May 29 marks the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s historic first ascent to the summit of Mount Everest.
The New Zealand mountaineer and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, were eternalized in the annals of history for scaling the 29,035-foot summit of the world’s tallest peak in 1953.
Modern technology, however, has made climbing the peak somewhat less daunting. Eighty-year-old Yuichiro Miura, who began 2013 with his fourth heart operation,
recently became the oldest man to conquer Mount Everest.
The sheer amount of thrill-seeking adventurers hoping to reach the highest point on earth has led mountaineers to complain the ascent to the summit has become too crowded.
Some experienced climbers now even consider it too touristy, calling it a “McDonald’s experience”.
The sizeable tourist industry that has developed over the last decade has led to complaints about littering and poor sanitation atop the mountain.
The rapidly degrading Everest experience has led serious mountaineers to wonder what the future may hold for the once seemingly impossible ascent.
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