Everest: The First Ascent

10 May 2013 #432

Cover Story: Everest: The First Ascent

Marking the anniversary this month of Hillary and Tenzing’s towering achievement, Brigitte Muir – the first Australian woman to climb Everest – gives a personal account of her close encounters with the great mountain and Alan Attwood explores the deadly allure of the highest peak on Earth.

Sophie Quick mines trash and treasures of the Eurovision Song Contest; Georgia Gowing discovers how a 19th-century Icelandic murderer found her way into Hannah Kent’s debut novel; Luke Buckmaster reflects on ‘unfilmable novels’ and the directors who dare to adapt them; Anthony Carew finds some parallels with Boyz II Men on the new Vampire Weekend album; and Anthony Morris reviews the complete first season of The Newsroom.

This edition’s ‘Vendor Profile’ is David from Adelaide. And we have ‘Streetsheet’ contributions from Rachael in Brisbane, Wayne in Melbourne and Dave in Perth. We also have a great picture of Big Issue vendor John with celebrity chef Simon Bryant and Adelaide Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood. Bryant cooked a fancy lunch for our Adelaide vendors as part of a preview event for Adelaide’s The Big Lunch fundraiser coming up in July.