Mount Everest, also known in Nepal as Sagarmāthā
and in Tibet as Chomolungma, is Earth's
highest mountain in the world. Here are some interesting facts about
Mount Everest.
1) Everest grows 4mm higher every year due to geologic uplift.
2) Over 4,000 people have attempted to climb Everest.
3) Mount Everest is also home to a
very minute black jumping spider. These spiders hide in crevices and
feed on frozen insects. Their food depends largely upon what is
blown by the wind into the specific area.They live as high as
22,000 feet.
4) In Nepal the mountain is
called Sagarmatha, meaning ‘forehead of the sky’.
5) Everest was created about 60 million years ago.
6) The Indian mathematician Radhanath Sikdar was
the first to put a figure on the height of the mountain. He calculated that it
reached 29,002 feet (now adjusted to 29,035 feet), the highest point ever
recorded on earth.
7) The mountain has even been skied down. On
October 7, 2000, a 38-year-old Slovenian, Davorin Karnicar, skied 12,000 feet
back to the south-side Base Camp.
8) The most dangerous
area of the mountain is often considered to be the Khumbu Ice Fall, which is
particularly dangerous due to the unpredictable movement of the icefall.
9) The youngest person to reach the
summit is 13 year old Jordan Romero. In May 2010, the young American broke the
record previously held by 15 year old Ming Kipa of Nepal.
10) In 2010, Dubai broke the record
for both the world’s tallest building and tallest man-made structure of any
kind with the Burj Khalifa at 829m high. Everest is more than ten times its
height.
11) - The lowest temperature on the peak is -40°C
(-40°F); with wind chill -60°C (-76°F)!
- Coldest month: February — average -27°C (-17°F) over 7,500m
Warmest month august :— average -20°C (-4°F) over 7,500m
-
Snow line: From 5,300m (17,400 ft) there's snow and ice all year.
- The death zone: in mountaineering is above 8,000m (26,000 ft), where oxygen is
insufficient to sustain human life (25% that of sea
level). 844m of Everest is in the death zone.
12) The youngest person to reach summit was
13 and the oldest 76.
12) In 1865, The Royal
Geographical Society gave Mt Everest its English name in honour of George
Everest, a Welsh surveyor who was the British Surveyor General of India from
1830 to 1843. The mountain has other names in languages such as Nepali and
Tibetan.
12)
In 1953 the first successful ascent to the summit of Mt Everest
was achieved by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
13) In 1865, The Royal Geographical Society gave Mt Everest
its English name in honour of George Everest, a Welsh surveyor who was the
British Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843. The mountain has other
names in languages such as Nepali and Tibetan.
