Mount Everest has long since been the undeniable ultimate proving ground for the world’s most fearless explorers. These explorers have put themselves through the wringer when it comes to testing the very outer limits of human endurance in feats against brutal cold, hurricane-force winds, and also death-defying altitudes. We’ll take a look at a collection of images that are able to capture the sheer grit, triumph, and tragedy that has come for those who have dared to attempt to conquer the clouds.
1. A true legend in the mountaineering game.
Back in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay (Sherpa) were the first human beings to ever successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest. This photo serves as the only proof. It’s a photo that Hillary managed to snap of Norga with his axe.
2. Climbers pushing for the summit from Camp IV.
And you better believe that that is no easy push.
3. Everest at sunset with a rising full moon.
It’s wild to take note of how low the moon truly looks like it’s hanging.
4. Things can get backed up quickly on Mount Everest.
The patience required to wait in those lines is otherworldly.
5. You’ve got to love a sunkissed Everest.
Mount Everest is the epitome of majestic when it’s sunkissed.
6. Vertical view of Everest from the Zigaze National Park, China
Mount Everest just hits different when it’s considered from that vertical view.
7. Gateway to Everest-Namche Bazaar.
The different colored buildings in this one add a layer of beauty to the whole scene.
8. Junko Tabei will always be a legend.
This is Junko Tabei. Tracing back to May 16, 1975, she went on to become the first woman to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest. She’s also the first woman who ascended the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peak on every continent in the process.
9. Edmund Hilary on the British Everest expedition in 1953.
And looking like a stud in the process.
10. Captain John Noel with filming equipment on North Col, Mt. Everest, 1922.
Getting all of that equipment of there was nothing short of a heroic feat.
11. Famed British climber George Mallory (back row 2nd from left) and members of the 1924 Mt. Everest expedition at basecamp 16,500 feet above sea level.
Now that’s a gritty looking crew if I’ve ever seen one.
12. Peter Habeler and Reinhold Messner. The first men to summit Mt.Everest without Supplemental Oxygen in 1978.
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And that’s just the kind of moment that would go on to shape history and its many subsequent treks thereafter.
13. A solid shot of Everest base camp.
Those base camps are essential.
14. Everest as seen from Renjo La
The views of Everest as experienced from afar are on a level of their own.
15. George Mallory (center, with circle around the head) and other members of the English expedition who wanted to be the first to reach the top of Mount Everest.
Doesn’t get much more Mount Everest throwback than this.
16. Two men fly towards Lhotse and Everest at 32,000 feet taken during the first flight expedition over Everest, April 3, 1933
Those were high-stakes flights at that point in time. Flying around Everest left little, if any room for error.
17. Nepali porters carry 27 tons of supplies to base camp for the first American expedition to summit Mt. Everest, 1963
Those were heavy hauls to say the absolute least.
18. Junko Tabei -the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 16, 1975
She was operating on a different level.
19. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay during their Everest expedition, on southeast ridge, approaching the final camp at 8500M
The jackets are another highlight of this already unforgettably impressive photo.
20. At basecamp with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay acclimating for Mt Everest ascent, late May 1953
Yeah, Mount Everest could be quite unforgiving on the hands.
