Timeline

1921: First expedition

• The first British expedition, under the leadership of Colonel Charles Howard-Bury and the mountaineering leader, Harold Raeburn, including George Mallory, Guy Bullock and Edward Oliver Wheeler. It was primarily for mapping and reconnaissance as to ascertain if a route to the summit of Mount Everest could be found from the north (Tibetan) side. As the health of Raeburn broke down, Mallory assumed responsibility for most of the exploration to the north and east of the mountain, and became the first Westerner to put foot on the Everest massive. They reached the North Col of Everest at 7,066 m (23,000 ft) before being forced back. Still to Mallory’s experienced eye, the route ahead from there to the summit looked long, but feasible for a fresher party.

1922: First attempt

• The second British expedition, under General Charles Granville Bruce and climbing leader Lt-Col. Edward Lisle Strutt, and containing George Mallory, return for a full-scale attempt on the mountain. On May 22nd, they climb to 8,170 m (26,800 ft) on the North Ridge before retreating. A day later, George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce climb up the North Ridge and Face to 8,320 m (27,300 ft) using oxygen. On June 7, George Mallory leads a third attempt but sets off an avalanche, killing seven Sherpa climbers, becoming the first reported deaths on Everest.

1924: Mallory and Irvine

• The third British expedition, again lead by Charles Granville Bruce that is indisposed due to a flare-up of malaria and relinquish leadership of the expedition to Lt. Col Edward Norton and thus George Mallory being promoted to climbing leader. Geoffrey Bruce, Howard Somervell, and John Noel return from the previous year, along with newcomers Noel Odell and Andrew Irvine. On June 4, Norton and Somervell attempted an oxygenless summit, Somervell was forced to abandon the climb at about 28,000 feet while Norton continued on alone and finally reached a height of 8,573 m (28,126 ft), just 275 m (900 ft) short of the summit.

On June 8, Mallory and Irvine attempt the summit using oxygen and Irvine’s modified oxygen apparatus, from which they never returned. Odell, climbing in support below, wrote in his diary that he “saw Mallory & Irvine on the ridge, nearing base of final pyramid” at 12:50 p.m. that day. Later in his life, he said that what he believed were Mallory and Irvine were actually just rocks and that he only thought they had been moving. His statements and what he really saw are still being debated today. In 1979 climber Wang Hongbao of China revealed to a companion that he had discovered a body in 1975 thought at the time to be Irvine’s, but he was killed in a fall the next day before he could provide precise details to anyone else.

In 1999, however, the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found Mallory’s body in the predicted search area near the old Chinese camp. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community as to whether the duo may have summited 29 years before the confirmed ascent (and of course, safe descent) of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The general consensus among climbers has been that they did not, though recent findings may indicate otherwise. Though there is no physical evidence of either man above the Second Step, there is speculation that if Mallory had made it that far he likely summitted, as there are no difficult technical climbs further up. The leading theory amongst those supporting the summit theory has Mallory tackling the sheer face of the Second Step by standing on Irvine’s shoulders. Armed with Irvine’s spare oxygen tanks he could have summitted late in the day. Descending in darkness he may have decided to take the Norton Couloir rather than attempt down-climbing the Second Step in the dark. Almost everyone agrees Mallory died in a short fall during his descent through the couloir, where his body was found. Irvine probably briefly survived him as he awaited his companion’s return, at the foot of the Second Step, but died later of exposure. Irvine’s body was probably found by another Chinese climber in 1960 (nowhere near Mallory’s, proving the two had separated) but has not been rediscovered since, despite several searches in 2004.

Mallory had gone on a speaking tour of the United States the year before in 1923; it was then that he exasperatedly gave the famous reply, “Because it is there,” to a New York journalist in response to hearing the question, “Why climb Everest?” for seemingly the thousandth time. Comprehensive information is available at Mallory and Irvine: The Final Chapter including critical opposing viewpoints.

In 1995, George Mallory II of South Africa (his grandson) reached the summit of Everest.

1933

Lady Houston, a British millionaire ex-showgirl, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933, which saw a formation of airplanes led by the Marquess of Clydesdale fly over the summit in an effort to deploy the British Union Jack flag at the top.

1934

• Maurice Wilson, a British eccentric, stated his intention to summit Everest by himself. Extraordinarily, after only a few flying lessons, Wilson flew illegally from Britain to India, hiking through Darjeeling and into Tibet and with the help of a couple of Sherpa guides began his attempt. Maurice Wilson’s body was found one year later, in 1935, by another expedition. The fates of Wilson’s Sherpa guides are unknown and it is generally accepted that Wilson and his group made it above 8,000 meters before succumbing to the altitude. In 1960, a Chinese expedition on the North-Col, North-East ridge route claimed to have found the remains of an “old tent” at approx. 8,500 meters, just 300 meters from the summit. In 1960 the highest known camp on Everest Tibetan-side was at 8,300 meters.

A Tibetan named Gombu, himself a summiteer on the 1960 expedition confirmed the find, when in 1985, he emphatically answered in the affirmative after being asked the question twice. It must however be noted that whilst climbers from the Chinese expedition are on record, no such camp has ever been seen or found in the years since and most climbers are known to be somewhat sceptical to this “record”.

1938

• After taking part in the 1935 reconnaissance expedition, the prolific British mountaineering explorer Bill Tilman was appointed leader of the 1938 Everest expedition which attempted the ascent via the north west ridge. They reached over 27,000 ft (8,200 m) without supplemental oxygen before being forced down due to bad weather and sickness.

1947

• In 1947 An eccentric Englishman Earl Denman, Tenzing Norgay & Ange Dawa Sherpa entered Tibet illegally to attempt the mountain; the attempt ended when a strong storm at 22,000 ft pounded them. Denman admitted defeat and all three turned around and safely returned.

1950

• Nepal opens its borders to foreigners. Earlier expeditions had ascended the mountain from Tibet, via the north face. However, this access was closed to western expeditions in 1950, after the Chinese reasserted control over Tibet. However, in 1950, Bill Tilman and a small party which included Charles Houston, Oscar Houston and Betsy Cowles undertook an exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal along the route which has now become the standard approach to Everest from the south.

1951

• A British expedition led by Eric Shipton and including Edmund Hillary, travelled into Nepal to survey a new route via the southern face.

1952

• A Swiss expedition attempted to climb via the southern face, but the assault team of Raymond Lambert and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay turned back 200 meters short of the summit. The Swiss attempted another expedition in the autumn of 1952; this time a team including Lambert and Tenzing turned back at an earlier stage in the climb.

1953: Tenzing and Hillary

• In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit. The first pair turned back after becoming exhausted high on the mountain. The next day, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its fittest and most determined climbing pair. The summit was eventually reached at 11:30 a.m. local time on May 29, 1953 by the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal climbing the South Col Route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first. They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending. News of the expedition’s success reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Returning to Kathmandu a few days later, Hillary and Hunt discovered that they had been promptly knighted for their effort.

1960: The North Ridge

• On May 25, a Chinese team consisting of Wang Fuzhou, Qu Yinhua and a Tibetan, Gingbu (Konbu) (assisted by Australian Daniel Rattner) makes the first summit via the North Ridge.

1963

• First ascent by an American: Jim Whittaker; first ascent of the West Ridge on May 22 by Americans Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld.
• First crossing by a United States expedition, starting from the west and descending over the south-west.

1965

• On May 20, Nawang Gombu becomes the first person to reach the summit of Everest twice, once with American and then with Indian expedition.
• 21-man Indian expedition, led by Lieutenant Commander M.S. Kohli, succeeded in putting nine men on the summit of Everest. Nawang Gombu, belonged to the same expedition.

1975

• On May 16, Junko Tabei of Japan is the first woman on the crest.
• On May 27, a Tibetan woman, Phantog, becomes the first woman to reach the summit from the Tibetan side.
• The British SW face expedition led by Chris Bonington. Summit reached by 2 teams made up with Doug Scott, Dougal Haston, Peter Boardman, and Sirdar Pertemba. BBC cameraman Mick Burke failed to return from a solo summit bid.

1978

• Reinhold Messner (Italy, South Tyrol) and Peter Habeler (Austria) reach the summit without oxygen tanks.

1979

• Yugoslav West Ridge expedition, New route on West Ridge. Summit reached by two teams made up by Andrej Stremfelj and Nejc Zaplotnik (May 13th, 1979), and then two days later by Stipe Bozic, Stane Belak and Ang Phu. Stane Belak, Ang Phu and Stipe Bozic bivouac at 8300 meters. The next day, Ang Phu tragically fell on the way down and died.

1980

• First winter ascent by a team from Poland (Leszek Cichy, Krzysztof Wielicki) on an expedition led by Andrzej Zawada.
• New climbing path by a team from Poland (Andrzej Czok and Jerzy Kukuczka) by southern face.
• Reinhold Messner (Italy, South Tyrol), first man to climb Everest alone and without oxygen tanks.

1983

• Lou Reichardt, Kim Momb, and Carlos Buhler become the first to summit the East Face.

1984

• Bachendri Pal summited Everest on May 23, 1984 via the standard south east ridge route. She was the first woman from India to summit Everest

1988

• Jean-Marc Boivin of France starts with a paraglider from the mountaintop.

1989

• Another Yugoslav expedition. South East Ridge. Stipe Bozic, Viki Groselj, Dimitar Ilijevski, and Sherpas Sonam and Agiva all reached the summit of the Everest. Dimitar Ilijevski failed to return.

1990

• First Son of a summiter to Summit Everest: Peter Hillary

1993

• Ninety alpinists in the autumn alone, the commercial “Everest-climbing” starts.
• Ramon Blanco of Spain became the oldest person to reach the summit aged 60 years, 160 days

1995

• Alison Hargreaves becomes the first woman to climb Everest alone and without oxygen tanks.
• Caradog Jones became the first Welshman to reach the summit.

1996: Disaster Year

During the 1996 climbing season, fifteen people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest single year in Everest history. That year, on May 10 a storm stranded several climbers between the summit and the safety of Camp IV, killing five on the south side (Rob Hall, Scott Fischer, Yasuko Namba, Doug Hansen and guide Andy Harris) and three Indian (Ladakhi) climbers on the north (Tsewang Paljor, Dorje Morup, Tsewang Smanla). Hall and Fischer were both highly experienced climbers who were leading paid expeditions to the summit. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest.

Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from Outside magazine, was also in Hall’s party, and afterwards published the bestseller Into Thin Air which related his experience. Anatoli Boukreev, a guide who felt impugned by Krakauer’s book, co-authored a rebuttal book called The Climb. The dispute sparked a large debate within the climbing community. In May 2004, Kent Moore, a physicist, and John L. Semple, a surgeon, both researchers from the University of Toronto, told New Scientist magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on that day suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge by around 14%.^[1][2]

During the same season, climber and filmmaker David Breashears and his team filmed the IMAX feature Everest on the mountain (some climbing scenes were later recreated for the film in British Columbia, Canada). The 70 mm IMAX camera was specially modified to be lightweight enough to carry up the mountain, and to function in the extreme cold with the use of particular greases on the mechanical parts, plastic bearings and special batteries. Production was halted as Breashears and his team assisted the survivors of the May 10 disaster, but the team eventually reached the top on May 23 and filmed the first large format footage of the summit. On Breashears’ team was Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, following in his father’s footsteps for the first time. Also on his team was Ed Viesturs of Seattle, WA, who summited without the use of supplemental oxygen, and Araceli Seqarra, who became the first woman from Spain to summit Everest.

The storm’s impact on climbers on the mountain’s other side, the North Ridge, where several climbers also died, was detailed in a first hand account by British filmmaker and writer Matt Dickinson in his book The Other Side of Everest.

• Hans Kammerlander (Italy, South Tyrol) climbs the mountain from the north side in 16 hours and 45 minutes and returns on skis.

• Göran Kropp of Sweden becomes first person to ride his bicycle all the way from his home in Sweden to the mountain, scale it alone without the use of oxygen tanks, and bicycle all the way back.

1998

• Tom Whittaker is the first disabled climber to make it to the summit 1999

• Sherpa Babu Chiri Sherpa of Nepal stays for 21 hours on the mountaintop.
• Cathy O’Dowd becomes first woman to reach summit from northern and southern routes.
• Mohammad Oraz became the first Iranian climber who conquest the Mount Everest.

2000

• On October 7 Davo Karničar from Slovenia accomplishes an uninterrupted ski descent from the top to the base camp in five hours.

2001

• On May 23 16 and 14 days year old Temba Tsheri Sherpa becomes the youngest person to summit Everest.

• On May 24 22 year old Marco Siffredi of France made snowboarding history and Mt. Everest history by becoming the first person to ever descend Mt. Everest on a snowboard.

• On May 25, 32 year old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit.

• On the same day 64 year old Sherman Bull, of New Canaan, Connecticut, becomes the oldest person to reach the summit.

• Also on the same day, 19 people made it to the summit, surpassing the previous record of 10 people. Everyone survived.

2002

• Paul Giorgio climbed Mt. Everest again for the second time.

2003 – 50th Anniversary

• Dick Bass – the first person to climb the seven summits, and who first stood atop Everest in 1985 at 55 years old (making him the oldest person at that time to do so) returned in 2003 to attempt to reclaim his title. At 73 he would have reclaimed this honor, but he made it to ABC only. Dick’s team mates included the renowned American climbers Jim Wickwire and John Roskelley.

• Outdoor Life Network Expendition – OLN staged a high profile survivor style show where the winners got the chance to climb Everest. Conrad Anker and David Breashears were commentators on this expedition.

• Adventure Peaks Expedition – Walid Abuhaidar and Philip James attempted to become the youngest American and British climbers to climb the North Face, but their expeditions were cut short when Conan Harrod, one of their team mates, fell and broke his leg on the summit ridge at a height of approximately 8,600 m. The ensuing rescue was claimed to be the highest altitude rescue. A documentary is currently being produced on this expedition.

• Yuichiro Miura becomes the oldest person to reach the summit of Everest. He was aged 70 years and 222 days when he got to the summit (on May 22).

• Twenty-five year old Nepalese Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie, makes the world’s fastest ascent in 12 hours 45 minutes on May 23.

• Only three days later, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu breaks this record with 10 hours 56 minutes. After a short dispute with Dorjie, the tourism ministry confirms Gelu’s record in July [2].

• Paul Giorgio climed Mt. Everest again for the third time.

2004

• Pemba Dorjie breaks Sherpa Lakpa Gelu’s record, this time ascending the mountain in 8 hours 10 minutes on May 21 [3].

• On May 16, Nawang Sherpa became the first person to climb Mount Everest with a prosthetic leg. He is also the first amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest on his first attempt. In 2004 he was invited to climb Mount Everest with his friend Tom McMillan of the San Francisco area as part of the 2004 Friendship Beyond Borders Expedition.

• Paul Giorgio climbed Mt. Everest again for the fourth time, this time bringing a school teacher from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts to test a “myth”. The school teacher was a runner in the Boston Marathon. The experiment was to see if the physical requirements that climbing Mt. Everest demands would, at all, have any effect on her final time. The experience at Mount Everest did not improve her time but instead made her performance worse proving that the myth does not work.

2005

• Chinese government-sponsored survey team with 24 members reaches the peak on May 22 to anchor surveying equipment for the remeasurement of summit height. GPS, ground radar equipment, as well as traditional surveying methods were used to assess snow and ice thickness for the new measurement, and to compare it with historical data [4]. However, the equipment failed on January 19, 2006 due to faulty wiring.

• On May 14, a Eurocopter helicopter flew and landed on summit for the first time, repeating the feat the next day. This record has been confirmed by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale FAI [5].
• Moni Mulepati and Pemba Dorjee (not Pemba Dorjie, the Everest speed record holder) got married on top of the mountain. Pemba Dorjee was a high altitude porter for the 2004 EVEREST: Friendship Beyond Borders Expedition[6], and first reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 16, 2004 with that team, which included amputee/Everest record-holder Nawang Sherpa and his friend Tom McMillan of California.

2006

• On May 15, the New Zealander Mark Inglis became the first person ever to summit with two artificial legs.

• On May 16, the Norwegian Tormod Granheim became the first person ever to ski the North Face.

• On May 17, the 70-year old Japanese man Takao Arayama reaches the peak, thus becoming the oldest man to summit Everest, breaking by three days the previous world record of 70 years, seven months and 13 days.

• Also on 19 May, Appa Sherpa of Thame summits for the 16th time, breaking the world record that he also held.

2007

• A team of ten expeditors from Serbia reached the Mount Everest on May 20 as part of an expedition organized by Red Star Belgrade’s Multisport Organization. The following members were part of the expedition: Dragan Jaćimović, Dragana Rajblović, Petar Pećanac, Miloš Ivačković, Marko Nikolić, Simo Dragićević, Ilija Andrejić, Dragan Petrić, Gligor Delev i Basar Čarovac.

• On May 22, Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to reach the summit. He was aged 71 years and 61 days at that time.^[3]
• On May 16, Carrie Gibson celebrates the centenary of Scouting by becoming the fifth Scottish woman to summit, and the first to summit as part of the Scouts Seven Summits Project

• On 24 May, Kenton Cool stood on the summit of Everest for the second time in a week.

• On 25 May, Christian Stangl completed the ascent over the northeast ridge route from ABC to the summit in the new record time of 16h 42min. He climbed alone and without supplementary oxygen.^[10]

2008

• On May 22, 2008, Appa Sherpa climbed Everest for the 18th time — breaking his own record for the highest number of successful summits through his career.

• Yuichiro Miura reclaimed his title of oldest person to reach the summit of Everest at age 75 years and 227 days (on May 26).

2009

• On May 16, Apa Sherpa climbed Everest for the 19th time, once again breaking his own record.
• Anita Ugyan became the first Hungarian woman to reach the summit on May 22.

Timeline of regional, national, and ethnic records

1978

• On October 16, Wanda Rutkiewicz becomes the first Pole and European woman to reach the summit.

1982

• On October 5, Laurie Skreslet becomes the first Canadian to reach the summit.

1984

• Hristo Prodanov became the first Bulgarian to ascent Mount Everest. He reached the summit alone and without oxygen supply. He died on his way back in a heavy storm.

• First Australian expedition scales Everest. Expedition composed of Tim Macartney-Snape , Greg Mortimer, Andy Henderson, and Lincoln Hall, two of whom (Macartney-Snape and Mortimer) made it to the summit. It is believed that had Hall attempted the summit, all members would have perished on the summit.

• Bart Vos claims to be the first Dutch person to reach the summit on October 8. But lack of evidence and testimony to the contrary refutes his claim.

1986

• Sharon Wood becomes the first North American woman to reach the summit.

1988

• Stephen Venables of United Kingdom becomes the first Briton to ascend the peak without use of oxygen. He pioneers a new route over the East Kangshung Face.

1990

• Rene de Bos is officially recognized as the first Dutch person on Everest’s summit.

• On May 10, Rudy van Snick (aged 34) is the first Belgian person to reach the summit after 2 earlier attempts in 1988 and 1989.

• On May 11, Mikael Reuterswärd, 25, becomes the first Swede to climb Everest.^[4]

• Bertrand “Zebulon” Roche of France becomes the youngest Westerner to climb Everest, age 17.

1991

• Gabriel DeLeon becomes the first mixed-race American to ascend Mount Everest. Unfortunately, he died on his descent, falling 1,000 ft to his death. His body was recovered in 1992, without any clothes, and no physical damage to his body despite his 1,000 ft fall. He currently rests in peace in France.

1992

• On May 12, Ingrid Baeyens becomes the first Belgian woman to reach the summit.
• On the same day, another member of the same climbing party, Doron Erel, becomes the first Israeli to reach the summit.^[5]

1995

• On May 17, Nasuh Mahruki to become the first Turk and Muslim to summit.

1997

• Veikka Gustafsson of Finland becomes the first Finnish man to reach the summit without the use of bottled oxygen.

• Asmujiono and Misirin from Indonesia are the first South-East Asia to reach the summit.

• Einar Stefansson, Bjorn Olafsson and Hallgrimur Magnusson of Iceland become the first Icelanders to summit.

• M. Magendran and N. Mohandas become the first Malaysians to summit Mount Everest; Maniam Moorthy, a member of the Malaysian Army, is also a member of their team, though he did not reach the summit.^[6][7]

1998

• Bear Grylls becomes the youngest Briton to climb Everest and return alive, at the age of 23. His books Facing Up (UK edition) and The Kid Who Climbed Everest: the story of a 23-year-old’s summit of Everest (U.S. edition) depict his journey. Although a younger Australian man permanently living in Australia, claims he was the youngest Briton to climb Everest at the time.

1999

• On May 13, Katja Staartjes is the first Dutch woman to reach Everest’s summit, aged 36.

• On May 13 Dave Rodney becomes the first Canadian born in Saskatchewan to summit Mt. Everest, and also the 12th Canadian to summit Mt. Everest.

• On May 18 João Garcia becomes the first Portuguese to summit Mt. Everest.

2001

• On May 23 32 year old Guatemalan mountaineer Jaime Viñals becomes the first Central American to climb Everest and the second Latin American to accomplish that feat, alongside with American mountaineer Andy Lapkass via North Ridge of the Everest.

• On May 23 36 year old Venezuelans José Antonio Delgado and Marcus Tobía reach the summit with the first Venezuelan expedition to the mountain.

• On May 24 Dave Rodney becomes the only Canadian to summit Mt. Everest twice. Also on May 24 25 year old Deryl Kelly becomes the youngest Canadian to summit Mt. Everest (record broken in 2006).

• On May 23 Sixteen-years-and-fourteen-days-year-old Temba Tsheri became the youngest person to ever summit Mount Everest.

2003

• On May 21, 21 year old Jess Roskelley, of Spokane, Washington, becomes the youngest American to summit Everest, via the North-Northeast Ridge Route.

2005

• Urszula Tokarska’s summit makes her the third Canadian woman to reach the top of the world. She also becomes the first Canadian woman to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents, having previously summitted Mount McKinley in Alaska, Aconcagua in Argentina, Elbrus in Russia, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Kosciusko in Australia and Antarctica’s Vinson Massif.

• On May 29, a six man Serbian expedition from the Vojvodina province reached the top Everest, the first expedition from Serbia to do so. It consisted of Iso Planić, Miodrag Jovović (leader of the expedition) from Vrbas, Andor Luhović i Hoselito Bite from Subotica, Goran Ferlan from Ruma and Milivoj Erdeljan from Novi Sad. Iso Planić and a sherpa were the first to reach Mt Everest. [7][8][9]

2006

• On May 15, Maxim Chaya, the first Lebanese on Everest, plants the Lebanese flag on the peak.

• On May 15, Eylem Elif Maviş became the first ever Turkish woman to summit Everest. She was part of the first team from Turkey, of which all ten members, among them four women, made the summit (details).

• On May 15, at 6:30 a.m. Nepal Time, Dale Abenojar became the first-ever Filipino to summit Mount Everest.^[8] Within the next two days Leo Oracion Erwin Emata and Romi Garduce, also reached the peak.

• On May 18, 24 year old Jean-François Carrey reaches the summit, becoming the youngest Canadian to do so. His climb is partly a tribute to professor Sean Egan, who taught at the University of Ottawa, where Carrey was a student. Egan died on Everest in 2005.

• On May 19, Brazilian Vitor Negrete reaches the peak climbing through the north face without supplementary oxygen. However, during his descent he calls Dawa Sherpa for help, who found and took the alpinist down to camp 3, where Vitor did not resist and died. Vitor Negrete had summited the mountain in 2005.

• The Everest Peace Project [10] made world history by having an international Everest Climb for Peace that included “peace climbers” from different faiths and cultures – including Palestinian and Israeli men. The team had the first Israeli and Palestinian summit push – and on the summit of Mt. Everest Israeli Dudu Yifrah in a heroic statement of peace and friendship unfolded a joint (sewn together) Palestinian/Israeli flag and dedicated his climb to his friend and climbing partner, Palestinian born Ali Bushnaq. Ali previously aborted his summit bid due to illness. The Peace Climb summited 10 climbers. It was professionally filmed and a full-length documentary film titled – Everest: A Climb for Peace is due in spring 2007.

2007

• The London Business School Everest 2007 Expedition Team achieved a 100% success rate when all four of its members got to the top of Everest. Omar Samra (Egypt) and Greg Maud (South Africa) reached the summit on May 17 and Victoria James (Wales) and Ben Stephens (England) reached the summit on May 24.

• Omar Samra became the first Egyptian and youngest Arab to reach the summit, on May 17. He also became the first Arab to climb the mountain from its south side in Nepal. Zed El Refai of Kuwait and Maxim Chaya of Lebanon had previously summited from the north side in Tibet.

• Victoria James became the youngest British female and first Welsh woman to climb Everest, on May 24. She climbed from the south side.

• Samantha Larson, 18, became the youngest person to complete the 7 summits and youngest foreigner to get to the top of Everest on May 17th

• Andrew Hart became the youngest American climber to reach the summit from the north side.
• Courtney Jug became the youngest female American climber to reach the summit from the north side on January 12th.

2008

• Recently, on March 23, 2008, astronaut Scott Parazynski climbed Mount Everest. He dreamed about climbing Mount Everest in 1994. He expected to climb Mount Everest in the same year, but went into space instead on board Space Shuttle Atlantis on Space Shuttle mission STS-66.

2009

• Roberto Pazzaglia became the first person from San Marino to reach the summit on May 18.

• Veteran adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes became the oldest Briton to climb Everest, on May 20. Climbing from the south side.^[36]

• Mercedes Sahores became the first woman from Argentina to reach the summit on May 20