Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth. It is located on the border between Nepal and China (Tibet), on the crest of the Great Himalayas. The peak is known in Tibetan as Chomolungma, meaning “Goddess Mother of the World.”

Physical features

Three barren ridges—the Southeast, Northeast, and West—culminate in two summits. The highest, at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters), is named Everest, and the other, at 28,700 feet (8,748 meters), South Peak. The ridges are covered with ice that reaches to the base of the mountain.

Mount Everest rises about two thirds of the way into the Earth's atmosphere. The oxygen levels at this height are low, the temperatures are very cold, and the winds are extraordinarily strong. The summit itself consists of rock-hard snow that is covered by a layer of softer snow. The depth of the top layer fluctuates annually from 5 to 20 feet (1.5 to 6 meters). It is at its highest in September, at the end of the wet season.

The mountain has several major glaciers that cover its slopes. The glaciers are fed by avalanches and, in turn, feed a number of rivers in Nepal and Tibet.

Plants and animals

The conditions on the upper slopes of Mount Everest are too harsh for any plant or animal life to survive. Mosses and lichens, however, grow in shaded areas at lower levels. Flowering plants are found in some areas.

People

The best known of the people associated with Mount Everest are the Sherpa. They live in villages, at altitudes of between 9,000 and 14,000 feet (2,700 and 4,300 meters), in Nepal and Sikkim (in India). The Sherpa are known for their strength and endurance at high altitudes, and since the 1920s they have played a crucial role in Himalayan expeditions.

Study and exploration

In 1852 the Survey of India first established that the summit was the highest point on Earth. In 1865 the summit, then known as Peak XV, was renamed for Sir George Everest, the British surveyor of India from 1830 to 1843. In 1952–54 the Survey of India provided the first reliable calculations of the height of the summit. Measurements made since that time have refined the original figures.

Mount Everest has long been a challenge to mountaineers and explorers. Several early attempts to reach the summit began with the opening of the Tibetan route in 1920. They failed, however, largely because of the conditions on the mountain, particularly the cold, wind, and low level of oxygen. Mount Everest was first scaled successfully on May 29, 1953, by an expedition sponsored in part by the Royal Geographical Society. Two members of the expedition—Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa guide—were the first to stand at the top of the summit.

Since then there have been a number of successful expeditions. On May 16, 1975, Tabei Junko of Japan, accompanied by Ang Tsering of Nepal, became the first woman to reach the summit. In 1993 Pasang Lhamu, who died on the way back down, became the first Sherpa woman to do so. In 1996 eight climbers from various nations died after being caught on the slopes in a blizzard. By the mid-1990s more than 600 people had scaled the summit of Mount Everest, but hundreds more had died in the attempt.

Environmental issues

Mountaineers have been responsible for careless littering and overconsumption of resources in the areas around the mountain. On the Nepalese side the mountain and its surrounding valleys are now part of a protected area known as the Sagarmatha National Park, which was set up in 1976. In 1979 the park was declared a World Heritage Site. In the 1990s expeditions were organized to remove used supplies from the mountain slopes, including hundreds of oxygen containers.