CletaMacfarlane: new info - done

2025-09-28T21:26:51Z

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{{short description|Elizabeth Hawley's climbing statistics}}

{{infobox book
| name = The Himalayan Database
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = The Himalayan Database.gif

| caption = Book cover of The Himalayan Database
| author = [[Elizabeth Hawley]], Richard Sailsbury
| language = English
| subject = [[Mountaineering]]
| genre = Database
| publisher = {{ubl | [[American Alpine Club]] }}
| pub_date = 1 October 2004
| english_pub_date =
| media_type = Multimedia CD
| pages = 80
| isbn = 978-0-930410-99-5
| website= {{url|1=https://www.himalayandatabase.com/|2=The Himalayan Database}}}}

'''''The Himalayan Database: The Expedition Archives of Elizabeth Hawley''''' is a large digital and published record of mountaineering in the ''Nepalese Himalayas'' since 1903 (i.e. it does not include the ''Pakistan Himalaya'' peaks such as [[K2]] and [[Nanga Parbat]] etc.), maintained by Richard Salisbury who digitised the records.

==Background==

The Himalayan Database (HDB), was developed and maintained by [[Elizabeth Hawley]], who remained involved up to her death in 2018.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Firth |first=Paul G |last2=Zheng |first2=Hui |last3=Windsor |first3=Jeremy S |last4= Sutherland |first4= Andrew I |last5=Imray |first5= Christopher H |last6=Moore |first6=G W K |last7=Semple |first7= John L |last8=Roach |first8= Robert C |last9= Salisbury |first9= Richard A |date= 2008-12-11 |title= Mortality on Mount Everest, 1921-2006: descriptive study |pmc= 2602730 |journal= The BMJ |volume= 337 |article-number=a2654|doi= 10.1136/bmj.a2654 |issn= 0959-8138 |pmid= 19074222 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/nepal-honours-chronicler-of-himalayan-mountaineering-elizabeth-hawley-by-naming-peak-after-her-9681518.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/nepal-honours-chronicler-of-himalayan-mountaineering-elizabeth-hawley-by-naming-peak-after-her-9681518.html |archive-date=2022-06-18 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Nepal honours chronicler of Himalayan mountaineering Elizabeth Hawley|date=2014-08-20|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=2017-02-16|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/FQ5KXITYHtFsB9FjqbFHrM/Deaths-on-Everest-Manmade-disaster-on-the-route-to-persona.html|title=Deaths on Everest: Man-made disaster on the route to personal glory|last=Desai|first=Shail|date=2016-05-28|access-date=2017-02-16}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rei.com/product/721819/the-himalayan-database-cd-rom-the-expedition-archives-of-elizabeth-hawley|title=The Himalayan Database CD-Rom: The Expedition Archives of Elizabeth Hawley|last=REI|website=REI|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/2013/02/18/everest-2013-interview-with-richard-salisbury-behind-the-summit-numbers/|title=Everest 2013: Interview with Richard Salisbury, the Man Behind the Everest Summit Numbers|date=2013-02-18|newspaper=The Blog on alanarnette.com|access-date=2017-02-16|language=en-US}}</ref> It was published as a CD and an 80-page paperback up until 2017.<ref name=":0" /> From 2017 onwards, records of expeditions, their members have been searchable online, or available as a complete downloadable database. It fills in for the absence of officially maintained records.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/does-everest-have-a-drug-problem/|title=Does Everest Have a Drug Problem?|newspaper=VICE Sports|access-date=2017-02-16|language=en-US}}</ref> It has been published by the [[American Alpine Club]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Westhoff|first=John L.|last2=Koepsell|first2=Thomas D.|last3=Littell|first3=Christopher T.|date=2012-06-13|title=Effects of experience and commercialisation on survival in Himalayan mountaineering: retrospective cohort study|url= |journal=BMJ|language=en|volume=344|article-number=e3782|doi=10.1136/bmj.e3782|issn=1756-1833|pmc=3374484|pmid=22695902}}</ref>

As well as being an important repository for climbing statistics on Himalayan mountains, the database also became known for its decisions to disregard or dispute various climbs.<ref name="haw1">If a mountaineer wants worldwide recognition that they have reached the summit of some of the most formidable mountains in the world, they will need to get the approval of Elizabeth Hawley.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10268549|title=Elizabeth Hawley, unrivalled Himalayan record keeper|publisher=BBC News|date=29 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="haw2">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/obituaries/elizabeth-hawley-who-chronicled-everest-treks-dies-at-94.html|title=Elizabeth Hawley, Who Chronicled Everest Treks, Dies at 94|work=New York Times|date=26 January 2018}}</ref> Notable cases was the decision not to record a 1990 ascent of [[Cho Oyu]] by British climber [[Alan Hinkes]], which put a question-mark over Hinkes' claim to have summited all 14 [[eight-thousanders]];<ref name="liz">{{cite web|url=http://www.himalayandatabase.com/downloads/EAH%20Seasonal%20Stories.pdf|page=347|title=Seasonal Stories for the Nepalese Himalaya 1985-2014|author=Elizabeth Hawley|publisher=The Himalayan Database|date=2014|quote=But his claim to have now climbed all 8000ers is open to question. In April 1990 he and others reached the summit plateau of Cho Oyu. It was misty so they could not see well; nine years later Hinkes said he had "wandered around for a while" in the summit area but could see very little and eventually descended to join the others, one of whom said they had not reached the top.|author-link=Elizabeth Hawley}}</ref> and the 1997 ascent of [[Lhotse]] by Italian climbers [[:it:Fausto De Stefani|Fausto De Stefani]] and [[Sergio Martini]]<ref name="liz2">{{cite web | url= http://www.himalayandatabase.com/downloads/EAH%20Seasonal%20Stories.pdf|page=274|title=Seasonal Stories for the Nepalese Himalaya 1985-2014|author=Elizabeth Hawley|date=2014|publisher=The Himalayan Database|quote=But a South Korean climber, who followed in their footprints on the crusted snow three days later [in 1997] in clearer weather, did not consider that they actually gained the top. While [Sergio] Martini and [Fausto] De Stefani indicated they were perhaps only a few meters below it, Park Young-Seok claimed that their footprints stopped well before the top, perhaps 30 meters below a small fore-summit and 150 vertical meters below the highest summit. Now in 2000 [Sergio] Martini was back again, and this time he definitely summited Lhotse.|author-link=Elizabeth Hawley}}</ref> which forced [[Sergio Martini]] to reclimb Lhotse in 2000 to verify he had climbed all 14 [[eight-thousanders]] (De Stefani decided not to re-climb).

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last1=Salisbury|first1=Richard|last2=Hawley|first2=Elizabeth|title=The Himalayan Database: The Expedition Archives of Elizabeth Hawley|date=October 2004|isbn=978-0-930410-99-5|publisher=[[American Alpine Club]]}}
*{{cite book|last1=Salisbury|first1=Richard|last2=Hawley|first2=Elizabeth|title=The Himalaya by Numbers: A Statistical Analysis of Mountaineering in the Nepal Himalaya|date=March 2012|isbn=978-9937-506-64-9|publisher=Mountaineers Books}}
*{{cite book|last1=McDonald |first1=Bernadette | first2=Sir Edmund |last2=Hillary|title=Keeper of the Mountains|isbn=978-1-927330-15-9|publisher=RMB |date=October 2012}}

==See also==
* [[Eight-thousanders]]
* [[List of Mount Everest records]]
* [[Alpine_Club_(UK)#Publications|Himalayan Index]]

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
* [https://www.himalayandatabase.com/ The Himalayan Database], main website for the database
* [https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNjRlNzliMDEtMjcxMy00MGY5LWI5MWQtM2U4NWE4Y2QzNTA4IiwidCI6IjIxZTQ2N2YzLWY4YzYtNGJmOC04NzNiLTRkZWNjNGY2NmI4NCIsImMiOjEwfQ%3D%3D Graphical Interface for The Himalayan Database]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Himalayan Database}}
[[Category:Climbing and mountaineering books]]
[[Category:Himalayas]]
[[Category:Books about the Himalayas]]
[[Category:Mountaineering expeditions to the Himalayas| ]]

The Himalayan Database - Revision history

CletaMacfarlane: new info - done