Mount Everest

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Introduction

Mount Everest from Basecamp

© All Rights Reserved ChrisEvans

No mountain in the world has a greater attraction on climbers than the highest of them all. Mount Everest is situated on the border of Nepal and China's Tibetan Autonomous Region. For the Nepalese government it's a major source of income, as each climber needs to pay at least 25,000 US Dollars to obtain a permit to be able to climb the mountain. Expeditions also hire a lot of local people as carriers or guides to haul the equipment needed for a succesful expedition to the basecamp.

Name

Mount Everest is named after George Everest, the surveyor-General of India from 1830 until 1843. He oddly enough never agreed with this name as it could not be written in Hindi. The name Mount Everest was suggested by his predecessor Andrew Waugh, and despite several objections accepted by the British Geograpical Society.

Before the mountain was named Mount Everest, it was simply known to the British army as Peak XV.

In Nepalese the mountain is called Sagarmatha (meaning Head of the sky), and in Tibetan: Chomolungma, Qomolangma or Zhumulangma.

History

After it was established that Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, it took a long while before it was finally climbed. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached to top on May the 29th in 1953, using the southern route. Both refused to tell to the world who actually reached the summit first.

There are however people who believe that the mountain was already climbed in 1924 by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, but both died on the mountain during the expedition. It is however generaly believed that the men did not reached the summit, the recovery of the body of George Mallory in 1999, seem to support the theory that both men did not climb all the way to the summit.

Some other succesful first climbs were by Junko Tabei from Japan (the first woman on the top) in 1975, the first climb without the use of oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler in 1978 (A story recorded in the book "Everest" by Reinhold Messner himself), In 1980 Reinhold Messner was the first solo-climber to ascent the summit, without the help of a huge expedition.

Geography

The Mount Everest is with 8,848 meters (or 29,028 ft), and a couple of centimeters, however reports about the precise measurements vary, the highest mountain in the world. It is part of the Mahalangur Himalaya mountainrange, which is spanning the border between Nepal and Tibet. In it's vicinity is the 4th highest mountain: the Lhotse (8,516 m).

Getting There

Nepal

As a normal traveler, with the wish to see the Mount Everest, you can book hikes with a couple of companies in Kathmandu in Nepal. There are a number of organised tours from 11 to 14 days, that take you from Jiri to Everest Bascamp.

Tibet

On the Tibetan side of the mountain it is easier to get to the basecamp. You can head to Rongbuk Monastery and from there it is only a 12 km hike to the basecamp on that side of the mountain.