Himalayan Climbing, Spring '12: The Stats
In an interview with Ang Tshering Sherpa, founder of the expedition services company Asian Trekking, ExplorersWeb got some of the most interesting stats from Nepal's 2012 spring Himalayan climbing season. Unless otherwise noted, the numbers below only represent expeditions in Nepal and, in the case of Everest, stats are from south-side attempts.
3,005: Number of climbers who came to Nepal in the spring of 2012.
307: Total number of new Everest summiteers (out of a total of 565 people who successfully summited from both Nepal and Tibet).
1: Number of Bosnians to summit Everest. This year Dr. Naim Logic claimed the title of the first-ever of his countrymen to reach the world's highest peak.
14: Number of climbers to summit Cho Oyu. Seven were Sherpas and seven were foreigners.
11: Number of mountains climbed this season. The most popular was Everest, followed by Lhotse, Makalu and Manaslu. The least summited were Nuptse and Saibung. Only two people reached the tops of these peaks.
40: Number of American climbers who summited Everest. Americans were beaten out by Indian climbers (45) and, not surprisingly, by the Nepalese (222).
53: Percent of climbers on Everest who were Nepalese Sherpas. On other expedition peaks, only 37 percent of climbers were Nepalese.
55: Percent of foreign climbers who summited Everest this season. The Sherpas had a better showing at 62 percent.
73: Age of Tamae Watanbe (Japan) who broke her own world record for the oldest woman to summit Everest. She first claimed the title at the age of 63.
3,755: Total number of climbers who have summited Everest since the first ascent by Edmund Hillary in 1953. The number of actual ascents is 6,149 (some have climbed the mountain more than once).
6.98 million: Estimated U.S. dollars contributed to Nepal's economy by climbers attempting peaks other than Everest.
11.64 Million: Estimated U.S. dollars contributed to Nepal's economy thanks to Everest expeditions.