Because Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, it has attracted considerable attention and climbing attempts. A set of climbing routes has been established over several decades of climbing expeditions to the mountain. Whether the mountain was climbed in ancient times is unknown. It may have been climbed in 1924.
Everest's first known summitting occurred by 1953, and interest by climbers increased. Despite the effort and attention poured into expeditions, only about 200 people had summitted by 1987. Everest remained a difficult climb for decades, even for serious attempts by professional climbers and large national expeditions, which were the norm until the commercial era began in the 1990s.
By March 2012, Everest had been climbed 5,656 times with 223 deaths. Although lower mountains have longer or steeper climbs, Everest is so high the jet stream can hit it. Climbers can be faced with winds beyond 320 km/h (200 mph) when the weather shifts. At certain times of the year the jet stream shifts north, providing periods of relative calm at the mountain. Other dangers include blizzards and avalanches.
By 2013, The Himalayan Database recorded 6,871 summits by 4,042 different people. To put this into perspective, only three people have solo circumnavigated Antarctica by sail and one of those was a woman.
Your challenge here isn’t so great. To qualify, your total accumulated elevation for all of your finds must equal the official altitude of Mount Everest, 29,029 feet (8,848 meters). To help you out, I have included a checker from Project-GC below.
