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Mount Everest in 2018

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Image of the Everest summit (March 2018)

Mount Everest in 2018 is about events in the year about the highest Earth mountain, Mount Everest, a popular mountaineering tourism and science destination in the 2010s. In 2018, 807 climbers summited Mount Everest, which is a popular mountaineering goal.[3] This year is noted for an especially long weather window of 11 days straight of calm, which reduced crowding at the high base camps.[4] With over 800 reaching the top, it was the highest amount ever to reach the top in recorded history, besting the previous year by over 150 summitings.

Overview

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Ben Fogle, Kenton Cool, Victoria Pendleton

807 climbers summited Mount Everest in 2018,[3] including 563 on the Nepal side and 240 from the Chinese Tibet side.[5] This broke the previous record for total summits in year from which was 667 in 2013, and one factor that aided in this was an especially long and clear weather window of 11 days during the critical spring climbing season.[5][6][7]

Various records were broken including an extraordinary case of a 70-year-old double-amputee, who undertook his climb after winning a court case in the Nepali Supreme Court.[5] There was no major disasters, but seven climbers died in various situations including several sherpas as well as international climbers.[5] Although record numbers of climbers reached the summit, old-time summiters that made expeditions in the 1980s lamented the crowding, feces, and cost.[6]

Famous Himalayan record keeper Elizabeth Hawley died in late January 2018.[8] In 2018, Nepal may re-measure the height of Mount Everest, which is typically recognized as being 29,029 feet (8,848 m), although re-measurement by teams have come up with somewhat varying figures including 29,022 feet (8,846 m) and 29,035 feet (8,850 m).[9] One of the issues is if the height is from the rock summit or includes the ice and snow, which can add a significant amount of height.[9] It is known the height of Everest may be changes due to the movement of on tectonic plates, which may raise or lower it depending on the type of tectonic event.[10] At present the plate movements are adding to the height and moving the summit to the northeast; see Mount Everest.

Another goal in 2018 of many organizations is to remove trash from the mountain and nature areas.[11] Various incentives for Sherpas—such as $2 per kilo of trash removed, and up to $500 for returning a discarded oxygen bottle—have resulted in cleaned-up trails.[12]

This season brought additional confirmation that the Hillary Step has been altered, with climbers describing it as a slope.[13] It used to be a 40-foot (12-meter) climbing face below the summit, with clear reports in previous years that there was a lot of snow, making it harder to determine what had happened.[13] In particular, one large stone of about five meters in height is gone.[13] The step was famous since it was first known to have been climbed by Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, and was named after Hillary.[13]

Nepal honoured several mountain climbers, including those that summited Everest in the 1970s and went on to conduct humanitarian projects in the impoverished land-locked country.[14] Climbers honoured by Nepal included Wolfgang Nairz, Oswald Ölz, Peter Habeler, Raimund Magreiter, Robert Schauer, Hanns Schell and Helmuth Hagner.[14] Nepal also honored Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler in April 2018, for their 1978 climb of Mount Everest.[15]

Everest has claimed perhaps 300 lives in the last century of expeditions on the mountain, often with little regard to a climber's skill—it has claimed the careless and sometimes the careful as well.[16] The weather window is a time, in modern times carefully watched with modern weather observation and prediction technology, to find the time of calm to avoid treacherously high winds which are known to reach 175 mph (282 km/h).[16]

A gourmet pop-up restaurant at Everest Base camp was planned this year, making international news.[17] A group of chefs planned a seven course meal featuring local ingredients, and one of the challenges of serving gourmet food at high altitude is that people's sense of taste is altered.[17][18] The Chef noted he planned to use the style of cooking Sous-vide on the expedition.[18]

On 13 May 2018, a group of Nepali climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest, the first of the season.[19][20] This group paves the way for more climbers to reach from the Nepal side of the mountain, and 346 permits were granted for this year in the climbing season which runs in the spring from April to the end of May.[21] As of April 2018, about 350 climbing permits for tourists had been issued so far on the Nepal side.[15] Another 180 climbers were said to be making a summit bid from the northern side, in China (Tibet region).[21] This is the time when there are a few days of calm and good weather high on the mountain.

Some of the fatalities this season were a Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki who died on his 8th attempt and was known for returning to make a summit attempt in 2015 even after he lost nine of his fingers in an attempt to summit in 2012.[22] Also, a climber from Macedonia is reported to have died on the mountain.[22] By 19 May 2018, the Kathmandu Times reports that at least 277 climbers had summited Mount Everest.[23] About 5 people are reported to have died or gone missing mountaineering at Mount Everest by late May 2018, including Nobukazu Kuriki, Gjeorgi Petkov, Rustem Amirov, and Lama Babu Sherpa.[24][25]

Among those that summited this year was a team led by Adrian Ballinger, including Neal Beidleman who survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and returned to summit this season.[citation needed] Record-breaking woman summiter Lhakpa Sherpa summited Mount Everest again, making 2018 her 9th summit of Mount Everest, meanwhile Kami Rita Sherpa attained his 22nd summit in 2018, overtaking the previous maximum of 21 set by Apa Sherpa.[26][27][28]

The famous British climber Kenton Cool increased his summit tally to 13 in 2018, the most for the United Kingdom.[29] Olympic Gold Medal winner Victoria Pendleton, made a summit bid with Cool, but her summit bid had to be abandoned due to altitude sickness.[30] One reason for this was that a weather window opened up earlier than expected, but her body was not taking in enough oxygen.[30] Her partners Ben Fogle and Kenton Cool reached the summit on 16 May. This was televised and published as a book, as also was the ascent and summit of Ant Middleton with Ed Wardle, coincidentally taking place at the same time.

Some of the various national record-makers for the year include Alyssa Azar, who became the youngest Australian to summit the mountain in 2016 when she was just 19 and reached the summit again in 2018.[31] The achievement also makers her the youngest Australian to summit Mount Everest, to summit it twice, and youngest from both south and north sides of the mountain.[31] A group of woman journalists that climbed Everest as part of the Women Journalists Everest Expedition-2018 was awarded for their expedition by the Prime Minister of Nepal, in Kathmandu.[32]

Comparison

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Years in review summary
Year Summiters Reference(s)
2012 547 [33]
2013 658 [34]
2014 106 [35]
2015 0 [36]
2016 641 [37]
2017 648 [38]
2018 807 [5][7]
2019 891 [39]
2020 0 [40]

In the media

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Further information: List of media related to Mount Everest

Television

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Books

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  • Up: My Life's Journey to the Top of Everest (Ben Fogle and Marina Fogle, William Collins, 2018) ISBN 978-0008319182
  • The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear and live without limits (Ant Middleton, HarperCollins, 2019) ISBN 978-0008194680

References

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  1. ^ "IFMGA guide Damai Sarki Sherpa dies; Everest death toll reaches five". The Himalayan Times. 22 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Everest 2018: Season Summary – Record Weather, Record Summits". Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Three more die on Everest amid overcrowding". 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  4. ^ Fedschun, Travis (2019-05-30). "Mount Everest climbers seen crushed together in new video as Nepal debates limiting permits". Fox News. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Everest 2018: Season Summary – Record Weather, Record Summits". The Blog on alanarnette.com. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  6. ^ a b Douglas, Ed (4 June 2018). "Is climbing Everest today as 'awful' as Chris Bonington says?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  7. ^ a b Arnette, Alan (4 April 2019). "What to Watch for on Everest This Year". Outside Online. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Elizabeth Hawley dies at 94".
  9. ^ a b "How Tall Is Mount Everest? For Nepal, It's a Touchy Question". 3 February 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  10. ^ Sharma, Bhadra; Schultz, Kai (3 February 2018). "How Tall Is Mount Everest? For Nepal, It's a Touchy Question". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  11. ^ Sharma, Bhadra; Schultz, Kai (20 March 2018). "How Do You Get 200,000 Pounds of Trash Off Everest? Recruit Yaks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  12. ^ Fogle, Ben (6 June 2018). "I climbed Everest expecting a rubbish dump but what I found surprised me". the Guardian.
  13. ^ a b c d "Everest's Hillary Step now a 'slope': climbers". Manila Bulletin News. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  14. ^ a b Post, The Jakarta. "Climbing Everest has become quite safe now, says Messner".
  15. ^ a b "Nepal honors 1st conquest of Everest without bottled oxygen | World | omaha.com". www.omaha.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-20.
  16. ^ a b "How To Remove Dead Bodies From Mount Everest?".
  17. ^ a b "Dine with an altitude at Mount Everest's pop-up restaurant". 9 May 2018.
  18. ^ a b "There's going to be a super fancy pop-up restaurant on Mount Everest". 10 May 2018.
  19. ^ AFP (13 May 2018). "First climbers of 2018 reach Mount Everest summit". The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Sherpa Guides Scale Everest to Pave Way for Others Climbers". The New York Times. 13 May 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  21. ^ a b "First climbers of 2018 reach Mount Everest summit". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  22. ^ a b "Climber dies on eighth Everest attempt". BBC News. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  23. ^ "277 mountaineers reach atop Mount Everest".
  24. ^ "IFMGA guide Damai Sarki Sherpa dies; Everest death toll reaches five". The Himalayan Times. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  25. ^ "Sherpa climber dies while ascending Mt Everest from North Col". The Himalayan Times. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  26. ^ "Lhakpa Sherpa – First Woman with Record Everest Summits| Inspiring Nepali Women". Nepali Sansar. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  27. ^ "Kami Rita Sherpa scales Mt Everest for record 22 times". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  28. ^ "Sherpa eyes record-breaking 22nd Everest climb". Gulf Times. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  29. ^ "Kenton Cool Summits Everest for his 13th time". 16 May 2018. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  30. ^ a b "Victoria Pendleton forced to pull out of Mount Everest climb with Ben Fogle".
  31. ^ a b Stone, Lucy (10 June 2018). "Brisbane woman becomes youngest Australian to climb Everest twice". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  32. ^ "Women journalists honoured for successfully scaling Mt Everest". The Himalayan Times. 2 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  33. ^ "Everest Maxed Out". ngm.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  34. ^ "Everest 2013: Season Recap: Summits, Records and Fights". alanarnette.com. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  35. ^ "Everest 2014: Season Summary – A Nepal Tragedy". alanarnette.com. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  36. ^ Peter Holley (12 January 2016). "For the first time in four decades, nobody made it to the top of Mount Everest last year". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  37. ^ "Everest by the Numbers: 2017 Edition". The Blog on alanarnette.com. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  38. ^ "Is it time to ban Western travellers – and their egos – from Mount Everest?".
  39. ^ "How Mount Everest's Deadly Season Compares to Past Years". Time. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  40. ^ "COVID-19 shuts down Everest". Adventure. 2020-03-13. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
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