Mt Everest
This summer, adventure is never far away with Nat Geo Premium with Disney+. Get the best of Nat Geo in streaming, digital, and in print today. SKIP TO CONTENT LOGIN Newsletters SUBSCRIBE MENU Reinhold Messner stayed only 40 minutes at the summit of Mount Everest in 1980. Photograph by Reinhold Messner ADVENTURE BLOG It's Still a Big Deal To Climb Everest Without Oxygen Two experienced climbers explain why they're attempting the challenging feat. BY ANDREW BISHARAT PUBLISHED APRIL 21, 2016 • 10 MIN READ When Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler trekked to Everest Base Camp in 1978, they were the only two people on Earth who believed they weren’t marching toward their own graves. Their goal was to reach the summit of Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen canisters, a feat that remains rare today but was, in 1978, actually considered scientifically impossible. More than 4,000 people have climbed Mount Everest, but fewer than 200 have done so without oxygen. This year