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Ain't No Mountain High Enough Trivia Quiz

The Himalayas have long been the ultimate proving-ground for mountaineers. Let's see what you know about climbing them.

A multiple-choice quiz by mountainguru. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
mountainguru

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
328,380

Updated
Jul 16 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
394

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Almost everybody knows that Edmund Hillary was the first person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest on the 1953 British expedition, but who were the first Brits to stand on top? Hint

George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine

Sir Christian Bonington and Don Whillans

Sir John Hunt and Tom Bourdillon

Dougal Haston, Doug Scott & Peter Boardman

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Question 2 of 10

2. Climbing at high altitudes is not exactly the safest hobby one can partake of. K2 is called the "Savage Mountain" and Nanga Parbat is the "Killer Mountain". Which of these mountains offers the least favorable odds for would-be summiteers? Hint

Annapurna

Mt. Everest

Nanga Parbat

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which of the following is NOT true about Tyrolean climbing legend Reinhold Messner? Hint

He was first to climb Mt. Everest solo.

He was first to climb the ridge from Everest to K2.

He was first to climb all 14 8000 meter peaks.

He was first to climb Mt. Everest without bottled oxygen.

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Question 4 of 10

4. In spite of the best efforts of Dr. Charles Houston and Fritz Weissner on K2 in the 1930s, Americans' first ascent wasn't until 1958 on an 8000 meter peak. What peak was it? Hint

Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I)

Nanga Parbat

Broad Peak

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Question 5 of 10

5. In 1950, a French expedition climbed Annapurna, the first 8000 meter peak to be climbed. Tragically, the descent turned into a nightmare evacuation and the two summiteers, Louis Lachenal and Maurice Herzog, suffered severe amputations due to frostbite. What led to the frostbite? Hint

The tent was torn open by the storm

Lightweight boots and dropped gloves

A celebration snowball fight in base camp

Scooping up snow barehanded to eat

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Question 6 of 10

6. Mt Everest's neighbor to the south, Lhotse (8516m or 27,940ft) is the fourth highest mountain in the world. Its south face is one of the most difficult faces in the Himalaya. What was the controversy on this face in 1990? Hint

An Australian team threw a German team's tent off the wall.

Tomo Cesan claimed a false first ascent.

An avalanche buried all of basecamp, including a helicopter.

A Sherpa cut all other expeditions' ropes loose from the wall.

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Question 7 of 10

7. Mt. Everest is 8850m, or 29,035ft high, and has been summited by over 3000 people. Only one, however, had climbed every single one of those 29,035 feet by the end of the 20th century. Who was he? Hint

Viki Grosejli

Benoit Chamoux

Hans Kammerlander

Tim Macartney Snape

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Question 8 of 10

8. All 8000 meter peaks lie in the 'death zone', an altitude above 23,000ft where life becomes near impossible. The hardy Sherpa people of Nepal are much better suited to the thin air, having lived their lives in the high valleys of Nepal. In 1999, who established a record for time spent on top of Mt. Everest, as high in the 'death zone' as you can get? Hint

Tenzing Norgay Sherpa

Glayzen Norbu

Ang Tsering Sherpa

Babu Chiri Sherpa

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Question 9 of 10

9. A lot of climbers have gotten close to the tops of these mighty peaks, probably none more heartbreakingly so than Fritz Weissner, who almost climbed K2 in 1939. Fritz was about 20 feet of rock scrambling and an easy 600 foot snow slope away from the summit, and the weather was beautiful. Why didn't Fritz summit? Hint

He was out of rope.

He was out of water and getting dehydrated.

The climbing permit was expired.

It was getting dark.

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Question 10 of 10

10. Speaking of almost getting to the top, on May 25, 1955, Joe Brown and George Band of a British expedition 'almost' made it to the summit oh Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain on earth at 8,586m, 28,169ft. They were given credit for the first ascent anyway; why? Hint

Kanchenjunga has five summits, but they were not on the main one.

They were lost in a snowstorm and were on a slightly lower summit nearby.

They honored local beliefs that you should not walk on the summit.

They were exhausted, and seeing as it was an easy, called it good.

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Almost everybody knows that Edmund Hillary was the first person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest on the 1953 British expedition, but who were the first Brits to stand on top?

Answer: Dougal Haston, Doug Scott & Peter Boardman

Nobody knows for sure if George Mallory and Andy Irvine ever made the top when they disappeared into the storms in 1924 after being seen "going strongly for the top". Sir John Hunt led the successful 1953 British expedition with Tom Bourdillon, establishing a high camp for Hillary and Tenzing. Sir Christian Bonington led the 1975 Southwest face expedition that put Haston & Co. on top for the first British ascent.

Answer: Annapurna

Everest, although very dangerous, has a relatively tame death to summit ratio of 5.7% (these numbers are skewed by the massive amounts of people on the big E). Nanga Parbat, the "killer mountain" claims 22.3% of all summiteers. K2, widely thought of as the hardest 8000 meter summit to reach claims a 23.2% summit to death rate. And Annapurna, with the only "easy" route constantly raked by massive avalanches claims a mind-boggling 42.8% of all who summit! Golf anyone?

3. Which of the following is NOT true about Tyrolean climbing legend Reinhold Messner?

Answer: He was first to climb the ridge from Everest to K2.

Mr. Messner climbed all 14 '8000ers' between 1970 and 1986. He and Peter Habeler climbed Mt. Everest without bottled oxygen on May 8, 1978. Two years later, on August 20, 1980, Messner climbed the north ridge of Mt. Everest again--completely alone! As for the ridge running from Mt. Everest to K2, well, if it did exist, it would be over 1000 miles long!

4. In spite of the best efforts of Dr. Charles Houston and Fritz Weissner on K2 in the 1930s, Americans' first ascent wasn't until 1958 on an 8000 meter peak. What peak was it?

Answer: Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I)

In 1958, Nick Clinch led an American expedition that climbed Hidden Peak (8080m or 26,509ft) for the first time. Pete Scheoning and Andy Kauffman made the top. As for the others, Broad Peak (8051m or 26,414ft) was climbed by the Austrians in 1957, Nanga Parbat was climbed in 1953 by a German-Austrian expedition, and K2 was summited for the first time by the Italians in 1954.

Answer: Lightweight boots and dropped gloves

The boots the French had in 1950 were boots originally designed for use in the Alps, far lower than the altitudes in the Himalayas. On the descent from the summit, exhaustion and hypoxia caused Herzog to drop his gloves and descend several thousand feet, in a storm, without hand cover! Lower down, while spending the night in a crevasse, the summit party and their rescuers were engulfed by an avalanche, burying their boots and exacerbating the problem.

Answer: Tomo Cesan claimed a false first ascent.

In 1990, Slovenian climbing phenom Tomo Cesan claimed an incredible solo ascent of the wall and was awarded medals and prizes. As skeptics dug deeper, however, the claim looked to be more and more made-up. The only pictures Tomo had, which he did claim as his own, proved to belong to a famous Polish climber who had lent them to Tomo for route-finding.

A massive Russian team climbed the wall soon after and claimed the first ascent, saying no single climber could have done it. Cesan's claim is now generally discredited and even Cesan himself says he only reached the summit ridge.

Answer: Tim Macartney Snape

On August 11, 1990, Australian Tim Macartney Snape summited Mt. Everest after hiking all the way from sea level at the Bay of Bengal. He claimed the hardest part was swimming across the "great, grey, greasy Ganges river". Most climbers us aircraft to get from Kathmandu to Lulka (2860m or 9380ft) to start their adventure.

Answer: Babu Chiri Sherpa

In May 1999, Babu Chiri, a legend among Sherpas, set the record for time on top of Mt. Everest with an astounding 21.5 hours spent on the summit without bottled oxygen. He even pitched a tent and spent the night! Sadly, he slipped while taking pictures near camp II (6500m) and fell to his death. Tenzing Norgay was the legendary Sherpa who first climbed Mt. Everest. Ang Tsering was with the 1950 French Annapurna expedition, among many others. Glayzen Norbu is a Pakistani climber who climbed K2.

Answer: It was getting dark.

Fritz and climbing Sherpa Pasang Kikuli were almost to the easy summit snow slope, but alas, it was getting dark. Even though the weather was perfect, Pasang was fearful of the spirits whom he believed dwelt on the mountaintops at night. Fritz, being a true mountain guide, could not even think of untying and leaving his Sherpa behind, no matter how great the prize. Sadly, a series of breakdowns in communication did not let Fritz attempt again the next day, or ever, the expedition was over.

Answer: They honored local beliefs that you should not walk on the summit.

After promising the Maharajah of Sikkim that the summit snows are sacred and should go untrodden by man, Joe and George held up to their end of the bargain. They stopped a few feet below the actual summit. Most summit parties have held true to this show of respect to the local beliefs, a wonderful token of appreciation to the deity that resides there.

Source: Author mountainguru

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