History
People
have been climbing up rocks and mountains for a long time.
Some people climbed mountains just to see what was on the other side.
A lot of people climbed rocks to look for food or hunt animals or find a
different place to live. Many
ancient people thought powerful spirits or gods lived at the top of mountains.
The ancient Greeks thought their gods lived on top of a mountain named
Olympus
.
Rock
climbing officially became a sport in 1760 (before the Declaration of
Independence was signed!) That was the year prize money was offered to the first
person to climb
Mont Blanc
.
Mont Blanc
is a mountain on the border of
Switzerland
,
Italy
, and
France
. It
is 15,771 feet tall and is the highest mountain in
Europe
. The prize money wasn’t
claimed until 1786.
 Many
Europeans started climbing mountains called the
Alps
in the 1800’s. This is the
largest mountain system in
Europe
. They
are very beautiful and capped with snow.
The
most famous early climb took place on a mountain called the
Matterhorn
in Switzerland
. It
is 14, 692 feet high and is the third tallest mountain in the
Alps
. Trying to climb the
Matterhorn
is very dangerous and many people have died.
The
Himalayas
are another famous mountain range and they are
located in southern
Asia
. They
are in parts of
Nepal
,
Tibet
, and
India
. The
fourteen tallest mountains in the world are there!
The tallest mountain in the world is
Mount Everest
. The
top of
Mount Everest
is 29,028 feet tall!
A group of more than 400 people tried to climb
Mount Everest
in 1953. Two
people from that group got to the top on
May 29, 1953
. They
were named Edmund Hillary, who was from
New Zealand
, and Tenzing Norgay, who was in the native
tribe called Sherpa.
| 