Mount Everest – At 17:05 PM on May 11, 2016 nine Sherpas summited Mount Everest (8,850-meter | 29,035-foot) using supplemental oxygen. It is the first summit from the south side (Nepal) since the 2014 and 2015 deadly disasters.
The Nepali climbers who work “as mountain guides and icefall doctors,” were setting fixed lines along the South-East Ridge route to the summit. They took advantage of a weather window and managed to reach the top of the world.
ABC.Net.au writes that “”Sherra Gyalgen Sherpa reached the top of Sagarmatha at 5:05pm (local time),” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), using the mountain’s Nepali name.”
In the past two years, disasters have struck Everest and limited the ability to summit the highest peak in the world:
- 2014 – 16 Sherpas Died In An Avalanche on the Khumbu Icefall
- 2015 – A 7.8 magnitude earthquake triggered an earthquake that killed 18 at Everest Base Camp
In 2016, 289 foreigners and 400 Nepalis will attempt to climb Everest. Best of luck to all of them!
Read more about the first 2016 Everest summit from these sources:
