Ever since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by Mount Everest.
My interest began when I was around nine or 10 years old and first read the Everest trilogy, which is a series of novels written by Canadian author Gordon Korman. The trilogy is about four teenagers who are attempting to become the youngest climbers to ever summit Everest, as part of a well-funded but controversial expedition.
Since reading these books as a youth, I've found myself interest the world's tallest peak. I've watched multiple documentaries and Hollywood movies about Everest, read plenty of books, (Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is a must-read by the way) and have even gone to listen to lectures put on by mountaineers who successfully summitted the notorious mountain.
Lately, my interest in Everest has been rekindled thanks to a book I'm reading by Ed Viesturs, who is famous for being the first American mountaineer to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre mountains without the use of supplemental oxygen. The book centres around Viesturs' multiple expeditions up Everest – a mountain he admits he was always drawn back to, even after he'd already summitted it multiple times.
Now, I should point out that I'm by no means a mountaineer and I don't harbour any ambitions of climbing to the top of Everest myself (much to the relief of my wife). While I do enjoy hiking up mountains – Ha Ling Peak, Mount Yamnuska, Sentinel Pass, and Prairie Mountain are some of the local peaks I've climbed up – I must confess I possess no alpine experience and would likely find myself woefully unprepared for even a trip to Everest's base camp.
Nevertheless, I enjoy living vicariously through the people who were either brave or foolish enough to attempt to scale the world's tallest mountain. Thanks to the advent of social media, there are countless high-definition photos and even videos of people posing at the summit, navigating the treacherous Khumbu Ice Fall, traversing the Lhotse Face, or breathlessly marching up the infamous Hillary Step just a few hundred vertical feet below the Everest summit, more than 29,000 feet above sea level.
Unfortunately, Everest has become somewhat of a millionaire's playground in recent decades. It's notoriously crowded, with hundreds of inexperienced and unqualified climbers continuing to flock there each summer, shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to ensure a Sherpa (a native Nepalese climbing guide) can practically haul them up the mountain.
Fixed ropes and routes and pre-established camps mean climbing Mount Everest is not as technical as it once was – I've heard some experienced mountaineers scoff that ascending Everest is akin to a glorified hike. The mountain is also dreadfully littered, as photos of the various camps will indicate.
But climbing Everest is still treacherous and dangerous, and the dozens of frozen dead bodies that still cling to the sides of the mountain are a testament to that fact.
