Sinead O'Hara
G00239095
Everest controversies - Circus and Graveyard
For years Mount Everest has been a beacon of challenge for many. More and more people these days are attempting to summit the mountain and more are seeing their last days out on it. Many people who don't know what it takes to climb this mountain may look upon it as a great achievement but to those who do know what is involved many can be unsure of why people do it, not only the risks involved but what type of person it takes to want to achieve the accolade.
The extreme measures it takes to climb Everest take a huge toll on a persons body frost bite and altitude sickness are all too common. The human body isn't meant to be trapped in sub-zero temperatures, at least not at an altitude reserved for commercial airliners. But for many it is a dream from a young age, the explorer George Mallory was once asked why he wanted to climb Mt.
Mount Everest from Kalapatthar.
English: Edmund Hillary & Sherpa Tenzing 1 B&W pho...
Sir Edmund HillaryEverest his answer was simple and similar to many people who climb the mountain in this age "Because it is there".
There is currently about 120 bodies estimated to lie in icy graves on Everest, and there is little doubt that Everest today is far less grand than it used to be when it was only explorers who would dare to venture up the northern ridge. Death certificates do not ascribe a cause of death to "ego" or "stupidity", but poor choices can be blamed for some of the 200-odd losses on Mount Everest. Nearly half of all deaths (since 1922) and about 85% (since the first summit in 1953) of all successful climbs have occurred since 1990.
The questions that are now being raised about Everest are whether it...