Record Numbers Climb to Everest Peak

May 26, 2007 — -- The summit of Mt. Everest is starting to look more like a busy intersection than the top of the world.

Over the past month, approximately 500 climbers have made their way to the mountain's summit -- surviving the thin air, harsh terrain, and sub-zero temperatures that make scaling Everest one of the toughest physical challenges in the world -- and setting a new record for the most people to reach the summit in a single climbing season.

The list of those reaching the top is wide-ranging: An 18-year-old woman from California became the youngest American to climb to the summit; a Canadian woman made the climb despite having an artificial heart valve; and a group of sherpas made it to the peak in record time, one of them also breaking a record for most trips up the mountain -- 17.

And then there are the more fun milestones, such as the British mountaineer who pulled out his cell phone at the peak to make the world's first cellular call from its highest elevation. He also sent a text message. In the fashion of Neal Armstrong, it read, "One small text for man, one giant leap for mobile-kind." (The call was made possible by a Chinese telecommunications company, which set up a base station about 12 miles from the summit.)

Others heading for the peak include an American school teacher who hopes to inspire his students to spend more time outdoors, a registered nurse who wants his climb to draw attention to the shortage of nurses in the U.S., and a Dutch man scaling Everest while wearing shorts. Not surprisingly, his nickname is "The Iceman."

"It blows me away," said Jake Norton, a Colorado-based mountaineer who has climbed Everest five times and made it to the summit twice. "It's not a place to get away from it all anymore."

Norton said the ever-increasing number of climbers on Everest is a result of several factors, including the fact that the mountain has become very well mapped since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first made it to the top in 1953.