How’s challenge

represented in the
pictures?
 What do you think attracts people to
mountain climbing?
 If you were climbing with someone,
what kind of person would you want
him/her to be?
Mountain climbing
English File – Upper-
Intermediate’s 3B.
 How do you pronounce...?
 Mountain
/’mawn-t
̇ ən/
 Mountaineer

/,mawn-tə-’nir/
 Climb - Climbed

/klaym/– /klaymd/
 Climber

/klay.mer/
 Mountain climbing

/,mawn-t
̇ ən ‘klay-miŋ/
You’re going rockclimbing.
What are some things you
cannot forget to take?
Climbing Gear

More
 Do you know the words for...?
 a path
 an organized journey  asc_nt
 a place where food and  b_se c_mp
general supplies are kept,
especially for people climbing a  e_p_d_t_on
mountain  fr_stb_te
 injury to fingers or feet caused
by extreme cold  r_ _ch
 to arrive at the top of the s_mm_t
mountain  r_dge
 the act of rising or mounting
upward  r_ _te
 a high edge along a mountain
 Do you know the words for...?
 a path
 an organized journey  ascent
 a place where food and  base camp
general supplies are kept,
especially for people  expedition
climbing a mountain
 frostbite
 injury to fingers or feet
caused by extreme cold  to reach
to arrive at the top of the
summit

moutain
 the act of rising or  ridge
mounting upward  route
 a high edge along a
mountain
Who’s this man?
 What about him?

(a) He holds the record of oldest climber ever.

(b) He was Everest’s first conqueror, in 1953.
(c) He sponsored the first Everest expedition.
Watch Hillary’s interview and answer.

a) What are the commercial climbs?

b) Why does he criticize those climbs?
c) What is mountaineering in his opinion?
d) What was the effect of tourism on the local
community?
 Hillary laments Everest changes
The first man to 1._________
conquer Everest 50 years
ago
2._________ has said many modern climbers do
not subscribe to the true philosophy of
mountaineering.

Speaking to the BBC, Sir Edmund Hillary criticised

many commercial climbers today who pay large sums
of money to be helped to the top of the world's
highest peak.
3._________

living
But he said 4._________ standards of local Sherpas
had improved considerably as more people visited the
Everest region.

currently on the
Record numbers of people are 5._________
mountain to mark the golden anniversary of the first-
on
ever ascent 6._________ 29 May 1953.
Changes

Sir Edmund said 7.______________

mountaineering was a challenge
between the mountain and the mountaineer and
accused some people of paying their way to the
summit
8._________.

He said this was one of the most significant changes

ascent with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in
since his 9._________
1953.

be led
"Having people pay $65,000 and then 10._________
experienced
up the mountain by a couple of 11.____________
far
guides, I personally think, is 12._________ less
attractive. It isn't really mountaineering at all," he
said.

But he was quick to concede that the vast numbers of

people attracted by Everest had had spin-offs for local
people.
 said
He 13._________ schools and hospitals had been
built and fresh water could now be piped to the
villages.

These benefits came much more from tourism as a

rather than
whole, 14.______________ from mountaineering
alone, Sir Edmund said.

"I think these are things that give the young people
overcome
the opportunity to step forward and to 15._________
the harshness of their environment."
 Credits to
 www.abc-of-rockclimbing.com (There
you’ll find a session on gear in case your students start
questioning you about all those little thingies)

 http://gorp.away.com &
http://away.com
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_as
 http://dictionary.cambridge.org
 www.m-w.com
Climbing gear - extra

More
 Vocabulary
 climb down phrasal verb UK
to change your opinion or admit that you were wrong:
The government has been forced to climb down over the
issue of increased taxes.
climbdown noun [C] UK
Saying she was wrong was a difficult climbdown for
Sarah.

 a mountain of sth
a large amount of something:
I've got a mountain of work to do.

 make a mountain out of a molehill

to make a slight difficulty seem like a serious problem:
You're making a mountain out of a molehill. You wrote
one bad essay - it doesn't mean you're going to fail your
exam.
 Teacher’s Guide
 You can start the lesson by giving Gloria Estefan’s song “Reach”, which
is also about overcoming challenges. Cut out the stanzas and have
pairs try to put them in order. Ask what the relationship is between the
song and the Olympic spirit (the song was theme to an Olympics) and if
they have ever overcome challenges or consider themselves
persevering people. Then put them in small groups to discuss slides 1
and 2.
 Slides 4-8 recycle vocabulary learnt on the first page of the book
chapter and pre-teach a couple of words they’ll hear. On slide 4, click
on the sound button to open a Merriam-Webster sound file. This can
take a short while. The worksheet has a very similar version of the
exercise on slide 7.
 Slides 9 & 10 are a pre-listening activity.
 While listening (interrupt after 6’36”), students should focus on the
questions that are on slide 11.
 Hand out the worksheet with the cloze exercise. They should check
their answers to the listening with the text and their partners. Then T.
classchecks it. If by any chance you can’t play the listening, make this
a reading activity only.
 Finally, have them do the cloze exercise – possibly as homework – and
use the 10th slide to check it.
 If you want to learn more climbing vocabulary, take a look at the
websites slide 15 shows. There’s also an extra vocabulary section at the
end, in case your students are interested in mountain climbing. In case
they aren’t, you can teach them the expressions on the last slide.