By Kreg Moccia

1. Mount Everest and the Race to the Top of the World: International Competition and Ascent Attempts in the Early 1950s By Kreg Moccia

2. Background - Switzerland • No prior official attempts at Everest • Well-known in mountaineering • Economy doing well

3. Background - Soviet Union • No previous major mountaineering feats • Height of Cold War • Highly anyagonized

4. Background - Great Britain • Made many previous attempts at Everest • Much at stake with First Ascent

5. Utility Model Ux = utility of given player X c = constant px = prestige coefficient that takes into account utility gained from a potentially successful summit attempt Dx = dummy variable of whether or not player X decides to push forward; 0 if turning around and 1 if pushing forward tx = threat coefficient that takes into account utility lost from a rival’s potentially successful summit attempt Dy = dummy variable of whether or not player Y decides to push forward; 0 if turning around and 1 if pushing forward wx = value estimating weather conditions for player X’s ascent e = expedition’s current elevation on the mountain

6. p - Prestige Parameter

8. t - Threat Parameter

10. w - Weather Paramter

12. Basic Game Form

13. Displaying Payoffs

14. Switzerland

15. Soviet Union

16. Results

17. Criticisms • Relative (arbitrary), non-exact parameter values • Not enough variables incorporated • Soviet expedition may not have taken place

18. Improvements • Base in empirical data • Add more parameters • Generalize to other expeditions

19. Britain