Mount Everest

Mount Everest  is the highest mountain on Earth. Mount Everest is located in the Himalayas, a tall mountain range in Asia. It is about  high.

Mount Everest is on the line between two countries: Nepal and China. The top of the mountain is in the "death zone" where the air is too thin for a human to live. People need large bottles of oxygen to let them breathe. The first people to get to the top were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. 

There are 18 ways (paths or routes) to get to the top, but most people use only two ways.

History 
The Sherpa people live near the bottom of Mount Everest. Mount Everest is important in their religion, and they call the mountain Chomolungma (mother of the earth).

In 1856, the British people made a map of India and measured the height of Mount Everest. They recorded the mountain at  and called it Peak XV (Peak Fifteen). In 1865, a group of people in England, the Royal Geographical Society, made a decision to name the mountain Mount Everest.

British people came to the area around Mount Everest in 1921. In 1922, the first group (expedition) tried to go up the mountain. In 1924, a famous English man named George Leigh Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine tried to get to the top of Mount Everest. They disappeared on June 8th and died. Their bodies were found in 1999.

In May 1953, the first people got to the top. They were a Sherpa man named Tenzing Norgay and a man from New Zealand named Edmund Hillary.

Now, many people go up the mountain every year. They start in China or in Nepal. Sometimes, a country will stop people from going up the mountain. In 2020, Nepal stopped people from going up Mount Everest because people were getting ill from the coronavirus (during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic).

Sherpa people 

The Sherpa people live high in Nepal near the mountain. Because the mountain is important in their religion, a Sherpa person will give something to the gods before they go up the mountain.

Some Sherpas work to help other people go up the mountain. In the spring, they look for the safest way through the rock and ice to go to the top. They take things like food, water, and bottles of air (oxygen) up the mountain.

Everest Base Camps 

Base camps are at the bottom ("base") of the mountain. There are two base camps on opposite sides of the mountain: the South Base Camp in Nepal at  and the North Base Camp in Tibet, China at  high. The camps are simple places for people to rest, sleep, or eat when they go up and down the mountain. People often rest at the camps for about a week before they go up Mount Everest. Resting lets the body become comfortable with the thin air, so people do not become very ill with altitude sickness.

The base camps have supplies like food or water. People (usually Sherpas) or large animals like yaks take supplies to the South Base Camp in Nepal. There is a road to the North Base Camp in China, so automobiles can take supplies there in the summer.

The South Base Camp () is used when climbing up the southeast ridge. The North Base Camp () is used when climbing up the northeast ridge.

Weather 

Mount Everest is very cold and snowy. Winds can be . The coldest month is January with a high of  and the warmest month is July with a high of . Because the Earth is getting warmer from climate change, the ice (glaciers) around Mount Everest may be gone by the year 2100.

Other mountain climbing records

In 2023, a climber (Kami Rita) became the first to get to the top of the mountain 27 times.

Other mountains
Most people say that Mount Everest is the highest mountain, because it is  high from sea level. But, two other mountains can be named the "highest" mountains.

One is Mauna Loa, which is a tall volcano on the Hawaiian Islands. Mauna Loa is  high from sea level. But the bottom of Mauna Loa is deep underwater, and from the bottom to the top it is about . Some people say that Mauna Loa is the "tallest" mountain, not the "highest" mountain.

Another is Mount Chimborazo, which is a tall mountain in South America. The top of Mount Chimbroazo is the farthest from the center of the Earth. This is because of the shape of the Earth: the Earth is wider at the Equator than at the poles (North Pole and South Pole).

Notes

References

External links
 Mount Everest Facts

Himalayas
Mountains of Nepal
Mountains of Tibet