The title “World’s Highest Mountain” belongs to Mount Everest, located in the Mahalangur section of Himalayas on the Nepalese-Chinese border. It rises a stunning 29,029 feet— nearly 5.5 miles above sea level. To reach the summit is a lofty accomplishment, tackled by few and finished by even fewer.
The Himalaya mountains are considered to be an Asian range, although they quite literally separate the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau—east to west from the Indus River valley to the Brahmaputra River Valley—thus creating a formidable physical barrier between the Nepal/Tibet and the Republic of China borders. The entire range consists of a 1,491 mile long arc, 93 miles wide, and it is home to the “Eight-Thousander” mountains, imposing peaks that includes both Mount Everest and K2 (also known as Nanga Parbat), which is the second highest mountain in the world.
In 1865, Mount Everest was given its official English name by the British Royal Geographical Society. Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time, named it after his predecessor, Sir George Everest. The local Tibetans still call it Chomolungma, which translates as ‘Saint Mother’ or ‘Mother Goddess of the Universe’.
Prior to its christening as Mount Everest by Waugh, the imposing giant was simply called Peak XV. Waugh helped to define Mount Everest as the tallest peak in the 1850s, taking the title from Kangchenjunga. George Everest himself opposed naming the mountain in his honor. He contended that the word “Everest,” could not be written or pronounced in Hindi. His official objection was presented to the Royal Geographical Society in 1857, but despite Everest’s objections, Waugh’s proposed name for the peak prevailed, and in 1865 the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted the name.
Naming confusion regarding Mount Everest continued into the 1960s, when the Nepalese government changed the official name in Nepal to Sagarmatha, which translates to “Goddess of the Sky”, and declared both Chomolungma and Everest as henceforth unrecognized names. Prior to the 1960s, this name had never been used and it never did really catch on; currently, the locals (both Nepalese and Tibetan) still stubbornly continue to recognize the peak as Chomolungma.
Mount Everest offers two main climbing routes: the southeast ridge from Nepal, and the northeast ridge from Tibet. The southeast ridge is technically easier and is used more frequently. This was the route used by New Zealand’s Edmund Hillary and Nepalese guide Tenzing Norgay on the famous first summit conquest of Everest on May 29, 1953.
There is a small window of time during which climbers are able to summit Everest. Most attempts are made in the month of May, before the summer monsoon season begins. During this period, average wind speeds are reduced, making the climb safer. Some climbers also attempt to summit after the monsoon season, during September and October. Unfortunately, there is likely to be extra snow on the approach to the summit, and the weather patterns are less stable during this secondary window of opportunity.
Mount Everest History Makers
In 1921, the first attempt to summit Mount Everest occurred. Englishman George Mallory discovered the North route on Everest. He led the expedition and became the first European to set foot on the flanks of the mountain. Mallory’s expedition reached 22,989 feet above sea level before needing to turn back. On his second expedition to Everest, in 1922, Mallory again attempted to summit using the North route. Because he was leading the expedition, Mallory is faulted for the deaths of seven native porters who were killed in an avalanche. Mallory was also pulled down by the avalanche but was able to survive.
Mallory made his final expedition to Mount Everest in 1924. His initial attempt to summit via the North-East ridge route was aborted because of extreme weather conditions at camp VI. Then, on June 8, 1924, Mallory began his final attempt to summit the mountain but never returned. His body, which lay on the North Face in a snow basin below and to the west of Camp VI, was not found until May of 1999 by the Malloy and Irvine Research Expedition.
The first successful ascent of Mount Everest belongs to Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand. In 1953, Hillary (age 33) and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. Hillary and Norgay were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest and summited from the Nepal side of the mountain. Their expedition included more than 400 people, including 362 porters, 20 Sherpa guides, and approximately 10,000 pounds in baggage.
The last stretch before climbers reach the summit of Mount Everest has been named Hillary Step after Sir Edmund. In accomplishing this task, Hillary and Norgay clung to the rock wall as they slowly ascended to the summit. The two reached the top of the world between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m., but they stayed for only about 15 minutes.
News of the ascent reached Britain on the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The press called the summit a ‘gift’ to the royal family. Afterwards, 37 members of the expedition received a coronation medal, engraved with “Mount Everest Expedition” on its rim. Hillary was also knighted by the Queen, and Norgay received the British Empire Medal. Ever since his expedition was so honored, Hillary’s image has also been featured on the New Zealand five-dollar note.
Following his ascent of Everest, Hillary devoted his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through a trust he founded and called the Himalayan Trust. Through his efforts, many schools and hospitals were built in the more remote regions of the Himalaya Mountains.
On April 30, 1985, Dick Bass became the first person to reach the summit of every one of the Seven Summits. At that time he also held the record for being the oldest person to have climbed Mount Everest. After his successful summit of Everest and the other mountains in the Seven Summits group, Bass co-authored a novel called Seven Summits, which detailed his adventures.
There is controversy surrounding Bass’ completion of the Seven Summits. Depending on the geographical, geologic or geopolitical definitions, the highest summit of Europe is either Mont Blanc (France, 4807 m.), or Elbrus (Russia, 5662 m.). The polemic is even stronger for the 7th summit in Oceania, with either Kosciuszko (Austrailia, 2228 m.) or the Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia, 4884 m.). Today there are two “official” lists of the 7 Summits: Bass’ version, with Kosciuszko as 7th summit, and the Messner’s list, with the Carstensz Pyramid as 7th summit. In both cases, Elbrus is considered as the top of Europe. Currently, 1996 holds the record of being the deadliest year on Mount Everest. Fifteen climbers died that year, eight of them in the same incident, on May 11. Researchers believe that odd weather circumstances caused many of the May 11 deaths, and they also estimate that the oxygen levels dropped to 14 percent.
There are numerous and varied records held by climbers of Mount Everest. The youngest person to summit was 13-year-old Jordan Romero in May, 2010; Apa Sherpa holds the record for reaching the summit the most times—20 as of May, 2010. The fastest ascent, made in 2007, belongs to Christian Stangl, an Austrian climber, who completed the distance in 16 hours and 42 minutes. The oldest climber to summit was 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan in May, 2008. In 1988, Jean-Marc Boivin of France descended Mount Everest in 11 minutes by paragliding down.