|
|
mount everest nepal
is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the
height above sea level of its summit, 8,848 metres (29,029 ft).
The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia,
is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and
Tibet, China.
In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India
established the first published height of Everest at 29,002
ft (8,840 m), although at the time Everest was known as Peak
XV. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by
the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew
Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time. Waugh
was unable to propose an established local name because Nepal
and Tibet were closed to foreigners at the time, although Chomolungma
had been in common use by Tibetans for centuries.
The highest mountain in the world
attracts climbers of all levels, from well experienced mountaineers
to novice climbers willing to pay substantial sums to professional
mountain guides to complete a successful climb. The mountain,
while not posing substantial technical climbing difficulty on
the standard route (other eight-thousanders such as K2 or Nanga
Parbat are much more difficult), still has many inherent dangers
such as altitude sickness, weather and wind. By the end of the
2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit
by about 2,700 individuals. Climbers are a significant source
of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires
all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing
up to US$25,000 per person. Everest has claimed 210 lives, including
eight who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain.
Conditions are so difficult in the death zone that most corpses
have been left where they fell. Some of them are visible from
standard climbing routes.
Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge
from Nepal and the northeast ridge from Tibet, as well as many
other less frequently climbed routes.Of the two main routes,
the southeast ridge is technically easier and is the more frequently-used
route. It was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
in 1953 and the first recognised of fifteen routes to the top
by 1996. This was, however, a route decision dictated more by
politics than by design as the Chinese border was closed to
the western world in the 1950s after Communist China took over
the control Tibet from the Republic of China. Most attempts
are made during May before the summer monsoon season. As the
monsoon season approaches, a change in the jet stream at this
time pushes it northward, thereby reducing the average wind
speeds high on the mountain. While attempts are sometimes made
after the monsoons in September and October, when the jet stream
is again temporarily pushed northward, the additional snow deposited
by the monsoons and the less stable weather patterns (tail end
of the monsoon) makes climbing more difficult
|
|