Document-Based Questions - Debra J. Housel, M.S. Ed. 2008

Conquering Mount Everest
Great Adventures

During the 1800s, people started to dream of climbing Mount Everest. It’s the tallest peak on Earth. Towering five-and-a-half miles above sea level, this mountain has such thin air that without an oxygen tank, each breath hurts. Hurricaneforce winds batter the peak. Bone-chilling cold threatens limbs and noses with frostbite. The “Top of the World” has a nasty environment.

The mountain formed millions of years ago when Earth’s plate carrying India slid under Earth’s plate carrying Asia. The land pushed up and made the Himalayan Mountain range. These mountains separate Tibet from Nepal. The plates are still moving. So the mountain gets % inch taller each year. Few people know that fact.

In 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa (mountain guide) from Nepal, started up the mountain. They had spiked boots that dug into the snow. They used ladders to cross deep, wide cracks in the snow. Along the way, the men set up nine camps. They rested in each one for several days to acclimatize. This means that their bodies doubled their amounts of red blood cells. Then their blood carried more oxygen. Still, they used oxygen tanks above 26,000 feet to keep from getting altitude sickness. This sickness causes the lungs to slowly fill with fluid. It can kill. A lack of oxygen causes another problem, too. Climbers feel confused. They may make mistakes that cost them their lives.

One of the worst parts of the climb was the Lhotse Face. It is a 4,000-foot tall wall of ice. If one of them had lost his footing, he would have slid for about a mile and then plunged into a bottomless crack! It took the men two days to climb this part safely. At the top they set up the last camp. From there they had to start at dawn in order to reach the peak and return by nightfall.

Around noon on May 29, 1953, Hillary and Norgay were the first men to stand on the summit. They took pictures and buried small items in the snow. But they could only stay for 15 minutes. They had to begin the six-hour return trip.

Since then Mount Everest has been scaled many times. But not all who have tried succeeded. Over 175 climbers have died, more than 50 in avalanches alone. One of the worst disasters occurred in 1996. A blizzard killed eight experienced climbers. Stone markers are erected for those who died trying to conquer Mount Everest.

Conquering Mount Everest

1. Altitude sickness causes

a. lungs to fill with fluid.

b. a high fever.

c. frostbitten hands and feet.

d. vomiting.

2. A Sherpa is a

a. title given to anyone who successfully climbs Mount Everest.

b. Tibetan mountain guide.

c. medicine to cure altitude sickness.

d. particularly difficult part of the climb on Mount Everest.

3. Not many people realize that

a. Mount Everest is the tallest peak.

b. the Lhotse Face is the tallest peak on Earth.

c. Mount Everest is getting slightly taller each year.

d. Mount Everest is getting slightly shorter each year.

4. Thirty two years passed between the first attempt to climb Mount Everest and Edmund Hillary’s and Tenzing Norgay’s successful summit. True or False? Use facts from the time line to explain.

5. Use facts from the time line to answer these questions. How many years did it take before George Mallory’s body was found on Mount Everest? In which year did Mount Everest have the youngest and oldest climbers set records?

6. Would you like to try climbing Mount Everest? Why or why not?