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.
