Stairway to Everest: Divisions I to IV

Students who wish to participate in the Everest expedition can join in the Stairway to Everest project. This activity is offered as an alternative to the reading challenge found in the Read Your Way to Everest activity in Phase 2, Theme 1.

Stairway to Everest is a physical activity that ends with a celebration of Nepalese culture. The activity has several components, spanning from Phase 1 (February) to Phase 5 (May) of the Everest 2000 education program. A general overview is available in Phase 1, Theme 3.

Teachers have an excellent opportunity to integrate the Stairway to Everest challenge into their current physical education and health programs.

Byron is climbing to the summit of Mt. Everest - an altitude of 8,850 metres or 29,035 feet. Byron challenges students, working in teams, to climb 29,035 stairs over a two-month period. Teachers can decide if their entire classroom will form a team or if a class can be divided into a number of teams. This decision will depend on the age, physical fitness, and interest of the students in each class.

Overview of Stairway to Everest:

Phase 1: Introduction of the program and start of the Training for Everest component

Phase 2:Introduction of the program and continuation of Training for Everest from phase 1, theme 3

Phase 3: Set goals, choose climbing teams (entire class, whole school or telecollaborative group) and start climbing.

Phase 4: Research and plan pre-event and post event ceremonies, hold your summit day on or close to when Byron Smith and the Everest 2000 team summit Mount Everest in the first two weeks of May.

Phase 5: Celebrate the successful achievement of the students' goals and the Everest 2000 summit! Post results of the Stairway to Everest challenge, including news stories and pictures

Links and On-line Opportunities:

• To learn more information about Nepalese culture, follow Byron and other members of the expedition as they trek through different communities to Basecamp. Their experiences are recorded in the daily dispatch.

• For a complimentary, language arts based project, consider the Read Your Way to Everest activity. Students set goals to read instead of climb their way to Everest. This challenge ends in a choice of a student book report, picture, poem or story, as well as the celebration of Nepalese culture.

• Information on Nepalese culture and traditional religious ceremonies that the climbers participate in before leaving Basecamp can be found in the background information for the climb. (Nepal, be sure to visit the outside links as well).

• Although Stairway to Everest is not officially a telecollaborative project, teachers may want to team up with classrooms from other schools participating in Stairway to Everest.

  To do so, e-mail the expedition education coordinator at info@everest2000.ca and request contact information for another school participating in the Everest 2000 education program.

• Stairway to Everest can also be a fund raiser for the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation, a Canadian-based charity organization dedicated to work in Nepal.

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