Summiting Everest: How a Photograph Celebrates Teamwork at the Top of the World
CAPTURED WORLD HISTORY SUMMITING EVEREST HOW A PHOTOGRAPH CELEBRATES TEAMWORK AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD by Emma Carlson Berne Content Adviser Olivia Sofer Certified Guide Association of Canadian Mountain Guides COMPASS POINT BOOKS
Chapter One OPENING A HIDDEN WORLD Boots crunched in the snow Lungs labored to draw breath Muscles fought against utter exhaustion Thousands of feet below in the valleys of Nepal flowers bloomed in the spring sunshine and leaves waved gently in the afternoon breeze People went about their placid daily lives in the sun-washed villages But for the climbers on Mount Everest the world was reduced to a few simple elements snow ice rock wind Beneath them spread the vast yawning crevasses and sheer rock faces of the Himalayas Above them rose the summit of Mount Everest That triangular pyramid with its familiar plume of condensation whipping from the peak was only about 1,000 feet 305 meters away But no one in recorded history had ever reached it and returned alive Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay wanted to be the first
Everest was named after George Everest a surveyor general of India It is known as Chomolungma in Tibet mother goddess of the universe and Sagarmatha in Nepal goddess of the sky Since 8 45 that morning May 28 1953 Hillary and Norgay and their support team of
