There's a particular kind of silence that happens when someone says the word "Everest." Even people who have never trekked a day in their life, who couldn't point to Nepal on a map, go quiet for a second — because some names carry weight beyond what they actually describe. Everest isn't just a mountain. It's shorthand for the edge of what's possible, and almost everyone, at some point, has wondered what it would feel like to stand somewhere near it.
