Geography

• Everest is 29,035 feet or 8848 meters high
• The summit is the border of Nepal to the south and China or Tibet on the north
• It is over 60 million years old
• Everest was formed by the movement of the Indian tectonic plate pushing up and against the Asian plate
• Everest grows by about a quarter of an inch (0.25") every year
• It consist of different types of shale, limestone and marble
• The rocky summit is covered with deep snow all year long

Weather

• The Jet Stream sits on top of Everest almost all year long
• The wind can blow over 200 mph
• The temperature can be -80F
• In mid May each year, the jet stream moves north causing the winds the calm and temperatures to warm enough for people to try to summit. This is called the 'summit window'. There is a similar period each fall in November.
• It can be very hot with temperatures over 100F in the Western Cwm, an area climbers go through to reach the summit.

History

• It was first identified by a British survey team in lead by Sir George Everest in 1841
• Everest was first named Peak 15 and measured at 29,002 feet in 1856
• In 1865, it was named Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest
• In 1955, the height was adjusted to 29,028 feet and is still used by Nepal
• China uses 29,015 feet as the official height today
• Using GPS technology, the summit was measured at 29,035 feet in 1999
• Everest is called Chomolungma in Tibet. It means mother goddess of the universe
• Everest is called Sagarmatha in Nepal. It means goddess of the sky

Summits

• The first attempt was in 1921 by a British expedition
• The first summit team was a British expedition lead by Colonel John Hunt
• The first summit was on May 29, 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa from Nepal. They climbed from the south side.
• The first north side summit was on May 25, 1960 by Nawang Gombu (Tibetan) and Chinese climbers Chu Yin-Hau and Wang Fu-zhou
• The first climber to summit Everest without bottled oxygen was Italian Reinhold Messner in 1980
• The first woman to summit Everest was Junko Tabei of Japan in 1975
• The oldest person to summit was Nepalese Min Bahadur Sherchan, age 76 on May 26, 2008
• The youngest person to summit was American Jordan Romero, age 13, on May 23, 2010
• Apa Sherpa holds the record for most summits with 21, the most recent one in 2011
• About 3,425 climbers have summited Everest once and another 2,220 have summited multiple times totaling 5,645 summits of Everest as of June 2011
• 223 people have died trying to climb Everest. Almost all are still on the mountain.

Climbing

• There are 18 different climbing routes on Everest
• It takes 2 months to climb Mt. Everest in order for the body to adjust to the high altitude
• There is 66% less oxygen in each breath on the summit of Everest than at sea level
• Thin nylon ropes are used to keep climbers from falling.
• Climbers wear spikes on their boots called crampons
• They also use ice axes
• Thick, puffy suits filled with goose feathers keep climbers warm
• Most climbers eat a lot of rice and noodles for food
• Almost all climbers use bottled oxygen because it is so high. It helps keep the climbers warm.
• Climbers start using bottled oxygen at 26,000 feet but it only makes a 3,000 foot difference in how they feel so at 27,000 ft, they feel like they are at 24,000'

Sherpas

• Sherpa is the name of a people. They mostly live in western Nepal. They migrated from Tibet over the last several hundred years
• Sherpa is also used as a last name
• Usually their first name is the day of the week they were born.
  • Nyima - Sunday
  • Dawa - Monday
  • Mingma - Tuesday
  • Lhakpa - Wednesday
  • Phurba - Thursday
  • Pasang - Friday
  • Pemba - Saturday
• Sherpas help climbers by carrying tents and cooking food to the High Camps
• Sherpas climb Everest as a job to support their families
• Sherpas can get sick from the altitude like anyone

Trivia

• Babu Chiri Sherpa spent the night on the summit in 2003
• Over 33,000 feet of fixed rope is used each year to set the South Col route
• You have to be at least 16 to climb Everest from the south side and 18 from the north
• Climbers burn over 10,000 calories each day, double that on the summit climb
• Climbers will lose 10 to 20 lbs during the expedition

Update

I returned to climb Mt. Everest and stood on the summit on May 21, 2011.You can read about my climb over the internet on my Blog at www.alanarnette.com/blog.

This was to raise awareness and research funds for Alzheimer's Disease and 100% of all donations go to Alzheimer's. This was part of climbing the 7 Summits - the highest mountain on each continent.