Believe it or not, Mount Everest has a long history with Wales, even taking its name from the Victorian geographer, Sir George Everest, who was born Brecknockshire (now Powys). With its strong Welsh connections it’s no wonder that many Cymrics are lining up to trek Everest.

Sir George Everest may never have even set foot on the mountain, let alone attempted the Everest base camp trek, but yet he was granted the honour of having the world’s highest mountain named after him. This came about as it was his line of work, refining and perfecting trigonometrical equipment for the Great Survey of India, which he led as Surveyor General. This enabled the first accurate measurement of the true height of the mountain by his successor Andrew Waugh who named the highest peak in the world in honour of Everest’s work.

Over a century later in 1952, Sir Edmund Hillary extended the Welsh connection by choosing the Pen-y-gwryd Hotel in the Snowdonia Mountains as the base to prepare him for his Everest trekking mission. The hotel is still functioning to date, as both a popular pub and resting place for walkers attempting to climb the famous Mount Snowdon. In fact, if you visit the Pen-y-gwryd Hotel, you will even see a pair of Sir Edmund’s famous hiking boots on prominent display in the bar. As the pub was the centre of the Everest trek expedition for six months it is now a Mecca for Everest trekking memorabilia, with newspaper cuttings featuring pictures of the 1953 expedition.

Charles Evans, a surgeon, continues Everest’s Welsh connection. Raised in Wales and a fluent Welsh speaker, he was the designated lead climber of the 1953 Everest trekking expedition and set to be the first man to reach the summit of the mountain. However, just 300 metres short of the peak, he and his climbing partner, Tom Bourdillon, had trouble with their oxygen equipment and sadly had to return back to Everest base camp.

Although many British have successfully completed an Everest trek, it wasn’t actually until 1995 that the first Welshman reached the peak of the mountain. The man in question was Caradog Jones, who later told the press that his team had been under a lot of pressure to persuade those below them that they had the strength to continue with their Everest trekking mission.

However, whilst only a couple of Welshman have ever made it to the peak of Mount Everest, many more have trekked as far as Everest Base Camp. One of the most interesting of these tales is of the Cardiff cricket captain, David Kirtley, who was the organiser of a team that played a 20-over cricket match at the Everest Base Camp and successfully raised £250,000 for charity. The 31-year old first flouted the idea over two years ago after discovering that the flat plateau of the Everest Base Camp bore close resemblance to the Oval stadium in Twickenham.

The mountain has been successfully climbed by people of all nationalities, but it is still clear that Wales holds a special place in its heart. After all, the country not only provided the mountain with its name, but also with the training ground for one of the most successful Everest trekking missions to date.