1. Life On The Edge
Living on the edge today includes anything from skydiving to rock climbing; even climbing Mount Everest. Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world, stands at 29,028 feet, (8,848 m), above sea level. The summit of this mountain rests at the same altitude that jets fly, where the oxygen is one third less than that at sea level. Once Everest was determined to be the highest summit on earth by Radhanath Sikhdar in 1852, it was only a matter of time before people decided that Everest needed to be climbed. After the North Pole and the South Pole had been reached, Everest, the so-called Third Pole, became the most coveted object in the domain of terrestrial exploration. Mountaineering experts from all over the world wanted to climb the mountain and they would get to the top no matter the costs. The cost included the lives of twenty-four men, fifteen expeditions, and a lapse of 101 years before the summit of Everest was ever reached (Krakauer 14). Climbing Mt. Everest is an ordeal that requires the strength of a gladiator and a much-disciplined work ethic. Until 1996, the lives that Everest took remained probable. Then on May 10, 1996, there were eight deaths, including four guides, two paying clients, and two sherpas. .
At midnight on May 10, 1996, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer gathered their teams from the tents at Camp IV on the South Col and started ascending the last 1000 meters of Mt. Everest. With every star in sight in the raven black sky, the weather looked promising for the grand finale. With two expeditions so close in line with each other, the climb was slowed a considerable amount of time. The supplemental oxygen provided for climbers was supposed last the climbers twelve hours, enough time to reach the summit and descend to the South Summit where another canister awaited them (DeWalt 150). By 2:00 P.M., only six climbers had reached the top of the world. That left twenty-seven climbers either on their way or headed back.
The first chapter of the book catapults the reader to the summit of Mt. Everest, moments before the tragic chain of events that made up the disaster begin. ... It is this fact that is the reason for the author to join a team to climb Everest. ... The climbers in the story are gambling with their death the whole time. ... This is a sort of theme for the latter part of the book when the climbers are staring into the pupils of death. ...
In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. ... Krakauer calls his death "a terrible accident- that was not, by all appearances, an eco-suicide but a series of wrong choices. ... Doing a quick investigation into the circumstances behind McCandless' death, he wrote a memorable article for Outside magazine. ... Mother Nature on Everest (as described in Into Thin Air). ...
Japan is a More Developed Country (MDC) and is situated in the East Asia sub-region. India is a Less Developed Country (LDC) and is located in the South Asia sub-region. Both countries display a variety of physical and human aspects. The physical aspects include; relief, climate, vegetation and reso...
Lina and Vincin Gapbrel have been married for ten years now. They have been trying to produce a child for six years now. However Lina has had several miscarriages, so the two have been pretty much alone except for their golden retriever named Bob. Originally, both Lina and Vincin were born in Asia...
Not until the untimely death of her father King George VI in February of 1952 did Elizabeth accede to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II and was also separately proclaimed Queen of Canada. ... The days of regulation were over, the British Commonwealth had just claimed Mt. Everest for its own, and, most importantly of all, the nation had great hope for its new and young queen. ...