Mount Everest Math

At the assisted living facility where my mom lives, one of the physical therapists proposed the Mount Everest Challenge. He claimed staff members could climb the equivalent of Mount Everest by taking the stairs a certain number of times.

When I visit my mom, I always climb the stairs to her 5th floor apartment. But somehow the Mount Everest Math seemed wonky to me. Today, I finally got around to redoing the calculations.

Sparing you the details of the math, I climb 33.25 feet to visit my mom. Mount Everest is 29,029 feet above sea level or 873 trips up the stairs. Assuming I visit her every day, it will take me about 2 years and 5 months to reach the top of Mount Everest.

But wait! Most climbers, taking the southeastern ascent, fly into Lukla (9,400 feet) then hike up to Base Camp (17,700 feet). The climb from Base Camp to the summit only requires 340 trips. I’m way past that. I’ll have made the climb from Lukla by next February.

How many people have carried laundry up and down Mount Everest?

Photo from Getty Images