Latest Edmund Hillary Stories

A team of 58 people will take part in a mission to pick up trash left behind from years of climbs up the slopes of the world's highest peak, AFP reports. Apa Sherpa, 51, who will count this ascent as his record-holding twenty-first climb, will lead the Eco Everest Expedition 2011 to collect four tons of garbage under a "Cash for Trash" program funded by Asian Trekking, a guide company that organizes climbs in the region.The expedition is planning on a diverse and far-flung group of climbers,...

Organizers said Tuesday that 15 Nepalese civil servants will soon abandon their desks for the slopes of Everest to improve government understanding of the challenges facing the Himalayas. The civil servants from different ministries, including tourism, education and foreign affairs, are between the ages 27 and 54 and they aim to reach the top of the world's highest peak during the main climbing season in May. The $420,000 cost of the expedition is being covered by the state, and Laxman...

BEIJING, June 30 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- The 2010 Hillary Institute Laureate will be awarded today to JUCCCE Chairperson Peggy Liu, in Beijing. The Hillary Laureate award honors mid-career leaders who are serving as exceptional change agents tackling the world's most challenging problems. The Institute's current (2008-12) focus is on Climate Change Solutions. JUCCCE (Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy) is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the greening of...

A Nepalese Sherpa said on Tuesday, after breaking his own record by making a 20th ascent of Mount Everest, that the world's highest peak is getting more dangerous to climb because of climate change. Apa Sherpa said he was disturbed by the visible changes on the mountain caused by rising temperature. "The snow along the slopes had melted, exposing the bare rocks underneath, which made it very difficult for us to walk up the slope as there was no snow to dig our crampons into," he...

An Australian adventurer plans to solve Mount Everest's greatest mystery this week by searching for long-lost evidence that the peak was conquered in 1924, 29 years earlier than previously thought. Mountaineer Duncan Chessell said conditions were the best in decades to find the missing body of Andrew "Sandy" Irvine and perhaps photographic evidence that he reached the peak first, along with Briton George Mallory. Mallory and Irvine perished near the summit during their expedition,...

A meeting between officials from China and Nepal has settled a longstanding dispute regarding the official height of Mount Everest, according to various media reports published Thursday.In 1954, the Survey of India measured Everest as being 29,028 feet tall. However, that was the measurement for the mountain using its snow height. In May 2005, Chinese mountaineers and researchers scaled the peak and found that its rock height was actually 11 feet less (29,017 feet).Nepal has long insisted...

A group of 20 Nepalese climbers, led by mountain-climbing pro Namgyal Sherpa, are planning a high-risk expedition to clean up the trash and debris left behind by mountaineers on Mount Everest, AFP recently reported. Environmental activists say Everest has become a junkyard, littered with everything from human waste to corpses of those who never came back down, which do not decompose in the extreme environment of Everest. "Everest is losing her beauty," Sherpa, 30, told AFP. "The top of...

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Mountain Travel Sobek is proud to announce its 40th anniversary in 2009 as the oldest and most experienced adventure travel company in the U.S. To celebrate this milestone, they are giving away 40 FREE trips to some of their most popular destinations including Macchu Pichu, Morocco, and the Swiss Alps. Travelers who book an adventure by April 17th for 2009 travel can bring a companion free on select departures, but hurry, once the 40 trips are...

TORONTO, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ - The official launch of Tenzing marks the emergence of a sophisticated and focused managed IT services company honed from over 10 years experience in the industry. Tenzing, a reference to the famous mountain guide who was the first to summit Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, provides expert guidance and IT services to companies challenged with the delivery of enterprise-class business services over the Internet. "What sets Tenzing apart," notes Brian...

Dawa Steven Sherpa, a young climber from Nepal, is hoping to promote eco-friendly climbing on Mt. Everest by deploying toilets fashioned from a plastic bucket.  The U.S.-designed bucket, which weighs 2.4 pounds and stands 11 inches tall, has an opening that is eight inches in diameter.  To construct the toilet, Sherpa and his team used a plastic bucket and a gas-impervious bag to safely contain and neutralize human waste and trap odor."I want to promote anything that manages human...