Interesting Facts about Mount Everest

1. Everest was formed 60 million years ago

2. It is the highest mountain in the world at 29,035 feet, although its exact height is often disputed
3. George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, discovered Everest in 1841.

4. In 1865 the mountain was renamed in his honour from its original name of Peak XV

5. Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to conquer Everest, on May 19 1953

6. It is almost 28 times the size of the Burj Al Arab, and will be 12.5 times the height of the Burj Dubai tower

7. Everest lies between Nepal and Tibet and climbers can scale the mountain from either side

8. It rises a few millimetres each year due to geological forces

9. Over 2000 people have reached the top of Everest

10. There are around 120 dead bodies of climbers on the mountain

11. Avalanches are the greatest cause of death for climbers scaling Everest

12. The summit is just below the cruising height of a jet

13. The youngest person to reach summit was 13 and the oldest 70

14. In Nepal the mountain is called Sagarmatha, meaning 'forehead of the sky'.

15. In Tibetan the mountain is known as Chomolangma for 'mother of the universe'

Death zone:

Above 25,000 feet, the air at Everest holds only a third of oxygen of sea level. This results in an increased chance of hypothermia, frostbite, high-altitude pulmonary, when lungs fill with fluid, and high altitude cerebral edema, when the brain swells up.

Even with bottled oxygen climbers experience symptoms such as fatigue, impaired judgment and coordination, headaches, nausea, double vision and sometimes hallucinations. Some experienced climbers have braved conquering Everest without the need of oxygen.

source: theindiatree.com

Skiing down Mount Everest



Flight To Mount Everest


1 comment:

Cowboy Bob said...

Not sure why this article says point blank that Hillary and Norgay were the first to summit. There are so many facts about Mallory and Irvine being the first, they need to put an asterisk by the '53 expedition.