To the Top

To the Top

The Men and the Mountain Two men stand at the bottom of a giant mountain. Snow is falling, and an angry wind roars all around. No matter where they look, they see only ice and rock. This is a place where nothing grows and no one lives. But the men don't seem to notice what a lonely spot it is. They pay no attention to the bitter cold or the storm. Their eyes are fixed on the mountain, so tall they can't even see the top.

The mountain is Everest. It is the highest in the world. At29, 028 feet, it's close to five and a half miles tall-higher even than the clouds. And Mount Everest isn't just tall-it's one of the coldest places on earth. No matter what the time of year, snow and ice never melt there. It is part of a great mountain range in Asia called the Himalayas. Himalaya means " the home of snow. " The two men at Everest are mountain climbers. Their names are Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. It is 1953, and they want to be the first to reach the very top of Everest-the summit. No one has ever climbed Mount Everest all the way. Ten times before, men have tried and failed. Nineteen climbers have already died. Two of them vanished near the summit and were never seen again.

Tenzing and Hillary are part of a special group called an expedition that will try to reach the top. If they make it, they will be heroes throughout the world. Millions of people everywhere are waiting for news of their attempt. Will Everest finally be conquered? Many people believe that it's impossible to reach the summit. Parts of the mountain are so steep and dangerous that one false step can mean death. A climber can tumble thousands of feet down a slope. Or plunge close to two miles through the air.

Everest is so cold, the temperature can drop to forty degrees below zero even in summer. Without special clothes, a person would freeze to death in minutes. The wind is very strong-as strong as a hurricane's. It can hammer in at over a hundred miles per hour. Climbers can be blown right off their feet. Terrible avalanches-sliding ice, rock, and snow-sweep down Everest's slopes several times each day. Climbers get buried before they know what hit them. In 1922 seven people were killed in a single avalanche.