Overview

In 1953 Edmund Hillary (1919- ) of Britain and Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986) of Nepal became the first individuals known to have reached the highest point on Earth, the summit of Mount Everest. Since that time, reaching Mount Everest's summit has become a matter of pride, both national and individual, and has led to a variety of expeditions sponsored by nations and private organizations and has even resulted in guided tours. This situation, in turn, has produced a steadily mounting death toll, culminating in the disastrous 1996 climbing season, in which eight climbers, many of them with paid guides, died during a single storm.

Background

In 1852 a worker with the British Governmental Survey of India was calculating the heights of a number of mountains in...