O Mount Everest (or Everest), considered the top of the world, is the highest mountain on planet Earth formed 60 million years ago.
Pyramid-shaped and snow-covered, Everest has 8,848 meters of altitude and is located on the Asian continent, in the Himalayan mountain range, between Tibet and Nepal.
The name of the Mountain is attributed to the English explorer George Everest (1790-1866), formerly called Peak XV.
There is controversy about the actual height of the mount, as it varies during the year with the amount of snow that is formed.
Fun Facts About Mount Everest
Many curiosities revolve around the mystery and mysticism of Mount Everest. Let's know some of them:
It is sacred in some cultures.
For many people, Mount Everest is considered sacred, just like the Chinese, Sherpas, Nepalese, Tibetans, among other peoples.
Thus, in the Nepalese language, the hill was named Sagarmatha, which means “face of heaven”, while in the Tibetan language, the name “Qomolangma”, attributed to the mount, means “mother of the universe”.
It is the highest mountain in the world
Everest was identified as the highest mountain in the world by the Indian mathematician and topographer Radhanath Sikdar (1813-1870) in 1852.
Since then, the site has been one of the most sought after by climbers, although many of them have failed to reach the summit. from the mountain, seen the snow storms, strong winds, lack of oxygen, which often resulted in death.
Climbing Mount Everest
According to statistics, as of 2006, 8,030 people tried to reach the top of Mount Everest, although 212 did not return from the climb.
Therefore, it was in the year 1953 that Mount Everest was climbed for the first time, by adventurers and explorers Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), New Zealand climber, and Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986), mountaineering guide Nepalese.
They peaked on Everest on May 29, 1953. This expedition was led by British Army officer John Hunt (1910-1998).
One of the prominent names was Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest reaching its summit on May 16, 1975.
Furthermore, the Japanese climber was the first woman to climb the “Seven Summits”, that is, the highest mountains on every continent in the world.
In the Brazilian case, the climbers Waldemar Niclevicz and Mozart Catão, the first to reach the summit of Everest, on May 14, 1995, deserve special mention.
On the other hand, there are the sad stories about this feat, where one of the biggest disasters occurred in 1996 causing the death of 19 climbers trying to reach the top of the mountain.
Routes to climb Mount Everest
Note that Mount Everest has two main access routes:
- one of them in the southeast in Nepal.
- another in the northeast in Tibet.
The most common route taken by hikers and backpackers around the world starts in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal.
Read more about:
- Asia
- What are Mountains?
- Modern folding
Environmental Problems on Everest
One of the current problems facing the place is the excess garbage found in different parts of the mountain which receives about 20 thousand tourists a year.
This excessive tourism has aroused environmental interest where some actions are taken to clean or restore all the garbage left mainly by climbers (food containers, oxygen, mountaineering equipment, waste, etc.).
Noteworthy for environmental actions the "Echo Everest Expedition", which since 2008 promotes annual expeditions in order to remove excess garbage from the site.
Thus, since the implementation of these actions, Eco Everest has collected more than 12 thousand kilos of garbage from the expeditions and more than 300 kilos of human waste.
