Everest

Towering 8,848 metres above sea level, Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth and is appropriately known as Sagarmatha, or goddess of the sky in Nepal.

The mountain is part of the Himalaya range in Asia, which stretches 2,400 km across six nations and is the highest mountain range in the world.

Mount Everest sits on the border between Nepal and Tibet, and attracts thousands of hopeful climbers each year.

It has been recorded that the Himalaya mountain range is growing in height by 4 to 10 centimetres per year, a growth caused by shifting tectonic plates.

During a short period of time in May, before the monsoon season, conditions are at their best for climbing. This is when most attempts to scale Everest are made. However, conditions are far from comfortable.

Climbers put themselves at risk from the dangers of extreme altitude, frostbite, hypothermia and snow-blindness, which is the burning of the cornea of the eye, by the sun. For the majority of climbers the use of bottled oxygen is essential to complete their climb.

There are two main climbing routes to the summit; the Northeast Ridge from Tibet and the Southeast Ridge from Nepal, which is regarded as the technically easier route and, as a result, is more frequently used. To reach the peak of the mountain via the Southeast Ridge, climbers first complete a week-long trek through lush forests and mountain scenery to reach base camp. At an altitude of 5,380 metres they will remain here for around two weeks for altitude acclimatisation.

The next stage of their climb is to cross the dangerous Khumbu Icefall where they will face giant crevasses and shifting blocks of ice. The ascent takes climbers through four camps across varying terrain and altitudes, ranging from flat glacial valley to snow covered rock. In difficult areas of the route climbers use fixed ropes to help them across.

The climbers remain for a time in each camp along their journey. Weather conditions and health determine how long they stay in each camp, and whether they retreat to a previous camp before continuing.

After camp IV they will reach the “death zone” where conditions allow only two or three days to attempt to reach the summit before having to retreat back down the mountain. From the death zone the summit is a further 1,000 metres and will take between 10 and 12 hours.

At 8,400 metres climbers reach “The Balcony”, a small platform in the mountain. Climbers are then forced into waist deep snow, along a knife edge ridge, up a 12 metre step known as the “Hillary Step”, and up a loose and rocky path to the summit, where there is only a third of the oxygen in the air, compared to the air at sea level, and the temperature is around -30°C on a good day.

On May 29th 1953, as part of a British expedition, Sir Edmund Percival Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal made history by being the first people to reach the summit of Everest. Since then hundreds of climbers have conquered Everest including Junko Tabei from Japan in 1975, the first woman to reach the summit. Also in 1975, via the Southwest Ridge, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first British Citizens to ascend Everest.

The history of climbing Everest is sadly not without its tragedies each year. During the climbing season of 1996 15 people died while attempting to descend the mountain from the summit, which made it the deadliest single year in Everest climbing history.

10 little known Everest facts:

• There have been 2249, and counting, summits of Everest since 1953


• Since 1922 there have been 186 deaths following attempts to climb Everest


• The longest stay on top of Everest was 21.5 hours, by Babu Chiri Sherpa


• The youngest person to summit Everest was Ming Kipa Sherpa in 2003 at the age of 15


• The first married couple to summit together were Andrej & Marija Stremfelj in 1990


• The first couple to get married on the summit were Mona Mulepati and Pem Dorje Sherpa in 2005


• The fastest climb was by Lakpa Gelu Sherpa in 2003 who summited in 10 hours 56 minutes


• The first ascent without bottled oxygen was by Peter Habeler and Reinhold Messner in 1978


• In 2001 Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind person to summit Everest


• Also in 2001 Stefan Gatt was the first person to snowboard from the summit of Everest