Record year of Everest conquests

More climbers have conquered Everest this year than in any year since the world's highest mountain was first scaled in 1953. As the narrow spring window for climbing to the top of the world draws to a close, Ang Tsering Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said 514 climbers had scaled Everest from the Nepal and Tibetan sides as of May 28. "This is the highest number in the history of climbing Everest since the first ascent in 1953."

He added: "We have had various world records broken this season, so it has been an outstanding year for mountaineering."

Climbers use a narrow window in May ahead of annual monsoon rains to scale Himalayan peaks. Attempts are also made in October after the monsoon ends and before the onset of winter.

Although one or two expeditions remain on the northern approach from Tibet, the fast approaching monsoon that sweeps the subcontinent from June to September means they only have a few more days to reach the top.

Famously conquered for the first time by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the 8,848-m peak has since been reached a total of 3,514 times. The most impressive of this year's records is the 17th successful summit of Everest by Appa Sherpa, a Nepali high altitude guide, beating his own previous record.

An 18-year-old American became the youngest foreign woman to climb to the top, and a retired Japanese teacher became the oldest person, at 71.

But a combination of bad weather, avalanches, exhaustion and high altitude sickness claim a number of lives every year, and the final approaches to the summit are littered with corpses.

This season alone, seven people - one Nepali, two South Koreans, two Japanese and one each - from Czech Republic and Italy have died. Last year, 11 people perished on the peak in what was the deadliest year since 1996, when a fast-moving storm killed 12. This year's total so far has brought the overall number of deaths since 1921 to 217.

AFP