Commitment is what takes you to the summit

By Lethbridge Herald on June 6, 2025.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

Since Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of the 8,849-metre-high (29,031 ft.) Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, climbing the world’s highest peak has been a goal for untold numbers of mountaineers.

In 2025 alone, 786 people reached the table-top summit of Everest. On the Nepal side of the mountain, the total of 678 summits included 257 paying clients and 421 support climbers. Climbing from Tibet, there were more than 150 summits.

Five people died in their attempts, which shows the dangers inherent in the effort to achieve the feat with low oxygen pressure above 26,000 feet creating what has become known as the death zone.

Because of the high altitudes, climbing Everest is a time-consuming and expensive proposition with weeks of acclimatization needed to attempt reaching the summit.

But every year hundreds pay as much as $100,000 for the opportunity to try. I’ve followed the annual spring climbing season out of curiosity – perhaps a bit morbidly – since watching the 2015 film “Everest.”

The people who attempt Everest come from all nationalities and many ages, all determined to push their bodies and minds to the limits of endurance to stand for a brief moment on top of the world. It’s hard to imagine the dedication and training spent working toward this goal, never mind the expense. 

Over the decades around 8,000 people have summited Everest nearly 13,000 times, with some climbers achieving the goal multiple times. Since 1921, more than 300 climbers have died on the mountain; many of the bodies are still there because of the difficulties involved in retrieving them or the fact they have disappeared.

The drive it takes for such an effort even once is mind-boggling, never mind to attempt it again and again.

But that’s the human spirit embodied in one goal. We can achieve what we truly want if we are willing to make the commitment. And commitment isn’t easy when trying to tackle an obstacle that may not seem achievable or likely. 

But we never know what we can achieve until we actually make a commitment to try. Many people have failed in their quests to climb Everest and some have surely succeeded on second or third or fourth attempts. That spirit of not giving up, the belief we can eventually  succeed, is a noble spirit and one which will allow all of us to achieve great things if we make the effort.

In a real way, Everest summits are a metaphor for life. We can see goals and make the effort to achieve them, conquering any and all obstacles on the way and feel the exhilaration of success or we can just watch from afar as others achieve their goals.

I don’t know about you but I prefer to be a climber, not an observer.