Everest Firsts

1922: 7 Sherpa climbers die in an avalanche becoming the first reported deaths on Everest.

1953: First Summit: May 29, 1953: Tenzing Norgay & Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (New Zealand) via the South-East Ridge Route. (Western Cwn, Lhotse face to the South-East ridge.)

1960: May 25, 1960: Chinese team makes first Summit of Everest via the North Ridge.

1963: James Whittaker reaches the Summit of Everest becoming the first American.

1963: May 22, 1963: The first ascent of the Everest West Ridge, actually the West Ridge/North Face by Willi Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein. Also the first traverse as they descended the South East Ridge/ South Col.

1965: May 20, 1965: Nawang Gombu Sherpa becomes the first person to Summit Everest twice. Both of his summits were via the South east ridge, his first as a member of Jim Whittaker’s American Expedition were he became the 11th person to summit Everest. Out of the first seventeen summits of Everest, Nawang had two of them!

1975: Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to reach the summit on 5/16/75 via the South-East Ridge.

1975: A Tibetan woman, Phantog, reaches the Summit only a few days after Junko on 5/27/75. Becoming he second woman to summit Everest and the first woman to summit from the North (Tibet) side.

1975: September 24, 1975: Dougal Haston and Doug Scott Summit via the South west face.

1978: First Ascent without bottled oxygen: Peter Habeler (Austria) and Reinhold Messner (Italy) 5/8/78 via the South-East Ridge

1978: The first European woman and the third woman to summit Everest, Wanda Rutkiewicz, reaches the top. Wanda goes on to become known as the greatest woman climber ever.

1979: The first woman, Hannelore Schmatz, dies on Everest descending from the Summit after becoming only the 4th woman to Summit Everest.

1979: May 13, 1979: Andrej Stremfelj and Jernej (aka Nejc) Zaplotnik reached the Summit via the true West ridge and descend via the Hornbein Couloir. Also the first Slovenians climbers to Summit Everest.

1980: First Winter ascent Krzysztof Wielicki (Poland) 2/17/80

1980: May 10, 1980: Tsuneoh Shigehiro and Takashi Ozaki made the first full ascent of the North Face (Japanese Couloir to the Hornbein Couloir) of Everest.

1980: May 19, 1980: Jerzy Kukuczka and Andrzej Czok followed the South Pillar on the right hand edge of the Southwest Face.

1980: August 20, 1980: Solo: Reinhold Messner (Italy) 8/20/80 via the North Col to the North Face and the Great Couloir. He climbed for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6500 meters without the use of artificial oxygen via the North Col/North Face route.

1982: Laurie Skreslet first Canadian to reach the Summit on October 5, 1982.

1982: May 4, 1982: 11 Russia climbers reached the Summit via the South West Pillar left of the Great Central Gully on the Southwest Face.

1983: October 8, 1983: Lou Reichardt, Kim Momb, and Carlos Buhler reached the Summit via the East or Kangshung face.

1984: First Indian women to climb Mount Everest was Bachendri Pal on 5/23/84.

1984: October 3, 1984: Australians Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer reached the Summit via the North Couloir (North Face to Norton Couloir) without bottled oxygen.

1984: October 20, 1984: Phil Ershler becomes first American to summit the North side of Everest.

1985: Dick Bass reaches the Summit of Everest becoming the oldest person at the time, 55.

1986: May 20, 1986: Canadian Sharon Wood became the first North American woman to Summit Everest and climbed the new route of the west Shoulder from the Rongbuk Glacier and continued on to the Summit via the Hornbein Couloir.

1988: May 12, 1988: British Stephen Venables, climbed a line to the left of the left of the 1983 Kangshung Face route.

1988: September 29,1988 The First American Woman, Stacey Allison reaches the Summit of Everest via the South East ridge.

1988: First woman without oxygen Lydia Bradey (New Zealand) 10/14/88.

1989: May 16, 1989 Ricardo Torres, the Mexican climber was the first Latin American climber to summit Everest.

1989: Carlos Carsolio was the first Mexican and Latino American to climb Everest without oxygen.

1990: First Married Couple to summit together: Andrej & Marija Stremfelj (Slovenia), 10/7/90. Marija was also the first Slovenian women to summit Everest.

1990: First Son of a summiter to Summit Everest: Peter Hillary (New Zealand) 5/10/90

1990: First Swedish male to ascent is Mikael Retersward, on May 11, 1990.

1990: First father and son to summit together: Jean Noel Roche and his son Roche Bertrand aka Zebulon. They flew together on a tandem paraglider from the south Col. They landed at base camp on the 7th of October 1990. Roche Bertrand was 17 at the time and became the youngest person to ever climb Everest at the time.

1992: First case of two brothers to reach the Summit together: Alberto and Felix Inurrategui September 25, 1992.

1993: The first Nepalese woman, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, summits Everest but dies descending from the Summit on 4/23/93.

1993: Dicky Dolma becomes the youngest woman to Summit Everest at 19 years old.

1995: May 11th, 1995: The first ascent of the Northeast Ridge on May 11th, completed by Kiyoshi Furuno (Japan), Shigeki Imoto (Japan), Dawa Tshering Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, and Nima Sherpa.

1995: May 14, 1995 Waldemar Niclevicz first Brazilian to climb Everest.

1995: Nasuh Mahruki Became the first Turkish and Muslim climber in the world to climb Mt Everest, May 1995.

1996: The first ascent of the North-Northeast couloir by Peter Kuznetzov, Valeri Kohanov and Grigori Semikolenkov on 5/20/96.

1996: Lene Gammelgaard became the first Danish and Scandinavian woman to summit Everest via the South-East Ridge Route route on May 10, 1996.

1996: First swede without artificial oxygen was Goran Kropp on May 23, 1996.

1999: Babu becomes the first and only climber to sleep on the Summit. Babu spent over 21 hours on the Summit of Everest.

1999: Katja Staartjes on 5/13/99 became the first and only Dutch woman to Summit Everest.

1999: Elsa Avila Carsolio was the first Mexican and Latioamerican to summit Everest on 05/05/99.

1999: First Swedish female was Renata Chlumska on May 5, 1999.

2000: Nazir Sabir: First Pakistani to summit the Everest 5/17/2000

2000: First true Ski descent: Davo Karnicar

2001: Roche Bertrand and his wife Claire Bernier Roche flew together on a tandem paraglider from the North side Summit of Everest. The paraglider arrived at ABC 8 minutes later…This first husband and wife to fly from the Summit together !

2001: Stefan Gatt the first to Snowboard from the Summit of Everest.

2001: Marco Siffredi on his Snowboard completed the first-ever descent of Everest on a snowboard from the Summit to ABC.

2001: American Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first ever blind person to Summit Everest.

2001: Viviana Cuq, Cristina Prieto and Patricia Soto, from Chile, became the first south American women to reach the summit of Everest, on May 22, 2001, via the South-East Ridge

2001: Karsang Tendup, the first Yak Man to summit Everest in 2001

2001: EVELYNE BINSACK: The first Swiss woman to summit Everest.

2002: Phil and Susan Ershler reached the summit of Mt. Everest becoming the first couple to climb the Seven Summits together. Additionally, they became the First American couple to climb Mt. Everest.

2003: Yuichiro Miura Summited Everest at 70 to become the oldest man to reach the Summit. He summited with his son. Gota Miura.

2003: American Gary Guller become the first person with only one arm to Summit Everest.

2003: George Dijmarescu Summits Everest five times from the North in FIVE YEARS!

2003: Apa Sherpa Summits Everest for a record 13th time.

2003: The Chinese Broadcast LIVE from the Summit of Everest again.

2003: Jess Roskelley Become the youngest American to Summit Everest

2003: Babu’s Sherpa Speed ascent record is broken

2003: Three Brothers Summit Everest on the same day

2003: Apa Sherpa summits for the 13th time.

2003: Everest speed record set and then broken: Mr. Pemba Dorjie Sherpa (25 yrs) Climbing Sherpa from Rolwaling on 23 May 2003 summited Mt Everest in 12 hours 45 Minutes which was the world record with oxygen until Lakpa Gelu Sherpa (36 yrs), Climbing Sirdar from Jubing – 1, KhariKhola, Solukhumbu, Nepal summited in only 10 Hours 56 Minutes and 46 Seconds.

2003: Zed Al-Refai (Kuwait) As the First Arab to Summit Everest in May 22, 2003

2003: And more to come….

Ok, We have a TON more to add here. Help us submit the “first” you think should be listed to web@everestnews2004.com

To add: Michael Jorgensen the first Dane to reach the top.

Tashi Tenzing Sherpa – grandson of Tenzing Norgay – first time a third generation of one family climbed Everest.

First Spanish climber without oxygen: Oscar Cadiach

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