Mount Everest in Nepal, Mountains, Travel Destinations

One of the highest mountains ever to be climbed is the famous Mount Everest, which can be located in Asia between the border of Tibet and Nepal. Mount Everest is essentially part of the Himalaya range of mountains, but has been greatly publicized due to its immense height that has been recorded at 29,028 feet or 8,848 meters high.

Many local names have been given to Mount Everest in an attempt to recognize it for its majestic height. The origin of Mount Everest’s name comes from the British General and Surveyor at that time, Andrew Waugh, who named the mountain after Sir George Everest in 1865. Later the Nepalese government gave Mount Everest a Nepalese name Sagarmatha in 1960. It was an Indian mathematician, Radhanath Sikdar, who first measured and identified Mount Everest as the highest mountain in the world in 1852.

Mount Everest was first recognized for its sheer height in 1953 when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first successful attempt to ascend to the top of this daunting mountain on the 29th of May. These two men did not have the advanced technology and climbing equipment that climbers have today, they completed this daunting task with no fixed ropes and basic ice climbing equipment. Previously there had been an attempt by two men Andrew Irvine and George Mallory from the United Kingdom thirty years before. However, whether they ever made it to the top or not, no-one knows as they never returned to relate their adventures.

The easier of the two main routes up Mount Everest is the southeast route that can be accessed from the Nepal side of the mountain and the other main route comes from the north on the Tibetan side of the mountain. Apart from these two routes there are a total of fifteen other routes that will take you to the top. Most climbers will attempt to climb Mount Everest between the months of April and May before the unstable, monsoon season hits with its high wind speeds.

One thing that can definitely be concluded about mount Everest is that each and every person who attempts to climb this magnificent mountain does so taking their life in their hands. In 1996 a total of fifteen people lost their lives in an attempt to get to the top of the highest mountain in the world due to various freak weather conditions.

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