International Everest Day is annually observed across the globe on 29th May to commemorate the first-ever successful summit of Mount (Mt) Everest in 1953 by mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa of Nepal.
- The day honours their historic achievement and raises awareness about mountain conservation and the challenges faced by mountaineering communities.
- 29 May 2025 marks the 72nd anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest.
Background:
The Government of Nepal officially declared 29th May as International Everest Day in 2008, following Sir Edmund Hillary’s death.
Significance:
i.Celebrates the legacy of climbers and the Sherpa community, whose expertise enables high-altitude expeditions.
ii.Highlights Nepal’s mountain heritage and drives tourism, contributing significantly to its economy.
iii.Raises global awareness about environmental threats to the Himalayas, including glacial retreat, waste management crises, and climate change-induced Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs).
About Mt Everest:
i.World’s Highest Peak: Mount Everest, located in the Himalayas on the Nepal-Tibet border, is the highest mountain on Earth, with an updated official height of 8,848.86 meters (29,031.7 feet) as per a 2020 Nepal-China joint survey.
ii.It was named in 1865 by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) of Britain after Sir George Everest, the former Surveyor General of India.
iii.Everest, known as “Sagarmatha“ in Nepali, meaning “Goddess of the Sky” and “Chomolungma“ in Tibetan, meaning “Mother Goddess of the World”, is not only a symbol of human achievement and exploration but also holds religious and cultural significance for the people of the Himalayas.
About the 1st Mt Everest Summit:
i.On May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa from Nepal, and Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest as part of the 9th British expedition led by British Army officer Sir John Hunt.
ii.The expedition was very large, with about 350 porters, 20 Sherpas, and a lot of supplies to help just 10 climbers try to reach the summit.
iii.In 1959, the Government of India (GoI) honoured Tenzing Norgay with the Padma Bhushan award in the field of Sports for his achievement in mountaineering.
2025 Events:
i.Everest Summiteers Summit:
The Everest Summiteers Summit 2025 was held in Kathmandu(Nepal), bringing together over 175 national and international Everest climbers.
- The summit, themed “Honoring the Legends, Inspiring the Future”, featured seminars on modern climbing challenges, women’s participation in mountaineering, advancements in climbing technology, and climate change.
- During the summit, Nepal’s Badri Pandey, Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Civil Aviation, honoured more than 100 mountaineers, including 10 Indian climbers, at the Everest Summiteers Summit.
ii.Everest Marathon:
2025 Everest Marathon, an international high-altitude adventure sports event, is held annually on May 29 from the Mt. Everest Base Camp, traversing the Sherpa trails of the Khumbu Valley.
- The 2025 Everest Marathon, celebrating its 20th edition, featured multiple race categories including the 70 kilometre (km) Extreme Ultra, the 42.195 km Full Marathon, and the 21 km Half Marathon, attracting participants from around the world.
Recent Mt Everest Records:
i.On May 27, 2025, famed Nepalese Sherpa guide Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest for the 31st time, setting a new world record for the most successful ascents of the 8,849-meter peak.
ii.In the spring of 2024, Nepali mountaineer and photojournalist Purnima Shrestha became the first person to summit Mount Everest three times in a single climbing season.
- Between 1994 and 2025, he also summited other major peaks: K2 (once), Mt Lhotse (once), Manaslu (three times) and Cho Oyu (eight times).
iii.Kenton Cool, a British mountaineer, achieved his 19th ascent of Everest on May 18, 2025, breaking his own record for the most climbs by a non-Sherpa.
iv.Kaamya Karthikeyan, an Indian climber from Mumbai, Maharashtra, became the youngest Indian mountaineer and the second youngest girl in the world to summit Mount Everest from the Nepal side at the age of 16.
- In 2024, she became the youngest female in the world to complete the Seven Summits challenge. Earlier, in 2021, she was honoured with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, the highest civilian award for Indian citizens under 18 years of age.
