Did George Mallory climb Everest in 1924? I asked ChatGPT for an answer

December 14, 2022 Humour chatgpt, china, chu yin-hua, everest, first ascents, george mallory, history of mountaineering, interviews, noel odell, sandy irvine, tibet, wang fu-chou 6 Comments

There’s been a lot of hype about the new chatbot ChatGPT. If it can impersonate a real person, then it occurred to me that I could interview George Mallory and find out if he actually reached the summit of Everest in 1924. So I did, and here’s what happened.

Why did a Chinese team climb Everest during the coronavirus pandemic?

June 3, 2020 Opinion and advice china, everest, global health, nepal, records, tibet, yarla shampo expeditions 8 Comments

Last week a team of Chinese surveyors climbed Everest and were among only a handful of people to climb it during the coronavirus pandemic. But aren’t we all supposed to be in lockdown? Not all of us, it turns out. I will try to explain.

A fascinating journey across Tibet

March 25, 2015 Reviews and tributes alexandra david-neel, book reviews, buddhism, china, eiger, exploration, gabriel bonvalot, historical fiction, lhasa, mountain literature, tibet 2 Comments

The more I learn about Tibet, the less I understand. I’ve travelled there three times on expeditions and found it a weird and fascinating place. I was keen to read Race to Tibet, a new historical novel by indie author Sophie Schiller.

Did Chinese climbers reach the summit of Everest in 1960?

March 6, 2013 History bottled oxygen, china, chris bonington, chu yin-hua, dougal haston, everest, false summit claims, first ascents, history of mountaineering, jim whittaker, pete boardman, tibet, tom hornbein, wang fu-chou, willi unsoeld

There has been a lot of gushing editorial written recently to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Everest in 1963. I could write a bit more about the expedition here, but I wouldn’t be adding anything to what’s already out there. Instead I’m going to talk about another expedition which took place on Everest’s north side three years earlier.