29028 or 9 and not a zip code

Everest obviously

In 1954, I was in Mrs. Hood's 3rd grade class and we were treated to a publication called "The Weekly Reader".  It was the first time I had ever heard or thought of folks climbing mountains being years before the Mother Superior sang "Climb Every Mountain" in the Sound of Music.

Seems that the year before, 1953 on this date, Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing were the first to make it to the top.  I vividly remember the height of Everest as 29028 feet; something of an odd but easy to

Hillary and Tenzing

recall number.

Seems the summit grew a foot over the past 60 years or so but that was only snow accumulation. The rock part goes up as far as 29002 and the rest appears to be varying depths of snow and ice; a distinction without much of  a difference.

A few years back, Hillary was signing pictures of Everest and selling them on eBay for $20 so I bought one.  Still have it somewhere deep in the piles of stuff one collects over the years.  It was a couple years before his death in 2008 so I guess its legit but who knows.

Just thinking about all this and that earthquake induced avalanche. How amazing to have video of it when half a century ago it took a year for the news to make the Weekly Reader.