Sherpas to climb Mt. Everest after avalanches

Danielle Preiss (Weekend Edition Saturday, npr.org, 5-14-16); Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
David Sharp was at the center of the most controversial climbing season in Everest history.

Everest: view from Camp III at 24,000 feet on the mountain's Lhotse Face (Alan Arnette/AP)

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This week, nine Sherpas became the first to climb Mt. Everest [possibly the  highest peak in the world unless it's K2] since a deadly avalanche in 2014 and a massive earthquake last year. For economic reasons, the guides hope more climbers will return to the slopes.

• AUDIO: LISTEN - download

The real tallest mountain is?
(BBC Earth Unplugged) Maddie Moate investigates: Is Mt. Everest really the tallest? Many other mountains like K2 have been living in the shadow of Everest and deserve recognition.

• How can anyone think K2 is higher than Everest?

High on Everest, climbers clash with Sherpas

(April 29, 2013) An argument between three climbers and Sherpa guides on Mt. Everest devolved into a fistfight on the mountain, close to Camp III, at 24,500 feet. The Nepali Times calls it "the highest brawl in world history" as well as evidence of a culture clash.

Mount Everest is constantly shrouded by clouds and beset by storms (/npr.org)

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Government will try to persuade Sherpas to stay on Mt. Everest  Some guides have reportedly packed up to leave. Shaken by the deaths in 2014 of 16 Sherpas, many do not want to climb this year. Negotiators are headed to Mt. Everest's base camp. More

 

On Mt. Everest, Sherpa guides bear brunt of danger

Sherpa with Buddhist prayer wand (npr.org)

Sherpa guides are 10 times more likely to die than commercial fishermen, the most dangerous, nonmilitary occupation in the U.S. But they're offered little financial protection by companies who charge Western climbers thousands of dollars for a single trip up the mountain. More

• Fear for Sherpas' future grows with each climbing tragedy Sherpas have a great reputation as the world's best climbers, so when something goes wrong up there, it affects the small Buddhist ethnic group and its communities around the world.
• Female Sherpa makes record climbs Few can say they've reached the summit of Mt. Everest. Even fewer can say they've done it twice. Only one woman can say she's done it twice in one month.

Revisiting doomed on quest for "The Summit"

NPR, October 6, 2013

Harder than Everest (Robbie Ryan/IFC Films)

The documentary tells the story of the August 2008 disaster on K2, the Earth's second-highest mountain, in which 11 climbers died. NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with the film's director, Nick Ryan, and Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, one of the climbers who made it off the mountain alive. More

Mt. Everest was originally measured at 29,000 feet (8,839m), but is now 29,029 (8,848m), whereas Denali (Alaska), which was previously known as Mt. McKinley, is 19,357 feet (5,900m), and Mauna Kea (Hawaii) is 6.3 miles (10,130m)...What about K2?