ILLUMINATING THE MYSTERIES—AND WONDERS—ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY
ON A PICTURE-POSTCARD DAY IN 2021, Tenzing Gyalzen Sherpa crested the Balcony, a windswept rest spot high on Mount Everest’s Southeast Ridge. In front of his crampons, half buried in the hardened snow, were the remains of the world’s highest weather station.
When the station was first assembled and bolted to the rock, it looked like an elaborate backyard antenna festooned with bird feeders and weather vanes. In reality it was $30,000 of precision instruments to measure wind, humidity, temperature, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. Now the mangled seven-foot-tall mast lay on its side, embedded in ice.
Tenzing, a 31-year-old electrician and mountain guide, removed his phone from his down suit and began taking pictures of the scene. The Balcony Station had…
