HIGHER TECH.

TECHNOLOGICAL innovations; CREATIVE ability in technology; GEOGRAPHICAL research; METEOROLOGICAL instruments; ALTITUDE measurements; AERONAUTICAL instruments; WIND speed measurement; PHOTOSYNTHETIC oxygen evolution; MOUNTAINEERS

The article presents information on the development of technology in various sectors including geographic explorations. According to the author, when Antoine De Ville made the world's first recognized mountain climb on France's Mont Aiguille in 1492, technology was as simple as a ladder. More than 450 years later, when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1053, the British Everest Expedition had the full benefits of modern technology. The team carried altimeters, an anemometer, three types of oxygen equipment, purpose-made high-altitude boots and two-piece down climbing suits. This was a quantum leap even from the first Everest expeditions just 30 years before, when mountaineers had climbed in tweeds felt hats and leather jerkins. In 1996, New Zealand mountaineer Rob Hall sat dying on Everest's summit ridge but was able to talk to his wife in Christchurch with his radio patched through a satellite phone in base camp. Beyond these developments much of the advancement in outdoors gear has been driven by a purpose to lighten the loads adventurers bear. INSET: SURVIVAL FOOD.