftieth anniversary of their fathers’ ascent to the summit, Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay took part in an expedition on Everest.

80 - The age of Yuichiro Miura, the oldest man to climb to the top. He completed the ascent last week for a third time.

90 - The average number of breaths per minute at Base Camp One.

148 - The number of years since the mountain was given its official English name after former British Surveyor General of India, George Everest (pronounced EEV-rist).

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The view from Base Camp. Photo by Athn

219 - The total number of recorded fatalities on the mountain since 1922.

410 - The number of people in largest expedition to ever climb the mountain- a group from China.

500 - The number of people who have already climbed the mountain this year.

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Base Camp One. Photo by Mahatma4711

6,705 - A jumping spider manages to survive up to 6705 meters on the mountain.

35,000 - Cost. An Everest climb starts at $35,000, with mountain permits alone beginning at $10,000 (the price varies based on the number in the expedition). In addition, a virtual village of Sherpas—porters, cooks, and guides—is required to get you to the top, says Time.

12 Million - The amount of dollars taken in during Spring 2012’s expeditions, according to National Geographic.

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