Interesting Facts about Mount Everest

Tibetan’s Chomolungma “Holy Mother”, and Nepali’s Sagarmatha “ mother goddess of the sky” is the world’s highest mountain – the famous Mount Everest.  It is found in Nepal and located at the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas.

The mountain peak is 8, 848 meters or         29, 029 feet above the sea level and ranked as the 1st and the Highest Mountain in the World. The thickness of the ice or snow that covers the rocks is 3.5 meters or 11 feet deep. The snow and ice thickness varies from time to time, making the snow cap’s precise measurement difficult to identify.

In 1865, Royal Geographical Society officially gave an English name to the mountain, “Everest”, under the recommendation of the British Surveyor General in India, Andrew Waugh.  The name is after Sir George Everest, his forerunner. Waugh called the mountain Everest because he didn’t know that the Tibetans already named the mountain as Chomolungma for many centuries.

In 2010, there were 5, 104 expeditions to reach the summit involving 3, 142 individuals. During the past decades Mount Everest has claimed many lives. In 1996, a total of 8 people disappeared at the height of a strong storm while in  2011,  there were 210 people who lost their lives in the world’s most unforgiving mountain.

In Nepal,  mountain climbing enthusiasts are among the biggest sources of tourism returns. All mountain trekkers are required by the government to secure a climbing permit of $25, 000/person.

The First Climb to Mount Everest

The first person to stand at the peak of Mount Everest is no other than Edmund Hillary, New Zealander, and one of the climbers of British expedition led by John Hunt. It began in 1953 when the ninth British expedition attempted to reach the summit for the first time.

The first pair, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans failed to reach the summit and went back to their camp 100 meters or 300 feet from the summit because of oxygen problem. After two days, the second pair  Edmund Hillary together with Tenzing Norgay, his Nepal Sherpa went up.
They were the first to conquer the world’s highest peak and successfully reached the summit at exactly 11:30 a.m.  on May 29, 1953. They took pictures, buried their sweets and small cross which they brought during the climb. The members of the expedition ascribed the success to the whole team but later in few years, Tenzing revealed the Hillary was the first man to set his foot on the summit.

According to Edmund and Tenzing, the greatest achievement in the field of mountaineering is to get to the summit of the highest peak in the world – Mount Everest.

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JW

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