Club events

The Everest Story

Activities: before reading

1.Match the pictures to the definitions.

1-i.2-e.3-g.4-a.5-f.6-h.7-b.8-d.9-c.

2.Now match the pictures to the words.

1-c.2-e.3-b.4-d.5-a.6-i.7-f.8-g.9-h.

3.Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?

1-T.2-F.3-T.4-F.5-F.

Activities: while reading

-Read chapters 1 and 2, then rewrite these untrue sentences with the correct information.

1. The dead man wore grey and brown clothes when he was found.

2. The leg of the dead man was broken in two places, not the arm.

3. The dead man was called George Leigh Mallory.

4. Mount Everest’s top is 8850 metres above sea level.

5. At 5000 metres most people begin to feel ill.

6. Temperatures on Everest often fall below -20 ºC.

7. The earliest climbers had to get to Everest from the north, through Tibet.

-Read chapters 3 and 4, then circle a, b or c.

1-b.2-c.3-a.4-b.5-a.6-c.7-b.8-c.

-Read chapters 5, 6 and 7. Fill the gaps with these names. Use some of the names more than once.

1. Norton. 2. Mallory. 3. Somervell. 4. Namgya. 5. Bruce. 6. Somervell. 7. Irvine. 8. Noel. 9. Mallory. 10. Odell.

-Read chapters 8 and 9, then answer these questions.

1. They could enter Nepal. 2. He was one of the Sherpa people of Nepal, and he first tried in 1951. 3. It’s a large wall of broken ice, and it’s dangerous because of its height. 4. They fought their way up this wall of ice. 5. Because they didn’t have oxygen, the weather changed and they were very tired. 6. They looked like strangers from another planet, because of the ice on their face.

-Read chapter 10. Choose the best question word for these questions, and then answer them.

1. Who? Hillary and Tenzing. 2. What? It got better, the wind stopped and the sky cleared. 3. How? It was 17 metres high.         4. What? They shook hands and threw their arms round each other, Hillary took some pictures and put a small crucifix in the ground, Tenzing put some flags, also, in the ground and then they searched to see if Mallory and Irvine had left something.             5. Why? Because they needed to get down before wasting the oxygen.

-Read chapter 11. Put these events in the correct order.

4-1-8-2-5-7-6-3.

-Read chapter 12, then match these halves of sentences.

1-d.2-g.3-e.4-a.5-b.6-f.7-c.

Activities: after reading

1-Find these words in the wordsearch below, and draw lines through them.

-Now write down all the letters that don’t have lines through them, beginning with the first line and going across each line to the end. You now have 23 letters, which make a phrase of 5 words:

Goddess mother of the world, which is one of the names that the Everest has, this one in particular, by people from Tibet.

              2-Fill in the gaps in the newspaper    article     with these words.

Famous British climber found on Everest: The body of George Mallory was found on Everest yesterday, seventy-five years after he suddenly disappeared. An expedition discovered Mallory’s body on a steep snow slope near the summit of the world’s highest mountain.

Mallory was last seen climbing up towards the top of Everest with Andrew Irvine. But the two men didn’t return to camp and their bodies were never found. For many years people have asked one question: Were Mallory and Irvine the first climbers to stand on the summit of Everest?

The new expedition of five men wanted to answer that question and they set out to look for Mallory and Irvine’s bodies. At first, they found six dead climbers all in modern coloured clothes.

But then, they saw another body with clothes and equipment from the 1920s. This dead climber was lying face down and his leg was broken in two places. They looked inside his shirt and found a name - it was George Mallory.

Inside Mallory’s pockets they found some sweets and letters, a knife, a watch and some snow goggles. But they didn’t find his camera. Without this we will never know the one most important thing: did they reach the summit of Everest?

3-You’re going to climb Everest with a partner. You’ve a tent, food and clothes, but must also choose some climbing equipment. Answer the questions and explain your ideas.

I would choose the crampons to walk well in the snow, the oxygen equipment to breathe it when it would be necessary, the rope to tie it in a rock when I’m resting and not fall down, the torch to illuminate the dark places, and the rucksack to carry my equipment. As an extra thing, I would take a lightsaber (ok, just kidding). I would take the goggles, because without them I could damage my eyes.

4- Do you agree or disagree with these sentences? Why?

1. Agree, it’s the highest mountain in the world, so reaching the summit should exciting enough.

2. Disagree, from what I’ve read, they were well treated.

3. Disagree, as I said before, they were well treated, and in this book they are mentioned a lot of times.

4. Agree, not everyone, of course, but plenty of them leave rubbish, it can be seen in some pictures of the book.

5. Agree, only the ones who really want and can do it, know the big risk, should really try it.

5-Find out about another person who climbed Everest.

Jordan Romero is a North-American 20 year old man, who climbed  Mount Everest in 2010, been just 13 years old. He reached the summit with his father, his step-mother and three Sherpas. But he had already climbed other mounts like Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua or Elbrus.