Mount Everest
| Mount Everest | |
|---|---|
Aerial photo from the south, with Mount Everest rising above the ridge connecting Nuptse and Lhotse | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft)[note 1] Ranked 1st |
| Prominence | Ranked 1st (Special definition for Everest) |
| Isolation | n/a |
| Listing | Eight-thousander Seven Summits Country high point (China and Nepal) List of mountains in Nepal List of mountains in China Ultra |
| Coordinates | 27°59′18″N 86°55′31″E / 27.98833°N 86.92528°E[1] |
| Naming | |
| Etymology | George Everest |
| Native name |
|
| English translation | Holy Mother, Skyhead |
| Geography | |
60km 37miles Bhutan Nepal Pakistan India China 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 13 12 11 8 6 4 The major peaks (not mountains) above 7,500 m (24,600 ft) height in Himalayas, rank identified in Himalayas alone (not the world).[2] Legend
| |
| Location on the border between Koshi Province, Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region, China | |
| Location | Solukhumbu District, Koshi Province, Nepal;[3] Tingri County, Xigazê, Tibet Autonomous Region, China[note 2] |
| Countries | China and Nepal |
| Parent range | Mahalangur Himal, Himalayas |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 29 May 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay [note 3] Ranked 1st |
| Normal route | Southeast Ridge (Nepal) |
Mount Everest (known locally as Sagarmāthā[a] in Nepal and Qomolangma[b] in Tibet) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its summit.[4] Its height was most recently measured in 2020 by Chinese and Nepali authorities as 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in).[5][6]
Mount Everest attracts many climbers, including highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the standard route) and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of May 2024, 340 people have died on Everest. Over 200 bodies remain on the mountain and have not been removed due to the dangerous conditions.[7][8]
Climbers typically ascend only part of Mount Everest's elevation, as the mountain's full elevation is measured from the geoid, which approximates sea level. The closest sea to Mount Everest's summit is the Bay of Bengal, almost 700 km (430 mi) away. To approximate a climb of the entire height of Mount Everest, one would need to start from this coastline, a feat accomplished by Tim Macartney-Snape's team in 1990. Climbers usually begin their ascent from base camps above 5,000 m (16,404 ft). The amount of elevation climbed from below these camps varies. On the Tibetan side, most climbers drive directly to the North Base Camp. On the Nepalese side, climbers generally fly into Kathmandu, then Lukla, and trek to the South Base Camp, making the climb from Lukla to the summit about 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in elevation gain.
The first recorded efforts to reach Everest's summit were made by British mountaineers. As Nepal did not allow foreigners to enter the country at the time, the British made several attempts on the North Ridge route from the Tibetan side. After the first reconnaissance expedition by the British in 1921 reached 7,000 m (22,966 ft) on the North Col, the 1922 expedition on its first summit attempt marked the first time a human had climbed above 8,000 m (26,247 ft) and it also pushed the North Ridge route up to 8,321 m (27,300 ft). On the 1924 expedition George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on 8 June but never returned, sparking debate as to whether they were the first to reach the top. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first documented ascent of Everest in 1953, using the Southeast Ridge route. Norgay had reached 8,595 m (28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the 1952 Swiss expedition. The Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo, and Qu Yinhua made the first reported ascent of the peak from the North Ridge on 25 May 1960.[9]
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Mount Everest". Peakbagger.com.
- ^ "Peak Bagger:Himalaya, Central Nepal Himalaya, Khumbu, Ghurka Himal, Annapurna Himal, Xishapangma Area, Sikkim-Eastern Nepal Himalaya, Western Nepal Himalaya, Assam Himalaya, Punjab Himalaya, Bhutan Himalaya, Garwhal Himalaya, Ganesh Himal". Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ Geography of Nepal: Physical, Economic, Cultural and Regional by Netra Bahadur Thapa, D. P. Thapa Orient Longmans, 1969.
- ^ Bishart, Andrew (4 May 2016). "China's New Road May Clear a Path for More Everest Climbers". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018.
- ^ "Mount Everest is two feet taller, China and Nepal announce". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Joe Phelan (28 October 2022). "Is Mount Everest really the tallest mountain on Earth? It depends how you measure height". livescience.com. Future US, Inc. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ "How Many Dead Bodies Are On Mount Everest?". climbernews.com. Climber News. 7 November 2022. Archived from the original on 5 October 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
As of November 2022, 310 people have died while attempting to climb Mount Everest.
- ^ Rachel Nuwer (8 October 2015). "Death in the clouds: The problem with Everest's 200+ bodies". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 October 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ Lewis, Jon E. (2012). "Appendix 1". The Mammoth Book of How it Happened – Everest. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-78033-727-2.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).