It’s No Walk in the Park

Summarize “It’s No Walk in the Park.” When summarizing, need about more than one main idea • 

need carefully selected details to support each main idea •

Climbers not only need to build muscle before they climb, they also need to gain weight. The trip up Mount Everest is so tough that many people lose weight, so many prospective climbers try to gain weight before their hike. Climbers also take practice hikes up other high mountains. They might climb up Denali in Alaska. Even with all this preparation, many climbers still do not make it to the top of Mount Everest. You Can’t Do It Alone Even with all the training, few people make it to the peak of Mount Everest without help. Instead, about 90 percent of people who travel to the top of Mount Everest do so in huge groups with Sherpas. Sherpas are an ethnic group of people who live in Nepal, and many of them serve as mountain guides on Mount Everest. Sherpas do an incredible amount of work. They carry the heaviest loads on their backs. Sherpas carry tents, tables and chairs, and even vases of plastic flowers. Often, they take multiple trips up the mountain with supplies so the other climbers can climb without a heavy load. Of course, if a climber wants help from Sherpas, this adds to the cost of the climb, and even without Sherpa help, these climbs are not cheap. It costs at least $36,000 and often well over $65,000 to climb Mount Everest. Although Sherpas are not inexpensive, they are important. Sherpas have far more experience on the mountain than the people who have hired them. Sherpas prepare safe routes for climbing, attach ropes and ladders to the ice to help climbers cross the most dangerous areas, and give recommendations about when to keep hiking and when to stop. Sherpas might recommend stopping 500 feet from the top of Mount Everest and turning around if the weather is dangerous. That advice can be difficult to take. Still, climbers who listen closely to their guides are the most likely to survive the climb. Without the help of Sherpas, it would be almost impossible for climbers to climb Mount Everest and reach their dreams of standing on the highest point on Earth.

summary should be brief •