Other Everests

Paul Gilchrist is Principal Lecturer in Geography in the School of Applied Sciences at the University of BrightonPeter H. Hansen is Professor of History and Director of International and Global Studies at Worcester Polytechnic InstituteJonathan Westaway is Senior Research Fellow in History in the School of Psychology and Humanities at the University of Central Lancashire

'This book is an indispensable cornucopia of fresh Everest perspectives across a range of disciplines, edited by three of the best Everest academics around.'Ed Douglas, author of Himalaya: A Human History‘A huge milestone in scholarly research on Chomolungma/Mount Everest.’Jon Mathieu, author of The Alps: An Environmental History‘Jomolangma, Sagarmatha or Everest… however you might know the mountain, this is the book we all needed. It reflects the plurality of the world we live in, written from the vantage point of “Everest”.’Pasang Yangjee Sherpa, Assistant Professor of Lifeways in Indigenous Asia, University of British Columbia‘Finally, the history of the world’s highest mountain as the flashpoint of colonial ambition, dreams of national glory and mountaineering heroism gets the serious treatment and critique it deserves, with essays on expedition history, gender issues, climate change and more. Want to know more about Everest? Read this collection.’Julie Rak, author of False Summit: Gender in Mountaineering Nonfiction‘Everything you always wanted to know about climbing Mount Everest – that you won't find in the standard accounts.’Maurice Isserman, co-author of Fallen Giants: Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes‘Other Everests is a wide-ranging and absorbing set of essays that decisively reframes the received history of the world’s highest mountain.’Stewart Weaver, author of Exploration: A Very Short Introduction'It is a work of great importance and the undoubted 'yardstick' for all things 'Everest'. Mal Creasey, Professional Mountaineer 'Everest’s role in the world is far more complex and diverse than being a mere backdrop for Western climbers, and the book provides numerous examples of not just how important it is, but also highlights how much space there is for new, innovative theoretical and academic approaches to it.'Maximillian Morch, Asian Review of Books'Sifting through archives and oral histories, the Other Everests writers uncover figures frequently absent from dominant accounts, as if buried under windswept drifts of snow.'Katie Ives, The American Alpine Journal 2025'If you have complained that books about mountaineering on Chomolungma, or Mt. Everest, have grown somewhat repetitive, well, you’re not alone. Man-against-mountain narratives and historical retrospectives fill the shelves but have grown stale. Other Everests takes a different approach. While it’s become more common for Everest stories to discuss topics like ethnicity and gender, Other Everests goes further. It covers many issues, including climate change, industrialization, visitors to the region and nationalism.'Andrew Szalay, Alpinist'By taking the harder path and planting its flag outside of established narratives, this book offers readers much more than the half picture of Everest to which we have become accustomed.'Adam Butterworth, The Alpine Journal 2025'Skillfully edited, this collection of 16 essays, written by an intercontinental and interdisciplinary group of contributors, adds an important degree of understanding to the history and geography of the venerable Mount Everest.Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.'L. Yacher, Southern Connecticut State University, CHOICE (February 2026 Vol. 63 No. 6)

• Introduction: one mountain, many worlds – Peter H. Hansen, Paul Gilchrist and Jonathan Westaway 1 The immovable goddess: the long life of Miyo Lang Sangma – Ruth Gamble 2 Naming Mount Everest: mountain cartography and languages of exonymy – Felix de Montety3 Re-activating the expeditionary archive – Felix Driver4 The benefit of chocolate and cold tea: equipping early British Everest expeditions – Sarah Pickman5 Far away frontiers and spiritual sanctuaries: Occidental escapism in the high Himalaya – Tim Chamberlain6 Seeing histories from the margins: an Indigenous labour force on Everest, 1921–53 – Jayeeta Sharma7 Women on Everest: a summit beyond – Jenny Hall 8 Rewriting Irvine into Everest: Audrey Salkeld and Julie Summers – Anna Saroldi9 Expecting hypermasculinity from a woman mountaineer: Wanda Rutkiewicz’s ascent of Everest – Agnieszka Irena Kaczmarek10 The ‘Slovenian’ Everest 1979: a small nation and the highest mountain in the world – Peter Mikša and Matija Zorn 11 Reclaiming Everest: discontents, disasters and the making of a Nepali mountain – Ian Bellows12 Sherpa’s Everest and expedition conglomerate – Young Hoon Oh13 The numbers game on Mount Everest: new ‘lows’ on the world’s highest mountain – Pradeep Bashyal and Ankit Babu Adhikari14 Digital media on Everest: practices, imaginations and futures – Jolynna Sinanan15 Thin ice, thin air – Yvonne Reddick 16 Everests on stage: contemporary theatre’s contribution to decolonising the mountain – Jonathan PitchesIndex