Mount Everest Facts

Imagine on being on top of the world, literally. Well, that must be how the mountain climbers feel when they reach the summit of Mt Everest! Located in Nepal, Mt Everest is the highest peak above the sea level in the world. Being on top of the Mt Everest is the life-long dream of many mountain climbers, with most of them claiming it as their life’s biggest achievement. Mt Everest poses a very serious challenge for the mountaineers, as the routes towards the summit are always filled with danger and also the climatic conditions are very harsh. Nonetheless, this is no reason for any serious mountaineer not to venture forth. The peak is alluring and mystic in its own style. The snowy carpet which exudes an enchanting beauty forwards visitors an absolutely enthralling experience. To get some interesting and fun facts about Mt Everest, read through the following lines.

Interesting Facts About Mt Everest

Mt. Everest is 8,848 m (29,029 ft) tall and growing every year, at a rate of about 2.4 in/6.1cm per year. It is the world tallest peak and still geologically active, along with other Himalayan peaks.
Mt. Everest has been named after Sir George Everest in 1865 ,the British surveyor-general of India. It was so named, by the Royal Geographical Society, upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the then British Surveyor General of India. This was due to fact that Andrew was unable to know the common Tibetan or Nepali name for the peak, due to political problems.
The Nepali name for the peak is Sagarmâthâ, while the Tibetan name for the peak is Chomolangma. And the first British name for the peak was Peak XV or Peak 15.
To climb the Everest, each climber should get a permit from the Nepalese government. This permit is very expensive; costing close to US $ 25,000 per person.
In 1885, Clinton Thomas Den suggested that climbing the Everest was possible in his book ‘Above the Snow Line’, but the first successful summit to the top was only in the year 1953, by Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, Nepal. They used the climbing route on the southern side.
There are two prominent routes to the summit - the northeast ridge route which begins from the north side of Everest in Tibet and the southeast ridge on the south side of Everest in Nepal.
Since the first summit till now, there have been thousands of successful ascents to the top.
Though the summit is clearly an extremely cold and chilly place, where spending even minutes can be difficult, Babu Chiri Sherpa, who stayed at the summit for a full 21.5 hours, wronged this belief.
Imagine descending down all that height that you took days to climb up in a matter of minutes! Well, that’s what Jean-Marc Boivin of France did when he descended from the top in just 11 minutes, paragliding in 1988.
For those of you still thinking that you are too young or too old for the summit check this out. The youngest person to reach the summit was 13-year-old Jordan Romero from the United States in May 2010. The oldest person to do this was 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan of Nepal, who did so on May 25, 2008.
Apa Sherpa holds the record of reaching the summit 20 times till May 2010, the most for any person living or dead.
Kushang Sherpa, now an instructor with Himlayan Mountaineering Institute, is the only climber to climb all 4 sides of Everest.
May 10, 1993 is one of the noted days in the history of Mount Everest as 40 climbers, the largest number in a single day, reached the top on that day.

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