Why do people around the world risk their lives, and put themselves through various ordeals, just to climb mountains?
Click start to play today’s Word Search, where you can find famous mountaineers.
English climber George Mallory had the perfect answer to that question. When he was asked why he was trying to climb Mount Everest in 1923, he famously replied: “Because it’s there.”
Majestic summits have captured people’s imaginations for decades, and compelled many to strap on their boots and attempt to reach new heights. Here are three mountaineers from today’s Word Search, who managed to do so successfully:
1. Lino Lacedelli
The Italian mountaineer was one of the first two climbers to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain after Mount Everest. Lacedelli was celebrated as a national hero in Italy when he returned triumphant, after scaling the 28,250-foot summit in the Karakoram range in July 1954. His victory was even more significant because it came right after Italy lived through fascism and defeat in World War II. Even after retiring, Lacedelli continued to climb mountains, and participated in more than 160 mountain rescues.
2. Reinhold Messner
Another hardy Italian, Messner is responsible for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was known for using the traditional climbing practice called alpinism, where climbers travel with minimum equipment, rather than setting up expeditions with caches of supplies along routes. Growing up in a mountainous region in Italy, Messner had already ascended a peak of 9,842 feet by the age of five. Over the course of his life, he identified as many as 700 new routes to the peaks of the Dolomites in Italy. Eventually, he became the first climber to scale all 14 peaks over 26,000 feet above sea level, giving him the coveted status of the world’s greatest mountaineer.
3. Nirmal Purja
The Nepal-born naturalised British climber holds multiple mountaineering world records. Most notable among them is the fact that he has climbed all 14 peaks over 26,000 feet high – and he did it in a record six months and six days, with the help of bottled oxygen. Purja was also the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Lhotse (the fourth highest mountain in the world) and Makalu (the fifth highest) within 48 hours. Just last year, the 38-year-old also completed an unprecedented winter asent of K2, with a team of nine other Nepalese mountaineers.
What do you think of the grit and determination required to scale peaks? Play today’s Word Search and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.
