The Himalaya by the Numbers: A Statistical Analysis - Himalayan ...

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Member Ascent Rates for Most Popular Peaks for Males (1950-2006)
ANN1 ANN4 MAKA MANA DHA1 EVER KANG BARU LHOT All Peaks PUMO CHOY AMAD
Chart A-28: Ascent rates for peaks with 400+ males above base camp from 1950-2006
An “Unsupported” Ascent of Everest
Male Ascent Rate Female Comparative Rate
Base-line (Male Ascent Rate)
From The Seasonal Stories of Elizabeth Hawley – Spring 1995
Alison Hargreaves, Britain’s best woman climber, reached the top of Everest via the North
Col-northeast ridge on 13 May 1995 at 12:08 p.m., shortly after two Italians, who had camped
very near her last camp at 8300m. She was the first woman to make an unsupported ascent
of Everest, and she accomplished this without the use of any supplemental oxygen.
Hargreaves does not claim to have made a solo ascent as some of the British press trumpeted
– how could she when there were 182 other climbers including the two Italians on the same
route and 33 more on the Japanese route that joins hers very high up? Nor does she claim
to have been the first woman to summit without using any bottled oxygen. That distinction
belongs to a New Zealander, Lydia Bradey. But Hargreaves is the first British woman to
have done so. And other climbers on her route concur that she can rightfully claim to have
made the first unsupported ascent by any woman. By “unsupported” she means that she
was an entirely self-contained unit above advance base camp, that she carried all her own
supplies of tents, gear and food up the mountain, slept in her own tents rather than in
camps pitched by or with others, ate her own high-altitude food which she cooked herself,
and did not climb in the company of anyone else. The other climbers noted that she had
refused invitations to come into their tents for a chat or a cup of their tea; she stayed outside
to visit with them, and she drank her own brews.
According to her account, Hargreaves carried her loads of supplies in three trips to the
North Col (7000m), where the north ridge begins, slept there the third time, then down to
advance base; went up to 7000m, pitched a tent and slept one night there, then again down
to advance base. Finally she started her summit push on 11 May, went up to the Col, picked
up gear including a tent and went to her other tent at 7700m where she slept that night. On
the 12th she climbed to 8300m and pitched there the tent she had brought from the Col; she
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