World

First To Scale Everest In '99

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 5, 1999 / 10:50 AM EDT / CBS

Eighteen mountaineers reached the peak of Mount Everest on Wednesday, and a 15-year old Nepalese boy was close behind them in a bid to become the youngest person ever to scale the world's highest peak.

Eight mountaineers and 10 sherpas reached Everest's 29,028-foot peak and stood on top of the mountain on Wednesday morning, the Nepalese tourism ministry announced.

The climbers included three Americans, two Swedes, a Briton, an Australian and a Canadian. They made up their way up through the southern, Tibetan side of the mountain in fine weather.

Arvind Timilsina, a 15-year-old Nepalese schoolboy, was aiming to become the youngest person to gain Everest's peak. He was not far behind the 18 climbers, the ministry said.

The ascent comes amid renewed focus on Everest after the body of British mountaineer George Mallory was discovered on the mountain's North Side on Saturday, 75 years after he perished while making what may have been the first-ever climb to the summit.

On Wednesday, the first to reach the top were the Americans, Peter Athans and William Crouse. It was Athans's sixth successful Everest climb, but Crouse had never before climbed Everest. With them were five Sherpas.

A couple of hours later, they were joined by Goran Kropp and Renata Chlumska from Sweden, Bernard Voyer from Canada, and four sherpas. Kropp had summited Everest in the past. It was also Voyer's first view of the top of Everest.

The rest of the group reached the summit five minutes later. For Andrew Lapkass, an American, it was his second ascent, but Graham Ratcliffe from Britain and Ray Brown from Australia reached the top of the mountain for the first time. They were accompanied by one sherpa.

The Nepalese tourism ministry said that the weather
conditions on Nepal's side of Everest had been perfect for the climb.

At least nine more teams are racing to climb Everest before the spring mountaineering season ends May 31. The season began in March, and ends when the monsoon rains make it impossible to climb higher mountains.