Mount Everest

**Mount Everest** is the highest mountain on Earth. Mount Everest is in the Himalayas, a tall mountain range in Asia. It is about  high and one of the Seven Summits. Everest is located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas in the Solukhumbu district of Nepal.

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; However, some people have been able to walk through the death zone without oxygen bottles; Some of those came to the top of the mountain, and survived going down. 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.

As of the first week of October 2025, "At least 200 climbers are stranded on Mount Everest following blizzard", according to media. That is happening on the Chinese side of the mountain.

## History

The Sherpa people live near the base 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 Englishman 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 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 mountains. 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 and 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 2024, a climber, Kami Rita Sherpa became the first to get to the top of the mountain 30 times. Earlier (2023), Kami Rita became the first to get to the top of the mountain 27 times. Phunjo Lama is the women with "Fastest women to climb Mount Everest" record. She climbed Everest in 2024, May 22 in 24 hours and 26 minutes.

The first to climb to the top, without oxygen bottles (or supplemental oxygen), was Reinhold Messner (1978).

## Other records on the mountain

The first skiing down the mountain, without carrying oxygen while skiing, happened in 2025; The skier is Andrzej Bargiel. (related pages, breathing gas, and oxygen)

### EverestRetrieval

In 2024, a Nepal Army team, along with 18 Sherpas, launched a high-risk operation to retrieve five bodies from Mount Everest and neighboring peaks.The increasing melting of glaciers due to climate change has exposed more bodies, including that of British climber Andrew Irvine, who had been missing since 1924.Removing bodies from the "death zone" above 26,000 feet is extremely dangerous, requiring specialized equipment and costing up to $500,000 per recovery.Despite these efforts, many bodies remain on Everest, as the financial and logistical challenges often deter retrieval missions. Alongside body recoveries, teams are also working to remove tons of accumulated waste from the mountain to preserve its environment.

### 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).

## Infobox (mountain)

- **fetchwikidata**: ALL
- **name**: Mount Everest
- **photo**: Mount Everest as seen from Drukair2 PLW edit.jpg
- **photo size**: 300
- **photo caption**: Aerial photo from the south, with Mount Everest rising above the ridge connecting Nuptse and Lhotse
- **translation**: Holy Mother, Skyhead
- **etymology**: George Everest
- **elevation ref**:
 List of highest mountains on Earth, Ranked 1st
- **prominence ref**:
List of mountain peaks by prominence, Ranked 1st
Topographic prominence#Definitions, (Special definition for Everest)
- **isolation**: n/a
- **map**: Nepal#Nepal Province1#China#China Tibet topography#Asia
- **map caption**: Location on the border between Koshi Province (Nepal), Koshi Province, Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region, China
- **label**: Mount Everest
- **label position**: left
- **location**: Solukhumbu District, Koshi Province, Nepal;
Tingri County, Xigazê, Tibet Autonomous Region, China
- **country type**: Countries
- **country**: China and Nepal
- **parent**: Mahalangur Himal, Himalayas
- **first ascent**: 29 May 1953
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
 List of highest mountains on Earth, Ranked 1st
- **normal route**: South Col, Southeast ridge (Nepal)