Original photo by hadynyah/ iStock
On May 21, 2007, Rod Baber placed a 1-minute, 48-second phone call. He called a voicemail account to leave a message, a move that cost him $4.72. By all accounts, Baber’s call was much like millions made from cellphones every day — except that the renowned British climber was standing on the summit of Mount Everest. Using a Motorola Rizr Z8, Baber made the call at 29,035 feet, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for “highest mobile phone call.” The feat was made possible by China Telecom, which had set up a cell tower at the base camp on the mountain’s north side. Baber also called his family and sent a text to a Motorola employee: “One small text for man, one giant leap for mobilekind.”
Oops, incorrect!
It's a fibThe very first cellphone call was made on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan on April 3, 1973. The caller was Motorola’s Martin Cooper, who called a rival at Bell Labs. Cooper then held a press conference at the Hilton, at which reporters were invited to dial their newspaper offices.
Since Baber’s historic phone call, Everest’s cell service has kept up with the times. In 2013, Everest received 4G service so climbers could livestream the view from the summit. In 2020, the mountain got the 5G upgrade, which offers 20 times more capacity at one-third the size. That means that if you want to find some excuse to unplug from work, “climbing Everest” might not be a good one.
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The Tibetan name for Everest is Chomolungma, meaning “______.”
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The Tibetan name for Everest is Chomolungma, meaning “Mother Goddess of the World.”
Everest isn’t the tallest mountain on Earth.
When it comes to mountains, the accolade of “world’s tallest” is a matter of opinion. If you’re going strictly by height above sea level, then yes, Everest remains the reigning champion. However, if you’re going by tallest from base to summit (that is, including parts of the mountain below sea level), the clear winner is Mauna Kea, which, at 33,500 feet, is some 4,000 feet taller than Everest. However, the most compelling competitor in the “world’s tallest mountain” challenge is little-known Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. Because (as its name suggests) Ecuador straddles the equator, it’s also farther from the center of the Earth, since the planet’s midsection actually bulges outward due to its constant rotation. This technically makes Chimborazo the farthest away a human can get from Earth while still standing on land.
Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
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