Geographical articles from May 2003

Geographical archives from May 2003

Everest 1953-2003: celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first ascent. (Cover Story).(Cover Story)
May 1, 2003... THE TIMES The Times has a long history of reporting and supporting human endeavour on the world's highest mountain. It was The Times reporter James (now Jan) Morris who, as a member of the 1953 British expedition, famously broke the news...

Everest: spirit of adventure.(50th anniversary of British expedition's arrival at the summit of Mount Everest)(Editorial)
May 1, 2003... I was standing to attention on a parade ground at RAF Hednesford in the Midlands when I first heard that Everest had been climbed. Compared with my own climbing exploits, this was a world away, and it wasn't until 1961 that the world's highest...

Locating Mount Everest.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... MOUNT EVEREST IS SITUATED IN THE KHUMBU REGION OF NEPAL TO THE NORTHEAST OF KATHMANDU. THE WORLD'S HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IS PART OF THE HIMALAYA, A 2,400-KILOMETRE CHAIN THAT STRETCHES FROM KASHMIR TO ASSAM

A brief history of Everest: Paul Deegan chronicles some of the significant events in our interaction with the world's highest mountain.(Chronology)
May 1, 2003... 1847 The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India undertakes a set of triangulations of Nepal from India. Most of the peaks are unnamed and are allocated a variety of letters. 1852 The triangulations are processed and Peak XV is...

Portraits of success: Paul Deegan introduces the members of the 1953 British Everest expedition.(profiles of John Hunt, expedition leader, Charles Evans, and Edmund Hillary)
May 1, 2003... 1 John Hunt 42, EXPEDITION LEADER An unexpected choice as leader, Colonel Henry Cecil John Hunt replaced the vastly experienced Eric Shipton, who was considered to lack the necessary skills to launch a heavyweight `siege-style' assault on...

The route to the top: Colonel John Hunt's careful step-by-step ascent was the key to the 1953 expedition's success.(Mount Everest)
May 1, 2003... HUNT'S PLAN WAS TO TAKE THE MOUNTAIN IN STAGES, ascending in incremental steps and establishing camps that would act as rest and/or resupply points along the way. Once Base Camp was established on 12 April, the team members set about searching...

The first ascent: although Hillary and Tenzing were the triumphant two who first reached Everest's summit, their success was born of leader Colonel John Hunt's meticulous planning and the generous team spirit of their fellow climbers. Images from the royal geographical society's Everest Archive tell the story of the party's historic climb.
May 1, 2003... The march towards Base Camp Hillary's Sherpa party loaded with supplies en route to Base Camp on 19 April 1953.The expedition leader, Colonel John Hunt, planned the `siege-style' assault with military precision. In all, 473 packages...

A day in an Everest diary: the Everest team members each kept their own records of the 1953 expedition. This excerpt from a diary by Wilfred Noyce is a lively account of expedition life, which describes the trials of eating, sleeping and climbing at high altitude. Apparently unpublished, it was unearthed in the RGS archives during research for this special issue.(Excerpt)
May 1, 2003... Camp III (20,500 feet approx, at the top of the icefall). Very end of April. Wakened 6.30 with a cup of tea. This is projected through the Meade tent door by an arm, at whose end is grinning the face of Gompu, our self-appointed Sherpa...

High & rising: Mike Searle describes how Everest and the Himalaya were formed 50 million years ago when the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia.(geological formation of Mt. Everest)
May 1, 2003... ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS UNLIKELY, the cold, windswept summit of the world's highest mountain once formed the floor of a warm, shallow tropical ocean. A combination of geological processes has conspired to lift this 400-million-year-old muddy...

Moving mountains: Everest's height was first determined in 1847 and despite some significant advances in technology, the accepted figure has changed remarkably little.
May 1, 2003... SIR GEORGE EVEREST, SURVEYOR general of India between 1830 and 1843, may have the distinction of lending his name to the world's highest mountain, but it was the work of his predecessor, William Lambton, that led to the establistment of this...

The quiet achiever: one day he was an unassuming beekeeper from New Zealand, the next he was the most famous man in the world. Sir Edmund Hillary tells Rebecca Stephens about how he and Tenzing came to stand on the summit of Everest, how doing so changed his life and why he doesn't regard it as his most important achievement.(Sir Edmund Hillary)
May 1, 2003... SIR EDMUND HILLARY IS A NAME FAMILIAR NOT ONLY in this country, which considers Mount Everest its own, but universally. If Everest is the one mountain every layman knows, Sir Edmund is the one mountaineer. Although he recoils from the term, he...

Dare to dream: they say there are two kinds of people--dreamers and doers--but research by American Express has found that many of us have ambitions, it's just that the doers have the courage and determination to realise their dreams. (From Our Sponsor).
May 1, 2003... CLIMBING MOUNT EVEREST IS THE ultimate challenge. To reach the top of the world's highest mountain is more than an uphill physical struggle and a monumental psychological challenge. It requires something special. To achieve such a goal, one's...

Tibetan tiger: Ed Douglas explains how Tenzing Norgay's heroic efforts to reach the summit of Everest typified the character of an ambitious and determined man who overcome personal tragedy to rise from humble roots and become the most famous Sherpa in the world.
May 1, 2003... AFTER SIX YEARS IN WHAT IS NOW Pakistan, Tenzing Bhotia arrived back in Darjeeling in the spring of 1945. He was almost 31 and had spent the war years working as an orderly for the Chitral Scouts on the Northwest Frontier. He hadn't been on a...

Upwardly mobile: Ed Douglas explains how the Sherpas have earned a reputation as the masters of high-altitude work and become the world's most famous mountain race.(history of Sherpa porters on Himalayan expeditions)
May 1, 2003... Alexander Kellas was the first man to die on an Everest expedition. He collapsed from heart failure, exacerbated by dysentery and the rigours of Tibetan travel, at Khamba Dzong, before the 1921 reconnaissance expedition even reached the...

A mountain for the world: to coincide with the 50th anniversary, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is opening up its archives, home to items including John Hunt's diary and oxygen tanks from the 1953 expedition.
May 1, 2003... AT 11.30AM ON 29 MAY 1953, SHERPA TENZING NORGAY and New Zealander Ed Hillary stood atop the world s highest mountain for the first time. This achievement, captured in the immortal image of Tenzing, flags and ice axe aloft, was the culmination...

Man created fire Coleman packaged it: compromise is simply not an option for Coleman equipment. Catering for all outdoor needs is its forte and the new F1 stoves are some of the lightest and powerful available. .(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2003... WE SET OUR GOALS IN LIFE TO ACHIEVE THE best. When compromise is not an option, you need reliable products that will go the extra mile. Whether it's a pioneering expedition or simply a week-end away, good kit is essential. Coleman has...

In the shadow of Everest: the ascent of Everest established Nepal as the trekking and climbing capital of world. Since 1953, the country has undergone something of a social revolution, as an increasing number of visitors flock to the Himalaya, bringing employment and foreign capital. As the following images illustrate, while the tourism boom has brought changes, daily life for many of those living in the region remains unaltered.
May 1, 2003... "Prayer flags are called Lungta--windhorses. With each flap of the flag, my mother would say, the horse depicted on the cotton print gallops off into the wind prayers, circling the globe, benefitting all sentient beings" Jamling Tenzing...

This charming man: there is no doubt that Colonel John Hunt's Organisation paved the way for the success of the 1953 expedition. But, explains Ingrid Cranfield, his warm and generous manner and his wish to lead from the front proved to be equally, if not more, important.
May 1, 2003... WHEN JOHN HUNT WAS CHOSEN TO lead the 1953 Everest expedition in place of Eric Shipton, the team was astonished. "Who is this chap Hunt?" asked Edmund Hillary. "I've never heard of him." Like his colleagues, Hillary was intensely disappointed....

Did they or didn't they? The disappearance of Mallory and Irvine in 1924 left one of the most intriguing mountain mysteries of all time. Almost 80 years later, it is still unclear whether or not they reached the summit.(did George Mallory and Andrew Irvine reach top of Mount Everest)(related article: The English Dead)
May 1, 2003... WHEN A 1999 ANGLO-US expedition discovered George Mallory's frozen body at 8,150 metres, below the Northeast Ridge of Everest, a snapped rope around his waist, it re-ignited a debate that had been smouldering for 75 years. Could Mallory, the...

A drink to celebrate: to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Everest ascent, and to raise funds for Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Trust, Rebecca Stephens is bottling the cask of whisky she was presented by Glenmorangie, ten years after her won historic climb.
May 1, 2003... ON 17 MAY 1993, DAYS BEFORE the 40th anniversary of Hillary and Tenzing's triumphant ascent, journalist Rebecca Stephens secured her place in history by becoming the first British woman to reach the top of Everest. Rebecca hadn't always held...

Surviving Everest: despite technological innovations, climbing Everest remains one of the world's most challenging physical endeavours. Dr Charles Clarke, who accompanied Chris Bonington on his 1975 and 1982 expeditions, discusses the problems that mountaineers face at high altitude and the ways in which their bodies react.
May 1, 2003... THE HOWLING WIND OF EVEREST is one of my clearest memories from 20 years ago--those sudden gusts exploding and echoing like thunderclaps off the rock walls of the Rongbuk Valley in Tibet. Even at 6,000 metres, it blasted our faces with showers...

Is it getting easier? Everest has now been climbed more than 1,500 times and since the introduction of commercial expeditions the numbers have been increasing each year. Rebecca Stephens, the first British woman to reach the summit, asks ...(do better equipment and accumulated knowledge make it easier to climb in the 21st century)
May 1, 2003... EVEREST DIDN'T FALL EASILY. THE GREATEST climbers of their day pitted their all over a period of 32 years before Hillary and Tenzing finally stood on the summit on 29 May 1953. At that point, Hillary thought that that would be the end of it....

Everest: Summit of Achievement.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... Royal Geographical Society Bloomsbury, hb, pp252, 35 [pounds sterling] In the early 1950s, the Golden Age of Exploration had long since passed. Both Poles had been reached 40-odd years before and the great Alpine peaks had fallen in...

On Top of the World.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Richard Sale and John Cleare HarperCollins, hb, pp228, 12.99 [pounds sterling] On Top of the World tells the story of how the world's fourteen 8,000-metre peaks were climbed. It begins with Annapurna, which was ascended in 1950, and...

Everest: 50 Years of Struggle to Reach the Top of the World.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by George Craig Carlton Books, hb, pp128, 14.99 [pounds sterling] A tribute to the story of the mountain and to those who have attempted the greatest test of stamina and courage. 50 Years of Struggle begins with Everest's `discovery' in the...

Everest: Eighty Years of Triumph and Tragedy.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... Edited by Peter Gillman Little, Brown, pb, pp240, 18.99 [pounds sterling] This beautifully illustrated book reflects on the major expeditions since Mallory and Irvine's historic attempt in 1921. Eighty Years of Triumph and Tragedy tells...

Himalayan Climber: a Lifetime's Quest to the World's Greater Ranges.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Doug Scott Diadem, hb, pp 192, 19.99 [pounds sterling] In this highly acclaimed book, Doug Scott, one of Britain's most experienced mountaineers, discusses his prolific climbing career, including his famous ascent of Everest in 1975. A...

Everest: 50 Years on Top of the World.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by George Band Collins, hb, pp256, 20 [pounds sterling] This is the official publication celebrating this year's ascent anniversary, written by George Band, the youngest member of the original 1953 team. His engaging and detailed account...

High Adventure.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Edmund Hillary Bloomsbury, pb, pp256, 7.99 [pounds sterling] In 1953, Edmund Hillary joined an expedition that would make him a household name. Who would have thought that this young man from New Zealand, a self-professed dreamer,...

Coronation Everest: the First Ascent and the Scoop that Crowned the Queen.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Jan Morris Faber and Faber, pb, pp176, 8.99 [pounds sterling] One day in 1953 marked two very important events in British history: Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and the summit of Mount Everest was reached by John Hunt's expedition. The...

The Lost Explorer.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Conrad Anker and David Roberts Robinson, pb, pp191, 7.99 [pounds sterling] In June 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine set off to climb to the summit of Everest. But as conditions worsened, they were lost to the great mountain...

Ghosts of Everest: the Search for Mallory and Irvine.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A Johnson and Eric R Simonson Macmillan, hb, pp204, 20 [pounds sterling] Ghosts of Everest is the exclusive chronology of the expedition that led to the discovery of George Mallory's body 700 metres below the...

The Epic of Mount Everest: the Historic Account of Mallory's Expeditions.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Sir Francis Younghusband Pan, pb, pp254, 7.99 [pounds sterling] This extraordinary account of the first three courageous explorations by Mallory and his fellow venturers marks the birth of an enduring obsession to investigate Everest....

To the Top: the Story of Everest.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Stephen Venables Walker Books, pb, pp96, 7.99 [pounds sterling] To the Top is Stephen Venables' comprehensive overview of the history of the mountain, going back 150 years. Illustrated with photographs from each generation, it recounts a...

Tenzing: Hero of Everest: A Biography of Tenzing Norgay.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Ed Douglas National Geographic hb, pp320, 19.99 [pounds sterling] Ed Douglas is one of today's most respected authorities on the Himalaya. He brings an intelligent insight not just to mountaineering history but to the region's complex...

Touching my Father's Soul: a Sherpa's Sacred Journey to the Top of Everest.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Jamling Tenzing Norgay and Broughton Coburn Ebury, pb, pp327, 7.99 [pounds sterling] Tenzing Norgay's son Jamling recounts his experience of the 1996 IMAX expedition, while trying to discover how Everest had dominated his father's life...

Life and Death on Mount Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Sherry B Ortner Princeton University Press, hb, pp390, 29.95 [pounds sterling] In Life and Death on Mount Everest, the renowned anthropologist and researcher Sherry B Ortner reveals the delicate relationship between mountaineers and the...

Tenzing and the Sherpas of Everest.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Judy and Tashi Tenzing Jonathan Hale, hb, pp211, 25 [pounds sterling] A tribute to Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, his family and the Sherpas who have contributed so much to the exploration of the Himalaya over the past 100 years. Written by...

Tigers of the Snow: How one Fateful Climb Made the Sherpas Mountaineering Legends.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Jonathan Neale Abacus, ph pp352, 8.99 [pounds sterling] In the early 20th century, British and German adventurers hired porters and labourers on their expeditions to the Himalaya. But a disastrous German excursion to Nanga Parbat in 1934...

Chomolungma Sings the Blues: Travels Round Everest.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Ed Douglas Constable, hb, pp226, 18.99 [pounds sterling] The impact of climbers, trekkers and tourists flooding to the slopes of Mount Everest has taken its toll on the Himalayan environment and its resident population. In Chomolungma...

Everest: Reflections from the Top.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... Edited by Christine Gee and Garry Weare Rider Books, pb, pp144, 8.99 [pounds sterling] Everest: Reflections from the Top contains a collection of original quotations from some of the men and women around the world who have reached the...

The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: Everest.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... Edited by Jon E Lewis Constable and Robinson pb, pp502, 7.99 [pounds sterling] The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: Everest celebrates the 50th anniversary of the mountain's ascent in 1953. A collection of 32 stories that date from 1913 to...

Into Thin Air: a Personal Account of the Everest Disaster.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Jon Krakauer Pan Macmillan pb, pp293, 7.99 [pounds sterling] A harrowing, first-hand account of the tragic events of 1996 that led to the deaths of five climbers on commercial expeditions to reach the summit of Everest. Journalist and...

Left for Dead: my Journey Home from Everest.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Beck Weathers Little, Brown hb, pp286, 16.99 [pounds sterling] An engaging memoir on the tragic expedition to Everest in 1996. Beck Weathers recounts the horrors of snow-blindness, a blizzard that claimed the lives of friends and...

The Climb.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Anatoli Boukreev and G Weston DeWalt Macmillan, hb, pp372, 16.99 [pounds sterling] Another perspective of the Southeast Ridge disaster on Mount Everest in 1996 when, in 24 hours, overcrowding led to 23 climbers, including some of the...

The Death Zone.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Matt Dickinson Arrow, pb, pp256, 7.99 [pounds sterling] British film-maker Matt Dickinson was climbing on the North Face of Everest when the 1996 disaster unfolded. In The Death Zone, he recounts his experiences of the storm that took 11...

Everest: Alone at the Summit.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Stephen Venables Odyssey Books pb, pp236, 12.99 [pounds sterling] While many of those who write about Everest simply tell a story, based on facts, Stephen Venables successfully conveys the experience of climbing the mountain from a...

High Exposure: an Enduring Passion for Everest and Other Unforgiving Places.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by David Breashers Canongate, pb, pp319, 9.99 [pounds sterling] The ultimate question for generations of climbers is: why do it? David Breashers arrives at the answer by allowing the reader to enter the exclusive worlds of mountaineering...

I Chose to Climb.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Chris Bonington Weidenfeld and Nicholson pb, pp192, 14.99 [pounds sterling] After Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, the 20th century saw the birth of a new breed of climber that culminated in the success of 1953. Before that...

The Climb.(Book Review)
May 1, 2003... by Rebecca Stephens Macmillan, hb, pp256 In May 1993, Rebecca Stephens became the first British woman to climb Everest. On Top of the World describes her passion for mountaineering--she has since climbed Mont Blanc, Mount Kilimanjaro and...

Mallory wins the lottery. (Everest update: bringing you the latest Everest-related news from around the world).(Heritage Lottery Fund grant to analyse clothing worn by George Mallory on 1920's expedition)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... One of the lesser mysteries surrounding George Mallory is to be teased out thanks to a 30,900 [pounds sterling] grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to the trust that guides the Helly Hansen National Mountaineering Exhibition (NME) at Rheged in...

Stamps honour extreme endeavour. (Everest update: bringing you the latest Everest-related news from around the world).(Royal Mail's commemorative stamps)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Royal Mail is bringing out a set of six stamps to honour men and women who have undertaken `extreme endeavours: Issued to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Everest climb and the 100th anniversary of aviator Amy Johnson's birth, the...

Exhibition shares wealth of Everest. (Everest update: bringing you the latest Everest-related news from around the world).(50th anniversary of Edmund Hillary's ascent)
May 1, 2003... The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) has sent a special exhibition of prints from its Everest Archive to Nepal's British Council as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations. The exhibition, called Imaging Everest, comprises 84...

Base Camp goes online. (Everest update: bringing you the latest Everest-related news from around the world).(internet cafe at Everest base camp)
May 1, 2003... As Geographical went to press, the world's highest internet cafe was due to open at Everest Base Camp. The facility has been pioneered by Tsering Gyaltsen--grandson of one of the Sherpas who took part in the 1953 expedition. ...

Take me back to the black hills. (Everest update: bringing you the latest Everest-related news from around the world).(attempt to be first black women on Everest)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A teacher and a game park guide were attempting to become the first black person to reach Everest's summit as Geographical went to press. Deshun Deysel (pictured below) was a member of the 1996 South African Everest expedition. Although she...

Hillary award. (Everest update: bringing you the latest Everest-related news from around the world).(Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal to recognize benevolent efforts)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A new award to recognise the benevolent efforts of lesser-known individuals has been announced. The Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal is the brainchild of Nepal-based ecotourism and volunteer organisation Bridges-PRTD (Projects in...

Event listings.(world events celebrating 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
May 1, 2003... There are numerous events taking place around the world to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest. Here is a selection from mid-April onwards: IMAGING EVEREST EXHIBITION Throughout May/British Council, Nepal ...

A head for heights and figures: everything you probably didn't realise you wanted to know about Everest (and so didn't know to ask) ...
May 1, 2003... * Age: approximately 50 millions years * Height: 8,848 metres * Average summer temperature at the summit: -19[degrees]C * Average winter temperature at the summit: -36[degrees]C * Minimum temperature at the summit:...