National Geographic
Mountaineer and leader of The North face climbing team; contributor to National Geographic and co-author of The Call of Everest: The History, Science, and Future of the World's Tallest Peak
PROFILE
Conrad Anker
Guest
FROM Conrad Anker
To the Point
Mount Everest Overcrowded after 60 Years of Climbing Sixty years after the first ascent of Mount Everest, the latest National Geographic contains a series of articles on what it calls "the mess at the top of the world." Conrad Anker, who has climbed in the Himalaya for 25 years, ascended Everest three times and has lost friends to what he calls "the vicissitudes of the high alpine environment," describes looking up at more than 100 other climbers, roped together and moving at exactly the same speed, passing the bodies of others who have fallen to their deaths. He says that friction between foreign climbers and local sherpas has led to outright fighting.
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