Mount Everest is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Mount Everest is the Earth’s highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international border between China and Nepal runs across the precise summit point. (Wikipedia)
Mount Everest is also called Chomolangma, meaning “Goddess Mother of Snows” in Tibetan and Sagarmatha, meaning “Mother of the Universe” in Nepalese. The mountain is sacred to the native people.
Mount Everest has an extreme climate. The summit temperature never rises above freezing or 32° F (0° C). Its summit temperatures in January average -33° F (-36° C) and can drop to -76° F (-60° C). In July, the average summit temperature is -2° F (-19° C). Mount Everest is rising from 3 to 6 millimeters or about 1/3 inch a year. Everest is also moving northeastward about 3 inches a year.
New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay reached the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953. They were the first people to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest.
The Southeast Ridge from Nepal, called the South Col Route, and the Northeast Ridge or the North Col Route from Tibet are the usual climbing routes. The best time to climb Everest is in early May before the monsoon season.
The largest expedition to climb Mount Everest was a 410-climber Chinese team in 1975.
Stacey Allison from Portland, Oregon made the first ascent by an American woman on September 29, 1988.
Jean-Marc Boivin of France made the fastest descent from the summit of Mount Everest to the base by swiftly paragliding down in 11 minutes.
In 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler were the first to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Messner later described his summit experience: “In my state of spiritual abstraction, I no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits.” In 1980 Messner made the first solo ascent, which was via a new route on the mountain’s north side.
Davo Kamicar of Slovenia made the first ski descent of Mount Everest on October 10, 2000.
The First Ten Climbers of Mount Everest….
| Mountaineer | Country | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Edmund Hillary | New Zealand | 29 May 1953 |
| 2. | Tenzing Norgay | Nepal | 29 May 1953 |
| 3. | Jurg Marmet | Switzerland | 23 May 1956 |
| 4. | Ernst Schmied | Switzerland | 23 May 1956 |
| 5. | Has-Rudolf von Gunten | Switzerland | 23 May 1956 |
| 6. | Adolf Reist | Switzerland | 23 May 1956 |
| 7. | Wang Fu-Chou | China | 25 May 1960 |
| 8. | Chu Ying-hua | China | 25 May 1960 |
| 9. | Konbu | Tibet | 25 May 1960 |
| =10. | Nawang Gombu | India | 1 May 1963 |
| =10. | James Whittaker | USA | 1 May 1963 |
Written by naaltaf
Topics: Cities, Nepal, Tourism