Ex-soldier turned mountaineer Hari Budha Magar has his eyes on an Everest record: to become the first double above knee amputee to climb the world's highest mountain. From the first couple to get married on top of the world's highest mountain, to the first person to paraglide from the summit, we take a look at Everest's fearless record breakers.
courtesy BLESMA
1922: First attempts -- George Mallory and Edward Felix Norton took part in the first attempt to summit Everest. In 1922 they got as far as 27,300 feet, on the northeast ridge of Everest, but failed to reach the summit. That same year, seven Sherpas were killed when they were caught in an avalanche.
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1924: First attempts -- Mallory returned to Everest in June 1924 with climbing partner Andrew Irvine. This is the last photo of the two before they disappeared on the mountain. Mallory's body was found 75 years later, showing signs of a fatal fall.
1953: First summit -- Tenzing Norgay (C), better known as Sherpa Tensing, and Edmund Hillary (R) were the first to complete a successful ascent to the top of the world in May 1953.
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1963: First Americans to reach the top -- Members of a U.S. expedition team and Sherpas, led by Jim Whittaker, reached the top of Mount Everest in May 1963, becoming the first Americans to do so.
Henry S. Hall, Jr. American Alpine Club Library, Barry Corbet Personal Papers and Films/AP
1975: First woman to summit -- Japanese climber Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach Everest's summit in 1975. She climbed all Seven Summits during her lifetime, before passing away in 2016, aged 77.
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1980: First solo ascent -- Reinhold Messner holds the record for the first solo ascent in 1980. He was also the first to make the climb without supplemental oxygen two years earlier.
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1998: First American woman to summit without bottled oxygen -- Francys Distefano-Arsentiev was the first American woman to reach Everest's summit without bottled oxygen in May 1998. However, she and her husband, Sergei Arsentiev, died after becoming separated while attempting to descend in the dark. A climbing party found her barely conscious, but there was nothing they could do to save her. Her husband's body was found years later.
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2001: First blind person to summit -- American mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer holds the record for being the first blind man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, accomplishing the feat in 2001. He has made it to the top of the highest mountains in all seven continents.
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2005: First couple to get married on the summit -- Pemba Dorje Sherpa and Moni Mulepati were the first people to get married on Everest's summit, in March 2005.
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2006: First double amputee to conquer Everest -- Mark Inglis from New Zealand became the first double-amputee to conquer the world's highest mountain in 2006. But his achievement was also met with controversy. On the way to the summit, Inglis' team found British climber David Sharp near death in a cave 300 meters below the summit. They tried to help but Inglis said they could do little for Sharp and they carried on to the summit. Sharp died on the mountain.
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2010: Youngest man to reach the summit -- Aged just 13, Jordan Romero braved Everest in May 2010, becoming the youngest person to reach its summit.
courtesy Team Jordan Romero
2012: Oldest woman to summit -- Japanese mountaineer Tamae Watanabe became the oldest woman to conquer Mount Everest at age 73 in May 2012, breaking her own 10-year record.
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2013: Oldest man to summit Everest -- Yuichiro Miura reached the summit of Everest at the age of 80, in May 2013, making him the oldest person to achieve this feat.
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2013: First female amputee to summit -- Indian mountaineer Arunima Sinha, who had her leg amputated below the left knee after she was thrown from a moving train, became the first female amputee to conquer Everest in May 2013.
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2014: Youngest woman to reach the summit -- The daughter of Indian farmers, 13-year-old Malavath Poorna (L) became the youngest girl to climb Everest in 2014.
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2017: First woman to climb Everest twice in 5 days -- Indian mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa successfully ascended Mount Everest twice in five days in 2017, making her the first woman to do so.
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2018: Most summits by a woman --- Nepalese climber Lhakpa Sherpa broke her own world record for most successful climbs of Everest for a woman, after conquering the mountain for the ninth time in 2018.
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2018: First double amputee to summit from Nepalese side -- Chinese double amputee climber Xia Boyu, who lost both of his legs during first attempt to climb Everest, finally reached the summit of the world's highest peak in May 2018. He became the first double amputee to summit from the Nepalese side, and the second double amputee to make it to the top.
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2019: Most summits by a man -- Kami Rita Sherpa, a Nepali mountaineer, broke his own world record for the most Everest summits in May by reaching the world's highest peak for the 24th time.
