It's Crowded at the Top

By Kathleen Kingsbury

Records are made to be broken, but on Mount Everest they have been shattering at a dizzying pace in the past month. It's peak season on the 29,035-ft. summit--the world's highest--and more than 90 mountaineers made it to the top just last week. Here's a look at some of the notables who were up for the climb.

PEAKING AT 70 Japan's Takao Arayama, believed to be the oldest person to scale Everest, got to the top when he was 70 years 7 months and 13 days old, edging the previous record holder by three days.

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Briton Rhys Jones, 20, may be the youngest person to have climbed the highest peaks on all seven continents. Right behind him: Australian Christopher Harris, 15, who is scaling Everest now and hoping to become its youngest summiteer ever.

HABITS ARE HARD TO BREAK Sherpa Appa has twice said he would stop making his annual climb, but last week he did it again--for a record 16th time since 1989.

MOUNTING NATIONAL PRIDE Lebanon's flag was planted atop the peak for the first time, thanks to Maxim Chaya. And Leo Oracion became the first Filipino to the top.

AGAINST ALL ODDS New Zealander Mark Inglis, whose legs were severed below the knees because of frostbite on another expedition, became the first double amputee ever to summit. On the way up, Inglis had to repair a prosthetic limb--it snapped when he fell at about 21,000 ft.

HIGH HOPES Pneumonia ended Ali Bushnaq's quest to be the first Palestinian up the mountain. But his teammates on the Everest Peace Project, including two Israelis, made it all the way.