At a height of 29,000 feet (5.5 miles), Mt. Everest is the highest point on earth. I was a ten year old boy in 1953, but I still have memories of the exciting news that New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had scaled the peak. Since that time, many have reached the top, and many more have failed. Recently it has been in the news that so many climbers are trying to reach the peak, that there is a traffic jam near the top of Everest. Unfortunately, the crowding has led to a number of deaths.

There is possibility that Hillary and Norgay were not the first to make it to the top. In 1924 a party lead by George Mallory perished while attempting the climb. Mallory’s body wasn’t found until 1999, but the party’s last camp was at the point that positioned it for the final leg of the climb. When Mallory’s well-preserved body was found, his wife’s picture was not present, and Mallory had said that he was going to leave the picture on the summit. We can say, however, that Hillary and Norgay were the first to climb the mountain and successfully return.

The most famous quote about Everest is due to Mallory. In 1923 he went on a lecture tour throughout the United States raising money for his 1924 expedition. In an interview with the New York Times he was asked why he wanted to climb Everest. He is quoted as replying, “Because it’s there.” I had always thought that he had given a glib answer, but then a while back I read that he had been a British Army officer at the horrible Battle of the Somme in WWI. Maybe he was contrasting the solid permanence of Everest to the fleeting, property and values destroyed in the war.

Mountains are mentioned many times in the Bible (in 302 verses). Many times they are mentioned as examples of God’s marvelous creation, and I admit that I always find mountain views very moving. Other times they are mentioned as being holy places in the context of seeking or communicating with God. Abraham, Moses and Jesus all went to a mountaintop to be with God. Today, as in Bible times, standing before a mountain still causes us to be in awe and draws us closer to God. Seeing God’s majestic mountains helps remind us of his ever present unconditional love.

Jim

Traffic Jam on Mt. Everest