May 7-13, 2015 Current Events Lesson Plan
Current Event: Climbing Season Ends After Everest Avalanches
Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, had its 2015 climbing season come to a close following a series of avalanches that killed at least 20 people on the mountain and injured many others. An earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, killing thousands throughout the country, triggered the avalanches. On Everest, the quake sent what one eyewitness described as “a tsunami of ice and snow” thundering into Base Camp, a city of tents that serves as the official start of the Everest ascent. There, the snow crushed or buried many climbers and Sherpa guides. The earthquake and avalanches damaged routes that cross the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, a tumbled section of glacier just above Base Camp that climbers must traverse on the first leg of their journey. On May 5, a group of Sherpas in charge of maintaining the Khumbu Icefall crossing announced that the route could not be made safe before the season’s end. More than 700 people had been on Everest at the time of the avalanche, some of them above the icefall, and efforts continued to rescue stranded survivors. Despite its popularity, Everest remains a dangerous place, and over the years hundreds of people have died on the mountain.
Objective:
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. It is one of the mountains that make up the Himalaya, on the frontiers of Tibet and Nepal, north of India. In 1999, a team of researchers used advanced satellite technology to calculate the mountain’s height at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters). Mount Everest was named for Sir George Everest, a British surveyor-general of India in the 1800′s. Tibetans call Mount Everest Chomolungma. Nepalese call the mountain Sagarmatha.Many climbers have tried to scale Mount Everest since the British first saw it in the 1850′s. Avalanches, crevasses, and strong winds have combined with extreme steepness and thin air to make the climb difficult. On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa guide, became the first people to reach the top. Since the 1980’s, increased tourist demand and improvements in equipment have turned the once forbidding peak into a relatively popular destination for less-advanced climbers, with hundreds of people each year paying about $100,000 apiece to attempt the summit. Their climbs are made possible in large part through the work of hundreds of Sherpas, who maintain camps, serve as guides, and carry equipment. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Mount Everest and other mountains.
Words to know:
- Avalanche
- Earthquake
- Himalaya
- Mountain
- Mount Everest
- Nepal
- Sherpa
- Sir Edmund Percival Hillary
- Tenzing Norgay
Discussion Topics:
1. Ask your students to name some famous mountains besides Mount Everest. (Students might say Aconcagua, Aoraki/Mount Cook, K2, Kilimanjaro, Matterhorn, Mount Ararat, Mount Fuji, Mount Kosciuszko, Mount McKinley, Mount Olympus, Pikes Peak, Vesuvius.)
2. The thousands of people who have climbed Mount Everest over the years have left tons of garbage and human waste on the mountain. Ask your students how they think the mountain should be cleaned up and who should be responsible for doing so.
3. Ask your students if, despite the risks, they would try to climb Mount Everest if they were ever given the chance. (In 2010, 13-year-old Jordan Romero of California became the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest. Four years later, 13-year-old Malavath Poorna of India also reached the summit; however, she was a month older than Romero was when he climbed the mountain.)