What is it about?
Hundreds of mountaineers attempt Mt. Everest each year. Some summit. Some die. We report the recent probabilities of summiting and of dying in relation to sex, age, prior experience, and crowding.
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Why is it important?
The statistical patterns we observed may help prospective climbers (and their families) understand the odds of success and of death on this great peak. Moreover, these quantitative patterns can help the governments of Nepal and China anticipate the consequences of proposed laws that might restrict climber ages or that require prior high-altitude experience.
Perspectives
Mountaineering on high peaks is dangerous, but many statements about risk are either false or unsupported by data. Our team analyzes legacy data of the late Miss Elizabeth Hawley, who interviewed mountaineers for decades. Richard Salisbury built and maintains the database (www.HimalayanDatabase.com). Cody Carroll and Jane-Ling Wang (UC Davis) are statisticians and analyzed the data. Raymond Huey is an evolutionary physiologist but is interested in mountaineering data.
Raymond Huey
University of Washington
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mountaineers on Mount Everest: Effects of age, sex, experience, and crowding on rates of success and death, PLoS ONE, August 2020, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236919.
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