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

In addition to the “firsts”, innovative and sometimes fatal variations became almost the
norm – descents by skiing, snowboarding, and parapenting, speed ascents, a summit
bivouac on Everest, etc.
The steady increase of climbing activity in Nepal was tempered by the Maoist
insurgency that helped to divert many expeditions into the Khumbu and Annapurna
regions and across the border to the Tibet while the more remote regions of Nepal
experienced a serious decline, especially on the lower peaks.
The Nepalese government tried to counter this exodus by opening up over 100 new
remote peaks to expeditions, but until Nepal’s political stalemate is completely
resolved, these peaks will be considered unsafe to approach. If and when this finally
happens, there will be vast number of challenges for those who truly yearn for a unique
out of the way adventure.
Methodology
For all analyses in this book, expeditions since 1950 to peaks open for mountaineering
by the Nepal government’s Ministry of Tourism and a few other major peaks not
officially open are included. Expeditions to the border peaks such as Everest, Cho Oyu,
Makalu, and Kangchenjunga are included for both the Nepalese side and the Chinese
or Indian sides.
Expeditions prior to 1950 are excluded because they were few and far between and
mostly originated outside of Nepal from either Tibet or Sikkim.
Expeditions to trekking peaks are excluded starting either in 1978 for the first 18
peaks that were designated as such by the Nepal government, or in the year that they
were subsequently added to the official list of trekking peaks. For trekking peaks, The
Himalayan Database generally records only first ascents or unusual events such as
new routes, exceptional climbs, or major accidents.
Expeditions to a few peaks entirely outside of Nepal such as Changtse and Kabru
Dome are also excluded. Most attempts on those peaks were secondary goals for
expeditions to another higher peak. Changtse was usually climbed (often illegally)
from the North Col of Everest, and Kabru Dome was often a part of a larger Indian
expedition to the Kabru massif on the Nepal-Sikkim border.
The ascent and death rates in the tables and charts are based separately on the
number of members, hired personnel, or total climbers that went above base camp.
In the past ascent rates often were based on the number of expeditions, and death
rates were often calculated as a fraction of the number of summiters since data for
the numbers of climbers venturing above base camp were not readily available until
the publication of The Himalayan Database. By basing ascent and deaths rates on the
numbers that went above base camp instead of summiter counts, we can now obtain
more accurate rates instead of some of the wildly exaggerated rates presented in the
past.
The data in the tables throughout the book are extracted from The Himalayan
Database using the reporting and analysis commands in the Himal program. The data
were then exported to Excel for further processing and charting. For the trend lines
Introduction 7