Mount Everest Facts

Every one of us knows Mount Everest as being the highest mountain on Earth. But very few of us happen to know anything much beyond this common-known fact. For those of you who are fascinated by this magnificent mountain and are curious to know more about it, here are some interesting Mount Everest facts:

Geographical Facts About Mount Everest
Here is a collection of Mount Everest interesting facts with respect to geography:

• Do you know how old this great mountain is? Researchers have suggested that Mount Everest is close to 60 million years old!
• All of us would have learned in our geography classes that Mount Everest stands tall at a height of 8848 meters i.e., 29,029 feet. However, with the continuous shift in the position of the glaciers and the tectonic plates, it has been found that the height of the mountain continues to increase by approximately 2 inches every year.
• For those inclined towards geographical coordinates, Mount Everest is located at 27°59′16″ North, 86°56′40″ East. In terms of territorial location, it is a part of the Himalayas and is situated along the border of Nepal and Tibet.
• When measured from sea-level, Mount Everest is without a doubt, the biggest mountain peak on this planet. However, if one considers the height of a mountain from its base to its peak, there exist a few other mountains such as Mount McKinley and Mauna Kea which are taller than Everest in totality. 'Taller' than the 'tallest'? Now that's one of the most interesting facts about Mount Everest, isn't it?

Historical Mount Everest Facts and Trivia
These are some historical facts on Mount Everest which are relatively unknown to most people:

• Prior to being named as Mount Everest, the mountain was commonly referred to as 'Peak XV' for a few years. Later on, it was formally named as 'Everest' after Col. George Everest who was the Surveyor General of India in the early 1860's. It also has a few local names such as Sagarmatha (Nepali) and Chomolungma (Tibetan).
• The first people to scale this peak were Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. They managed to achieve this feat on May 29, 1953.
• The first woman to have successfully scaled Mount Everest was the Japanese Junko Tabei, who did so on May 16, 1975.
• Till date, an estimated 4,000 people have made attempts to climb this mountain. The fact that barely 1,000 have actually succeeded in accomplishing this tough task speaks volumes about the difficulties involved in scaling this peak.
• However, although Mount Everest is taller than K2, almost all mountaineers agree that scaling K2 is much more difficult and dangerous than scaling Everest.
• As per latest figures, a total of 142 people have lost their lives in trying to climb Mount Everest. Brutal weather conditions have made it very difficult to recover bodies with around 120 corpses still left lying on the mountain. The worst accident in the history of Mount Everest happened in May 1996 when a group of 11 climbers perished during a summer climbing expedition.
• Most climbers attribute the Khumbu Ice Fall as being the most tricky and dangerous part of Mount Everest. It is situated between the Everest base camp and camp 1 and has so far accounted for 19 fatal casualties.
• A Nepali by the name of Appa Sherpa holds the unique distinction of having climbed Everest the most number of times - a whopping 11 times!
• The youngest person to climb Everest is Nepali Temba Tsheri who did so at the young age of 15. At the same time, the oldest climber to successfully scale this peak happens to be an American by the name of Sherman Bull, who did so at the ripe-old age of 64!
• Another American, Erik Weihenmayer, holds the record of being the first blind person to climb Mount Everest. He achieved this feat on May 25, 2001.

Interesting Quotes About Mount Everest
Here are some interesting one-liners by some of the people who attempted to climb this massive mountain.

• "Strong motivation is the most important factor in getting you to the top" ~ Sir Edmund Hillary
• "Because it is there." ~ George Mallory (in response to the question, "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?")
• "I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest - it's only a mountain" ~ Junko Tabei

Some of above-mentioned Mount Everest facts and figures are a good indication of just how difficult and treacherous it is to scale this peak.