Record Number of Climbers Reach Top of World's Highest Mountain, Part 2

VOICE ONE: Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria made another historic Everest climb in nineteen seventy-eight. The two men were the first to reach the summit without using bottled oxygen. Messner said when he reached the top he felt like a single giant lung. At the time, scientists believed that a person at the top of the mountain would only have enough oxygen to sleep. Scientists believed that Messner and Habeler would die without oxygen. Scientists now know that two conditions make climbing at heights over eight thousand meters extremely difficult. The first is the lack of oxygen in the extremely thin air. The second is the low barometric air pressure. VOICE TWO: Today, scientists say a person dropped on the top of the mountain would live no more than ten minutes. Climbers can survive above eight thousand meters because they spend months climbing on the mountain to get used to the conditions. Several things have made climbing Everest easier now than it was for the first climbers. These include modern equipment and clothing. They also include information gained from earlier climbs and scientific studies. Nineteen ninety-three was the fortieth anniversary of the first successful climb of Mount Everest. One hundred twenty-nine people climbed to the summit that year. That was a record number. Hundreds of people have reached the summit each year during the past few years. Some expert climbers have begun leading guided trips up the mountain. Some people have paid as much as sixty-five thousand dollars for the chance to climb Everest. However, many of these people have little climbing experience. This can lead to serious problems. VOICE ONE: In nineteen ninety-six, Everest had its greatest tragedy. Fifteen people died attempting to reach the top. This was the deadliest single year in Everest history. A record ten people died on the mountain in one day. Two of the world's best climbers were among those killed. Several books by climbers have described the incident and the dangerous conditions. The best known is "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. The book sold many copies around the world and increased the interest in climbing Mount Everest. VOICE TWO: Last year, another tragedy on Mount Everest was in the news. Several climbers told news reporters that they had passed a British climber in trouble without stopping to rescue him. David Sharp had been climbing alone, without a guide or teammates. He was lying on a rock four hundred fifty meters below the summit. Reports say as many as forty climbers passed Sharp as he lay dying. The climbers who left him there said that rescue efforts would have been useless. He later froze to death. VOICE ONE: This year has been reportedly the most successful ever for Mount Everest climbers. More than five hundred people have reached the top of the world's highest mountain. Last month, eighteen-year old Samantha Larson of Long Beach, California became one of the youngest people to reach the top. She made the climb with a group that included her father. Larson is believed to be the youngest person in the world to have climbed all of the "seven summits," the highest mountains on each of the continents. VOICE TWO: Also last month, a retired teacher from Japan became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest. Katsusuke Yanagisawa is seventy-one years old. He said climbing the mountain was more difficult than he expected. He said he was not attempting to set a record. Instead, he said he was just trying his hardest not to die. Another record was set last month. Nepali mountain guide Apa reached the summit for the seventeenth time. That broke his old world record. VOICE ONE: This program was written by Shelley Gollust. Mario Ritter was our producer. I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO: And I'm Steve Ember. You can see pictures of Special English listeners on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Source: Voice of America