Conquering Everest

0:03 Caalaroga Shark Media. Greetings trivia fans. I'm Mark Ellison, and today we're reaching new heights with questions about Mount Everest and historic mountaineering achievements. Question one, On what date in nineteen fifty three did Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first climbers to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest? Question two? What is the elevation of Mount Everest making it the highest point on Earth? Question three? What Japanese mountaineer became the oldest person ever to summit Mount Everest in twenty thirteen at the age of eighty. Question four?

0:56 Which country did Edmund Hillary one of the first two men to reach Everest's summit? Come from? Question five? What deadly event occurred on Mount Everest in nineteen ninety six that resulted in eight deaths during a single storm and was later recounted in John Krackhauer's best selling book Into Thin Air. We'll be right back with these breath taking answers after this break. Welcome back, trivia fans. Let's reveal today's answers. Question one, When did Hillary and Norgay reach Everest's summit? Answer? May twenty ninth, nineteen fifty three, as part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by Colonel John Hunt, Hillary and Norgay became the first climbers to definitively reach the summit at eleven thirty am local time.

1:57 The achievement came just days before the coronad of Queen Elizabeth, adding to the celebratory atmosphere in Britain. News of the successful climb reached London on the morning of the coronation June second, nineteen fifty three. Hillary and Norgay spent only about fifteen minutes at the summit, where Hillary took the famous photo of Norgay with his ice axe. There are no summit photos of Hillary himself, as Norgay had no experience with the camera. Both men later became international celebrities, though they remained humble about their achievement. Question two. What is Everest's elevation? Answer twenty nine thousand, thirty two feet. This measurement, officially recognized by both China and Nepal as of twenty twenty, makes Everest the highest mountain on Earth above sea level. The peak's location on the border between Nepal and Tibet has sometimes led to diplomatic disputes over its exact height, with Nepal measuring from sea level and China sometimes measuring from the rock base beneath the snow.

3:00 Question three, Who became the oldest Everest summiteer at eighty answer Yuichiro Miura. On May twenty third, twenty thirteen. This Japanese alpinist reached the summit at the age of eighty years and two hundred twenty three days, breaking his own previous record, set when he was seventy five. Remarkably, Miura accomplished this feat after having undergone heart surgery for arrhythmia, and despite having suffered multiple broken bones in previous skiing accidents. He had first gained fame in nineteen seventy when he skied down Everest from the south call a four thousand, two hundred foot descent, a feat captured in the documentary The Man Who Skied Down Everest, which won an Academy Award in this category. Mira's record was briefly broken by eighty year old men Bajador Shirchon of Nepal, but Miura reclaimed it with his twoenty thirteen climb. Question four, Which country did Edmund Hillary come from? Answer? New Zealand. Born in Auckland on July twentieth, nineteen nineteen, Hillary was working as a beekeeper when he joined the nineteen fifty three British expedition to Everest. Following his historic climb, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and became one of New Zealand's most beloved public figures. When he died in two thousand and eight, he was given a state funeral in New Zealand, and his face appears on the country's five dollar note.

4:28 Question five. What deadly event occurred in nineteen ninety six? Answer the nineteen ninety six Mount Everest disaster. During a single storm on May tenth to eleventh, nineteen ninety six, eight climbers from multiple expeditions died, making it the deadliest day on Everest until the twenty fourteen and twenty fifteen avalanches. Among those lost were experienced guides Rob Hall and Scott Fisher. The tragedy occurred when several commercial expeditions were caught in a blizzard during their summit attempts, with climbers stranded in the death zone above twenty six thousand feet. The disaster raised serious questions about the commercialization of Everest climbing and the risks of guiding less experienced climbers to the summit.

5:16 I'm Mark Ellison back at it tomorrow