August 1 is observed as the National Mountain Climbing Day to honour those who engage in this sport. On this day, people commemorate National Mountaineering Day, promoting the daring sport of climbing.
As per Britannica, mountaineering is the sport of attaining, or attempting to attain, high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the pleasure of the climb.
National Mountain Climbing Day is being celebrated in recognition of the achievements of two mountain climbers — Josh Madigan and Bobby Matthews.
The free encyclopaedia, Britannica, also says that by 1870, climbers began to seek new and more difficult routes on peaks that had already been ascended.
On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary became the first climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
Edmund Hillary, The First Mountaineer, Who Reached the Highest Peak, Mount Everest
Edmund Hillary was a New Zealand explorer who climbed the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, in 1953.
Born on July 20, 1919, Hillary, with the Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of Mount Everest (29,035 feet) and became the first mountaineer to reach its top.
He began climbing while in high school. After military service in World War 2, he resumed climbing and became determined to scale Everest.
In 1951, Hillary joined a New Zealand party to the central Himalayas and later that year participated in a British reconnaissance expedition of the southern flank of Everest.
As per the Britannica, the well-organised expedition was launched in the spring of 1953, and a high camp from which to mount attempts at the summit was established by mid-May.
Hillary and Tenzing set out for it early on May 29; by late morning, they were standing on the summit.
