Top 15 Facts about the Mount Everest

By ilker ender wikimedia

Top 15 Facts about the Mount Everest

Originally published by Lilian on April 2020 and updated by Charity K on August 2022

Mount Everest was recognized as the tallest mountain on the Himalayas in 1841. It is 29,029 feet (8.85 km) tall and was believed to be insurmountable. 

It is said that those that have climbed the mountain and reached their peak, have been to the top of the world. 

Mount Everest is on the border of Nepal and China, the international border of these two countries runs across the summit point.

The mountain is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas on the Chinese-Nepalese border. It separates China’s south-central Tibet and northeast Nepal.

Reaching the summit of this mountain is every mountaineer’s dream, many have managed to reach the top while some have failed and others lost their lives while at it. Let’s explore some top 10 facts about Mount Everest.

1. The mountain grows each year

The Himalayas mountain range was formed by the lifting of the Eurasian Plate and the Indian plate sliding under. 

It is believed that this continuous geographical uplift pushes Everest up by 4 mm a year, hence a new height every year. 

Being the tallest peak in the Himalayan range, Mount Everest is said to be growing at a height of 40 cm in a century. 

Back in 2015, the mountain shrunk by about 2.5 cm after a major earthquake happened in Nepal.

2. Avalanches are the greatest cause of death on the mountain

Photo by Will Turner on Unsplash

With many mountain climbers adding summiting Mount Everest to their bucket list, one thing that they all do not anticipate is an avalanche.

Avalanches on Mount Everest are the greatest cause of death. Many climbers have lost their lives in massive avalanches that are quite unpredictable on the mountain.

In 2015 at least 20 people lost their lives due to an avalanche that was caused by an earthquake in Nepal. 

It is estimated that the average death rate by an avalanche is about 4%. Other causes of death on the mountain is due to falling into crevasses, and altitude sickness.

Most of the deaths happen when descending. Since it’s cumbersome to carry the bodies down the mountain, they are left on the mountain.

China has however removed many bodies from sight.

3. The mountain is known by other names

The name Everest was originally proposed by Andrew Waugh, a British Surveyor General of India.

He chose the name of his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest even though sir George Everest had never laid eyes on the mountain.

In Nepal, Mount Everest is known as Sagarmatha, meaning ‘Goddess of the Sky’. While in Tibet, it is known as Chomolungma, meaning ‘Goddess Mother of the World’.

4. We all probably mispronounce the name Everest

When Andrew Waugh named the mountain, he hoped that Sir Georges’s surname would be pronounced appropriately. 

Everest was pronounced ˈiːvrᵻst, but the mountain was pronounced as Ever-est. Part of the reason why the second pronunciation was settled for,  was because it could not be written in Hindi or correctly pronounced by the native Indians.

5. The summit window for Mount Everest is between May and September

By Igomezc – wikimedia

Another fact about Mount Everest is that the best time to the summit is between May and September.

For most of the year, the top of the mountain is submerged by the jet stream making it impossible to climb. There are high winds and sub-zero temperatures.

The winds up the mountain are less strong in May and again for a short period in September.

This is said to be the so-called ‘Summit Window’ when the conditions are relatively safe enough for climbers to try to reach the summit.

The other reason that climbers attempt to summit in May and September is to keep off from the harsh winter snows and summer monsoon rains.

There have been over 4,000 successful climbers on Mount Everest in history.

6. Radganath Sikdar discovered the mountain

A native Indian mathematician and surveyor  Radhanath Sikdar discovered the mountain as the highest in the world in 1852.

He was working in British-ruled India on the Great Trigonometrical Survey. His first measurement of the mountain was 8,840m (29,002ft).

The mountain was later named Everest by Andrew Waugh.

7. Mysterious climbers and lost camera on Mt. Everest

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

The first successful summit of the mountain was by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.  Although some people believe that it was climbed much earlier. 

In 1924, an explorer by the name of George Mallory, along with his partner Andrew Irvine, took part in an expedition to complete the first ascent of the mountain.

They were last seen on June 8 1924 below the summit as they made good progress up the mountain. 

No one knows if they made it up the summit. Remains of Mallory were discovered in 1999 by a group of climbers on the slope of Mt. Everest.

Mallory and his partner had a camera with them to record the historic event.

It was not found among his belongings and is believed to have been with Irvine, whose body was never found.

8. Kami Rita, a Sherpa has climbed the mountain more than anyone else

Climbing Mount Everest is no small task. It takes weeks of preparation and weeks to ascend and descend. 

Reaching the summit is an achievement for many. Most climbers do it once while others would want to do it again or even multiple times.

The Sherpas at the mountain are said to be the ones that have been up and down the mountain more than any other climbers. 

One Sherpa called Kami Rita has been to the summit on 22 different occasions making him the most successful at climbing the famous mountain.  

While Lhakpa Sherpa holds the record for most summits by a woman, having climbed to the highest point on earth nine times. 

9. Seeking permission from the gods before ascending

Photo by Tom Cleary on Unsplash

If you are planning on climbing Mount Everest, here is a fact that you need to know. There is a religious ceremony that you have to be part of.

The Buddhist culture of Himalaya Everest is known as Chomolungma,  meaning the “Goddess Mother of Mountains.” 

The peak of the mountain is believed to be a sacred place. All mountaineers are therefore required to ask for permission and safe passage from the gods before they set foot on the mountain. 

The ceremony is known as puja and is traditionally held in Base Camp before the start of the climb.

It is performed by a Buddhist Lama by building an altar out of stones at the campsite.

Part of the ceremony involves blessing the equipment and tools used by the climbers.

10. Mount Everest is not the tallest mountain on the planet

The summit of Mount Everest is indeed the highest point on earth, but it is not the tallest mountain on earth.

Mauna Kea in Hawaii is said to be the tallest mountain standing at 33,465 feet (10.2 kilometers); 4,436 feet (1.35 kilometers) taller than Mount Everest.

What makes Mauna Kea seem modest is that most of the mountain is below the surface of the ocean compared to the Himalayan range.

11.  The British mountaineers made the first record about the mountain

Photo by Gozitano – Wikimedia 

After the first reconnaissance expedition by the British in 1921 reached 7,000 m (22,970 ft) on the North Col, the 1922 expedition pushed the north ridge route up to 8,320 m (27,300 ft), marking the first time a human had climbed above 8,000 m (26,247 ft).

The 1924 expedition resulted in one of the greatest mysteries on Everest to this day. George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on 8 June but never returned, sparking debate as to whether they were the first to reach the top. 

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first documented ascent of Everest in 1953, using the southeast ridge route. Norgay had reached 8,595 m (28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the 1952 Swiss expedition.

The Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo, and Qu Yinhua made the first reported ascent of the peak from the north ridge on 25 May 1960.

12. The great mountain tragedy during 1996

Photo by Wikimedia Commons – Wikimedia 

On 10 and 11 May 1996, eight climbers died after several guided expeditions were caught in a blizzard high up on the mountain during a summit attempt on 10 May. During the 1996 season, 15 people died while climbing Mount Everest.

These were the highest death tolls for a single weather event, and for a single season, until the sixteen deaths in the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche. The guiding disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of climbing and the safety of guiding clients on Mount Everest.

Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from Outside magazine, was in one of the affected guided parties, and afterward published the bestseller Into Thin Air, which related his experience.

Krakauer was critical of guide Anatoli Boukreev in his recollection of the expedition. A year later, Boukreev co-authored The Climb, in part as a rebuttal of Krakauer’s portrayal. 

The dispute sparked a debate within the climbing community. Boukreev was later awarded The American Alpine Club’s David Sowles Award for his rescue efforts on the expedition.

13. The Cause of death on the mountain was discovered by physicists in 2004

Photo by Marine-lily – Wikimedia 

In May 2004, physicist Kent Moore and surgeon John L. Semple, both researchers from the University of Toronto, told New Scientist magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on 11 May suggested that weather caused oxygen levels to plunge about 14 percent hence causing deaths on those that were on the mountain.

14. Beck Weathers is one of the survivors from the list of mountain climbers

Photo by Wikimedia Commons – Wikimedia 

One of the survivors was Beck Weathers, an American client of New Zealand–based guide service Adventure Consultants. Weathers was left for dead about 275 meters (900 feet) from Camp 4 at 7,950 meters (26,085 feet). After spending a night on the mountain, Weathers managed to make it back to Camp 4 with massive frostbite and vision impaired due to snow blindness. When he arrived at Camp 4, fellow climbers considered his condition terminal and left him in a tent to die overnight.

Weathers’ condition had not improved and an immediate descent to a lower elevation was deemed essential. A helicopter rescue was out of the question: Camp 4 was higher than the rated ceiling of any available helicopter.

Weathers was lowered to Camp 2. Eventually, a helicopter rescue was organized thanks to the Nepali Army.

15. The Risky Storms experience on climbers

Photo by Debasish biswas kolkata – Wikimedia 

The storm’s impact on climbers on the North Ridge of Everest, where several climbers also died, was detailed in a first-hand account by British filmmaker and writer Matt Dickinson in his book The Other Side of Everest. Sixteen-year-old Mark Pfetzer was on the climb and wrote about it in his account, Within Reach: My Everest Story.

The 2015 feature film Everest, directed by Baltasar Kormákur, is based on the events of this guiding disaster