The Editor's Letter

Georgina Hunter-Jones

Everest has always had an incredible pull on us, from the first successful ascent in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to last year's first successful helicopter landing by Didier Delsalle. That it is the highest mountain in the world seems to be only one reason that men and women of adventure have longed to reach the summit. Perhaps that it is because Everest rises a few mms every year (the result of geological forces; in 1999 it was noticed that the mountain had increased an extra 6 foot) that gives it some kind of spiritual waywardness that we hope to absorb. In the modern jet era most of us have flown far higher than Everest, but have not stopped to wait: perhaps that is the attraction, although even the longest stop at the top was only 21 and a half hours, by Babu Chiri Sherpa, hardly enough to call it home! Or maybe it is simply that we know that, however many landings we do there, the mountain will never be ours, never be conquered.

Helicopters on the other hand are made to be conquered and bought, which may be the reason why this seems to be...