Editing Mount Everest (section)

===2014: Helicopter-assisted ascent===
In 2014, a team financed and led by mountaineer [[Wang Jing (mountaineer)|Wang Jing]] used a helicopter to fly from South Base Camp to Camp II to avoid the Khumbu Icefall, and thence climbed to the Everest summit.<ref name="nationalgeographic2">{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Chip|title=Chinese Woman Becomes First to Summit Everest After Avalanche|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/140525-everest-nepal-sherpas-climber-climbing-chinese-summit-avalanche-namche|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224171728/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/140525-everest-nepal-sherpas-climber-climbing-chinese-summit-avalanche-namche|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 February 2021|website=National Geographic|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=11 June 2023|date=25 May 2014|quote=Next year I think maybe I will relax.}}</ref> This climb immediately sparked outrage and controversy in much of the mountaineering world over the legitimacy and propriety of her climb.<ref name="news.nationalgeographic.com" /><ref name="Gornyack">{{cite web|last1=Yelkov|first1=Alexander|title=Ван Цзин – миллионерша, красавица, мама и скандальная рекордсменка мира (Wang Jing – millionaire, beauty, mother and scandalous world record holder)|url=http://xn--80afvlem1dxc.xn--p1ai/articles/all/article_8058/ |website=ГорнЯшкА.рф|publisher=Gornyack.com|access-date=18 December 2017|language=ru|date=20 April 2015}}</ref> Nepal ended up investigating Wang, who initially denied the claim that she had flown to Camp II, admitting only that some support crew were flown to that higher camp, over the Khumbu Icefall.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sharma |first=Gopal |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nepal-china-everest-idUSKBN0E70UO20140527 |title=Nepal probes if Chinese woman used helicopter on Everest climb |work=Reuters |date=27 May 2014 |access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref> In August 2014, however, she stated that she had flown to Camp II because the icefall was impassable. "If you don't fly to Camp II, you just go home", she said in an interview. In that same interview, she also insisted that she had never tried to hide this fact.<ref name="news.nationalgeographic.com" />

Her team had had to use the south side because the Chinese had denied them a permit to climb. Ultimately, the Chinese refusal may have been beneficial to Nepal's interests, allowing the government to showcase improved local hospitals and providing the opportunity for a new hybrid aviation/mountaineering style, triggering discussions about helicopter use in the mountaineering world.<ref name="news.nationalgeographic.com"/> National Geographic noted that a village festooned Wang with honours after she donated US$30,000 to the town's hospital. Wang won the [[International Mountaineer of the Year Award]] from the Nepal government in June 2014.<ref name="nationalgeographic2"/>