The Everest Story

The Everest Story

ACTIVITIES

Before Reading

1. Match the pictures to the definitions:

1. ☐ a bag that you carry on your back.

2. ☐ big glasses which keep the snow or sun out of your eyes.

3. ☐ a big warm bag that you sleep in.

4. ☐ very thick strong string.

5. ☐ long thin pieces of metal to help people move across snow.

6. ☐ a small electric light than you can carry.

7. ☐ a sharp metal tool used by climbers to cut steps into ice.

8. ☐ special things to help you breathe.

9. ☐ metal plates which you can put on the bottom of your shoes to help you walk on ice or snow.
             a)          b)

              c)  d)

               e)          f)

               g)          h)

               i)

1- Ⓘ      2- Ⓔ      3- Ⓖ      4- Ⓐ       5- Ⓕ

       6- Ⓗ      7- Ⓑ      8- Ⓓ      9- Ⓒ

2. Now match the pictures to the words.

1. ☐ crampons

2. ☐ goglles

3. ☐ ice axe

4. ☐ oxygen equipment

5. ☐ rope

6. ☐ rucksack

7. ☐ ski sticks

8. ☐ sleeping bag

9. ☐ torch

1- Ⓒ  2- Ⓔ  3- Ⓑ  4- Ⓓ  5- Ⓐ   6- Ⓘ  7- Ⓕ

                  8- Ⓖ          9- Ⓗ

3. Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?

1. Everest is between Tibet and Nepal. Ⓣ

2. Everest is the second highest mountain in the world. Ⓕ

3. The name for Everest in the Tibetan language is Chomolungma. Ⓣ

4. Only three climbers have ever died on Everest. Ⓕ

5. Two British people climbed to the top of Everest in 1924 and came back alive. Ⓕ

While Reading

Chapters 1 and 2:

1. The dead man was wearing brown and grey clothes.                                                            2. The dead man’s leg was broken in two places.

3. The dead climber was George Mallory. 

4. Everest is 8,850 metres above sea level.

5. Above 5,000 metres, most people begin to feel ill and tired.

6. Temperatures on Everest often go below -20 °C. 

7. The earliest climbers got to Everest through Tibet.

Chapters 3 and 4:

                  1-B    2-C    3-A    4-B    5-A    6-C    7-B    8-C

1. Until the nineteenth century, nobody in the west knew about Everest.

2. George Everest was a British soldier who made maps.

3. In 1921 Tibetan porters carried the food, tents and climbing equipment.

4. In 1921 George Mallory climbed to 7,000 metres.

5. The British expedition returned to Everest in 1922 with oxygen.

6. To get water to drink, the climbers melted snow.

7. In 1922 George Mallory tried to reach the summit twice.

8. In 1922 seven porters were killed by an avalanche.

 Chapters 5, 6, and 7:

1. Norton was the chief climber on the 1924 expedition.
2. Mallory fell into a crevasse and only his ice axe saved him.
3. Somervell climbed down and saved two porters in danger.
4. Namgya couldn't use his hands because he had frostbite.
5. Bruce went with Mallory and the porters to camps 4 and 5.
6. Somervell couldn't breathe and coughed up a ball of blood.
7. Irvine was young and understood the oxygen equipment.
8. Noel filmed the 1924 expedition.
9. Mallory wrote a note to Noel to explain where he was going.
10. Odell was the last person to see Mallory and Irvine alive.

Chapters 8 and 9:

1. After 1950, which country did Everest climbers go through?

They went through Nepal.

2. Who was Tenzing? When did he first try to climb Everest?

He was a very strong Nepalese climber. In 1952.

3. What is the Khumbu Icefall? Why is it so dangerous?

A large wall of broken ice. Because climbers can be hit by large pieces of falling ice or avalanches. 

4. What did Lowe and Annullu do for eleven days?

They cut steps in the ice up the Lhotse Face and fixed ropes for others.

5. Why did Bourdillon and Evans turn back in 1953? Why was it the right thing to do?

Because they didn’t have enough oxygen. Because the weather changed and they were tired.

6. What did Bourdillon and Evans look like on their return?

They looked like aliens.

Chapter 10:

1. Who carried heavy loads of 27 kilograms to camp 9?                          Hillary and Tenzing.
2. What was the weather like for the climb to the summit?           The weather was fine. The wind had stopped and the sky was clear.
3. How high was the rock wall near the summit?                                            17 metres long.
4. What did Hillary and Tenzing do at the summit?                              They shook hands and threw their arms around each other. Hillary took a photo of Tenzing and they both buried small things. They then looked to see if Mallory and Irvine had left anything.
5. Why did they leave the summit after only fifteen minutes?                      They needed to get back down before they used all the oxygen.

Chapter 11:

4, 1, 8, 2, 5, 7, 6, 3

4. Messner and Habeler climbed Everest without any oxygen.

1. Messner returned to Everest two years later with his girlfriend, Nena.

8. Messner climbed up to the North Col but then came down and spent three weeks walking above 5,000 metrers

2. Messner and Nena climbed back up to Camp 3. After two days he packed his rucksack and said goodbye to Nena.

5. An hour later Messner fell into a crevasse and nearly died.

7. Messner climbed further and put up his tent at 7,800 and then at 8,220 metres.
6. At last Messner reached the summit, alone and without oxygen..
3. Messner came down and saw Nena once again. He fell to his knees and cried.

Chapter 12:

        1-D              2-G          3-E           4-A           5-B            6-F            7-C

Jochen Hemmleb wanted to know the true story of Mallory and Irvine.

In 1924 Mallory and Irvine were last seen by Odell.

In 1933 a British climber found Irvine's ice axe.

In the 1970s a dead body was seen by a Chinese climber called Wang Hongbao.

The expedition in 1999 found Mallory's body.

They also found Mallory's knife and his snow goggles.

Nobody knows Mallory's story because they can't find his camera.

After Reading

1. Wordsearch:

Now write down all the letters that do not have lines through them, beginning with first line and going across each line to the end. You now have 23 letters, which make a phrase of 5 words.

-What does the phrase describe?

''GODESS MOTHER OF THE WORLD''.

-Who use the phrase?

The Tibetan people.

Look back at the words at the top of the page. Make sentences about the problems that climbers have on Everest. 

Climbers had bad frostbite, and they also they coughed a lot. Their throat were getting worse when they climbed higher.

2. Fill in the gaps in the newspapers article with these words:

Famous British climber found on Everest

The body of George Mallory was found on Everest yesterday, seventy-five years after he suddenly disappeared. An expedition discovered Mallory’s body on a steep snow slope near the summit of the world’s highest mountain.

Mallory was last seen climbing up towards the top of Everest with Andrew Irvine. But the two men didn’t return to camp and their bodies were never found.

For many years people have asked one question: Were Mallory and Irvine the first climbers to stand on the summit of Everest?

The new expedition of five men wanted to answer that question and they set out to look for Mallory and Irvine’s bodies. At first, they found six dead climbers all in modern coloured clothes. But then, they saw another body with clothes and equipment from the 1920s. This dead climber was lying face down and his leg was broken in two places. They looked inside his shirt and found

a name - it was George Mallory.

Inside Mallory's pockets they found some sweets and letters, a knife, a watch and some snow goggles. But they didn't find his camera. 

Without this we will never know the one most important thing: did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit of Everest?

3. You are going to climb Everest with a partner. You have a tent, food, and clothes, but you must also choose some climbing equipment. Answer the questions below and explain your ideas to the class.

-Which five pieces of equipment will you take with you?

A rucksack, the backpack, the goggles, the flashlight and the ice pickaxe.

-Why are these pieces of equipment important?

Because they are things that can save your life at any moment.

-What one extra thing would you like to take?

The rope.

4. Do you agree or disagree with these sentences? Why?

1. Reaching the summit of Everest is the most exciting thing that any climber can do.

I agree, because it is like their main objectives, and they are done. They can say officially that they are expert climbers.

2. Some climbers have only thought about themselves and they haven't looked after the Tibetan or Nepalese porters.

I agree, some people are really selfish...

3. The Tibetan and Nepalese porters are often forgotten in the famous stories about Everest.

I disagree, this is the most famous story and this have not forget them.

4. Modern climbers leave too much rubbish on Everest.

I agree, the photos I have seen of the summit have a lot of rubbish.

5. A lot of people want to climb Everest now. But only a small number of people should climb the mountain every year.

I disagree, people is free of doing anything they want, knowing the risk.

5. Find out about another person who climbed Everest. It could be the youngest climber, first woman, or the first person from your country.

The fastest person in the world at reaching the summit of Mount Everest was Kilian Jornet, a spanish person, in just 26 hours. He did so without the help of fixed ropes or bottled oxygen. It was his first attemp, in September 2016, via the north face.

Work by Daniel Javier Muñoz Rojo, 4ºB. 14/01/2018