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12. Mount Everest: Scaling the heights
Rising 29,031.7 feet (8,848.86 meters) above sea level, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas, the China-Nepal border runs across its summit point.
In 1953, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay made history by accomplishing the first successful documented ascent of the lofty peak via the southeast ridge route.
Beginning in 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary (1919 – 2008)_devoted himself to assisting the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he established. He is credited with the construction of many schools and hospitals in Nepal. Hillary had numerous honors conferred upon him, such as the Order of the Garter in 1995, the most senior order of knighthood in the British honors system.
He is also credited with having said “Because it’s there” in response to the question “Why did you climb Everest?” However, that is not the case. It was actually said by British climber George Leigh Mallory three decades earlier as he prepared to scale the world’s highest peak. On that third attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1924, Mallory perished along with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine.
To date, it is recorded that at least 310 people have died in their attempt to reach the top of Mount Everest.
The Tibetan name for the formidable mountain formation is Chomolungma, which means “Mother Goddess of the World.” The Nepali name is Sagarmatha, which means m “Goddess of the Sky.”
In 1865, the Royal Geographical Society renamed the mountain Mount Everest in honor of Sir George Everest, the Welsh-born British surveyor and geographer who served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.
As a monumental peak and the ultimate challenge for the intrepid adventurer, Mount Everest has naturally been the subject of many a stunning film, mostly documentary. The list includes the following: The Epic of Everest (1924); The Conquest of Everest(1953); The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975); Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997); The Wildest Dream (2010); Beyond the Edge (2013); Sherpa (2015); Poorna: Courage Has No Limit (2017); The Climbers (2019).
In popular culture, the term “Everest” had become a metaphor for facing a daunting challenge. For example, it was used as such in an episode of the sitcom Friends (which
HOT had been airing seemingly non-stop). It’s Thanksgiving, and as most of the gang is off turkey, Monica (Courtney Cox) is not planning to cook one that year. But Joey (Matt Leblanc) insists, as “Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without a turkey,” so she prepares a 19-pound bird just for him. Priding himself on upholding his family’s tradition of being able to consume large amounts of food, he approaches the platter and, addressing the immense glazed turkey, says: “You are my Everest.” Of course, he manages to eat the whole thing – and still has room for dessert.
In another sitcom, reference is made to another mammoth mountain – Mount Kilimanjaro. A dormant volcano located in Tanzania, it is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the world. It rises 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) above sea level and about 16,100 feet (4,900 meters) above its plateau base.
In an episode of Home Improvement, Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) is talking to his neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), who is a veritable fount of knowledge and experience. Wilson says that one of his ambitions is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. To which Tim responds, “I wouldn’t want to climb any mountain whose name starts with ‘Kill a man.’”