The Canadian Press Sun, 1 May 2011 00:15:00 CST Today is May 1st: In 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comic opera “The Marriage of Figaro” had its world premiere in Vienna. Reaction was lukewarm and it wasn’t until the work was presented in Prague later that year that it was a success. In 1904, Czech composer Antonin Dvorak died. In 1930, baritone Charles Marchand, the first important advocate of French-Canadian song, died in Montreal at age 39. He was in charge of the music for Ottawa’s centenary in 1927, and that same year formed a vocal quartet called “The Bytown Troubadours.” In 1930, blues harmonica player Little Walter, real name Marion…

Tuesday, 26 April 2011 10:14 Cornelius Lundsgaard, The Tibet Post International Dharamshala: – Tibet born Sherpa mountaineer Nawang Gombu passed away at his home at the base of the Himalayas in Darjeeling on April 24. Nawang was the first person in the world to reach the Mt Everest summit twice, the first in India to conquer Nanda Devi (24,645ft) and the youngest ever to climb to a height of 26,000 feet. According to www.wikinews.org, Nawang scaled many other Himalayan peaks including Makalu, Nanda Devi and Cho Oyu, and he is credited with discovering several new mountain routes. Nawang Gombu was part of an elite group of Sherpa mountaineers who pioneered…

Erhard Loretan Erhard Loretan, who was killed on April 28, his 52nd birthday, while climbing in Switzerland, was one of the few people to reach the summits of the world’s 14 highest mountains. mountains. Erhard Loretan on the north face of L’Aiguille Verte, Chamonix, France Photo: ALAMY Erhard Loretan on the north face of L’Aiguille Verte, Chamonix, France Photo: ALAMY 5:22PM BST 29 Apr 2011 He was only the third mountaineer in history to scale the 14 Himalayan peaks above 8,000 metres (26,240ft), which include Mount Everest, Annapurna and K2. The feat took him 14 years, and he completed his quest in 1995. With his fellow Swiss climber Jean Troillet,…

How tall is Mt. Everest? The official altitude of the world’s highest peak is 29,029 feet (8,848m). However, the National Geographic Society has determined the height to be 6 feet taller, 29,035 feet, but the Nepali government has not yet been made this new altitude official. Shifting tectonic plates continue to push Everest upward, along with the whole Himalaya mountain range, at 1.6 to 3.9 inches (4 to 10 centimeters) per year. Where is Mt. Everest? Everest is part of the Himalaya mountain range along the border of Nepal and Tibet. It is located 27° 59′ North latitude, 86° 55′ East longitude. Why is it called Everest? In 1841, Sir…

ames Whittaker of Redmond, Washington, becomes the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Located in the central Himalayas on the border of China and Nepal, Everest stands 29,028 feet above sea level. Called Chomo-Lungma, or “Mother Goddess of the Land,” by the Tibetans, the English named the mountain after Sir George Everest, an early 19th-century British surveyor of the Himalayas. In May 1953, climber and explorer Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal made the first successful climb of the peak. Queen Elizabeth II later knighted Hillary for the achievement. Ten years later, American James Whittaker reached Everest’s…