| Mount Everest |
|---|
ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ (Chomolungma)
珠穆朗玛峰 (Zhumulangma Feng)
सगरमाथा (Sagarmatha) |
The north face of Mount Everest
|
| Elevation | 8,848 m (29,029 ft)[1]
Ranked 1st |
|---|
| Prominence | 8,848 m (29,029 ft)
Ranked 1st
(Notice special definition for Everest) |
|---|
| Listing | Seven Summits
Eight-thousander
Country high point
Ultra |
|---|
| Location |
|---|
|
Location on the Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal - Tibet, China border |
| Location | Solukhumbu District, Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal;
Tingri County, Shigatse Prefecture,Tibet Autonomous Region, China[2] |
|---|
| Range | Mahalangur Himal, Himalayas |
|---|
| Coordinates |  27°59′17″N 86°55′31″E
[3] |
|---|
| Climbing |
|---|
| First ascent | 29 May 1953
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay |
|---|
| Easiest route | South Col (Nepal) |
|---|
Mount Everest (
Tibetan/Sherpa: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ,
Chomolungma;
[4][5] Chinese:
Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng;
[6] Nepali:
सगरमाथा,
Sagarmāthā[7]) is the
Earth's
highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level and the
5th tallest mountain measured from the centre of the Earth.
[8] It is located in the
Mahalangur section of the
Himalayas. The international border between China and
Nepal runs across the precise summit point. Its
massif includes neighboring peaks
Lhotse, 8,516 m (27,940 ft);
Nuptse, 7,855 m (25,771 ft) and
Changtse, 7,580 m (24,870 ft).
In 1856, the
Great Trigonometric Survey of
British India established the first published height of Everest, then known as
Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m). The current official height of 8,848 m (29,029 ft) as recognized by Nepal and China was established by a 1955 Indian survey and subsequently confirmed by a Chinese survey in 1975. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the
Royal Geographical Societyupon a recommendation by
Andrew Waugh, the British
Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post,
Sir George Everest. Although Tibetans had called Everest "Chomolungma" for centuries, Waugh was unaware of this because
Tibet and
Nepal were closed to foreigners at the time thus preventing any attempts to obtain local names.
Mount Everest attracts many highly experienced mountaineers as well as capable climbers willing to hire professional guides. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the standard route) and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as
altitude sickness, weather, wind as well as significant objective hazards from avalanches and the
Khumbu Icefall. While the overwhelming majority of climbers will use
bottled oxygen in order to reach the top, some climbers have summitted Everest without supplemental oxygen.
The goal of reaching Everest's summit for the first time was initially taken up by tenacious British
mountaineers. With Nepal not allowing foreigners into the country at the time, the British made several attempts on the north ridge route from the Tibetan side. 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). Tragedy struck on the descent from the North col when seven porters were killed in an avalanche. The
1924 expedition resulted in the greatest mystery on Everest to this day:
George Mallory and
Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on June 8 but never returned; sparking debate as to whether they were the first to reach the top. They had been spotted high on the mountain that day but disappeared in the clouds, never to be seen again until Mallory's body was found in 1999 at 8,155 m (26,755 ft) on the North face.
Tenzing Norgay and
Edmund Hillary made the first official ascent of Everest in 1953 using the southeast ridge route. Tenzing had reached 8,595 m (28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the
1952 Swiss expedition.
Discovery
Published by the Survey of Nepal, this is Map 50 of the 57 map set at 1:50,000 scale "attached to the main text on the First Joint Inspection Survey, 1979–80, Nepal-China border." In the top center, note the boundary line, identified as separating "China" and "Nepal", passing exactly through the summit contour. The boundary here and for much of the China-Nepal border follows the main Himalayan watershed divide.
In 1802, the British began the
Great Trigonometric Survey of India to determine the location and names of the world's highest mountains. Starting in southern India, the survey teams moved northward using giant
theodolites, each weighing 500 kg (1,100 lb) and requiring 12 men to carry, to measure heights as accurately as possible. They reached the Himalayan foothills by the 1830s, but Nepal was unwilling to allow the British to enter the country because of suspicions of political aggression and possible annexation. Several requests by the surveyors to enter Nepal were turned down.
[9]
The British were forced to continue their observations from
Terai, a region south of Nepal which is parallel to the Himalayas. Conditions in Terai were difficult because of torrential rains and
malaria. Three survey officers died from malaria while two others had to retire due to failing health.
[9]
Nonetheless, in 1847, the British continued the Great Trigonometric survey and began detailed observations of the Himalayan peaks from observation stations up to 240 km (150 mi) away. Weather restricted work to the last three months of the year. In November 1847,
Andrew Waugh, the British
Surveyor General of India made several observations from the
Sawajpore station located in the eastern end of the Himalayas.
Kangchenjunga was then
considered the highest peak in the world, and with interest he noted a peak beyond it, about 230 km (140 mi) away. John Armstrong, one of Waugh's officials, also saw the peak from a location farther west and called it peak "b". Waugh would later write that the observations indicated that peak "b" was higher than Kangchenjunga, but given the great distance of the observations, closer observations were required for verification. The following year, Waugh sent a survey official back to Terai to make closer observations of peak "b", but clouds thwarted all attempts.
[9]
In 1849, Waugh dispatched James Nicolson to the area, who made two observations from
Jirol, 190 km (120 mi) away. Nicolson then took the largest
theodolite and headed east, obtaining over 30 observations from five different locations, with the closest being 174 km (108 mi) from the peak.
[9]
Nicolson retreated to
Patna on the
Ganges to perform the necessary calculations based on his observations. His raw data gave an average height of 9,200 m (30,200 ft) for peak "b", but this did not consider
light refraction, which distorts heights. However, the number clearly indicated, that peak "b" was higher than Kangchenjunga. Then, Nicolson contracted malaria and was forced to return home without finishing his calculations. Michael Hennessy, one of Waugh's assistants, had begun designating peaks based on
roman numerals, with Kangchenjunga named Peak IX, while peak "b" now became known as Peak XV.
[9]
In 1852, stationed at the survey headquarters in
Dehradun,
Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician and surveyor from
Bengal, was the first to identify Everest as the world's highest peak, using
trigonometric calculations based on Nicolson's measurements.
[10] An official announcement that Peak XV was the highest was delayed for several years as the calculations were repeatedly verified. Waugh began work on Nicolson's data in 1854, and along with his staff spent almost two years working on the calculations, having to deal with the problems of light refraction, barometric pressure, and temperature over the vast distances of the observations. Finally, in March 1856 he announced his findings in a letter to his deputy in
Calcutta. Kangchenjunga was declared to be 28,156 ft (8,582 m), while Peak XV was given the height of 29,002 ft (8,840 m). Waugh concluded that Peak XV was "most probably the highest in the world".
[9] Peak XV (measured in feet) was calculated to be exactly 29,000 ft (8,839.2 m) high, but was publicly declared to be 29,002 ft (8,839.8 m) in order to avoid the impression that an exact height of 29,000 feet (8,839.2 m) was nothing more than a rounded estimate.
[11]
Naming
Kangshung Face (the east face) as seen from orbit
While the survey wanted to preserve local names if possible (e.g.
Kangchenjunga and
Dhaulagiri), Waugh argued that he could not find any commonly used local name. Waugh's search for a local name was hampered by Nepal and Tibet's exclusion of foreigners. Many local names existed, including "Deodungha" ("Holy Mountain") in
Darjeeling[12] and the Tibetan "Chomolungma", which appeared on a 1733 map published in Paris by the French geographer
D'Anville. In the late 19th century, many European
cartographersfurther believed (incorrectly) that a native name for the mountain was "Gaurisankar".
[13] (
Gauri Sankar is a mountain between
Kathmandu and Everest.)
Waugh argued that because there were many local names, it would be difficult to favour one name over all others, so he decided that Peak XV should be named after
George Everest, his predecessor as Surveyor General of India.
[9][14] He wrote:
I was taught by my respected chief and predecessor, Colonel Sir George Everest, to assign to every geographical object its true local or native appellation. But here is a mountain, most probably the highest in the world, without any local name that we can discover, whose native appellation, if it has any, will not very likely be ascertained before we are allowed to penetrate into Nepal. In the meantime the privilege as well as the duty devolves on me to assign...a name whereby it may be known among citizens and geographers and become a household word among civilized nations.
[15]
George Everest opposed the name suggested by Waugh and told the
Royal Geographical Society in 1857 that Everest could not be written in
Hindi nor pronounced by "the native of India". Waugh's proposed name prevailed despite the objections, and in 1865, the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted Mount Everest as the name for the highest mountain in the world.
[9] The modern pronunciation of Everest
/ˈɛvərɨst, ˈɛvrɨst/[16] is different from Sir George's pronunciation of his surname, which was
/ˈiːvrɨst/ (EEV-rist).
[17]
In 2002, the Chinese
People's Daily newspaper published an article making a case against the use of "Mount Everest" for the mountain in English, insisting that it should be referred to as "Mount Qomolangma", based on the local Tibetan name. The article argued that British colonialists did not "first discover" the mountain, as it had been known to the Tibetans and mapped by the Chinese as "Qomolangma" since at least 1719.
[19] However, Waugh had argued that because there were many local names, it would be difficult to favour one name over all others.
[9][14]
Early expeditions
An aerial view of the southern side of the Mount Everest massif. Mount Everest's summit is seen immediately above
Lhotse's south face (centre), which is connected to the long ridge of
Nuptse (left, in shade).
The northern approach to the mountain was discovered by
George Mallory and
Guy Bullock on the initial
1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition. It was an exploratory expedition not equipped for a serious attempt to climb the mountain. With Mallory leading (and thus becoming the first European to set foot on Everest's flanks) they climbed the North Col to an altitude of 7,005 metres (22,982 ft). From there, Mallory espied a route to the top, but the party was unprepared for the great task of climbing any further and descended.
The British returned for a
1922 expedition.
George Finch ("The other George") climbed using oxygen for the first time. He ascended at a remarkable speed—290 metres (951 ft) per hour, and reached an altitude of 8,320 m (27,300 ft), the first time a human climbed higher than 8,000 m. This feat was entirely lost on the British climbing establishment—except for its "unsporting" nature. Mallory and
Col. Felix Norton made a second unsuccessful attempt. Mallory was faulted for leading a group down from the North Col which got caught in an avalanche. Mallory was pulled down too, but seven native porters were killed.
The
next expedition was in 1924. The initial attempt by Mallory and Bruce was aborted when weather conditions precluded the establishment of Camp VI. The next attempt was that of Norton and Somervell, who climbed without oxygen and in perfect weather, traversing the North Face into the Great Couloir. Norton managed to reach 8,550 m (28,050 ft), though he ascended only 30 m (98 ft) or so in the last hour. Mallory rustled up oxygen equipment for a last-ditch effort. He chose young Andrew Irvine as his partner.
On 8 June 1924, George Mallory and
Andrew Irvine made an attempt on the summit via the North Col/North Ridge/Northeast Ridge route from which they never returned. On 1 May 1999, the
Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found Mallory's body on the North Face in a snow basin below and to the west of the traditional site of Camp VI. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community whether one or both of them reached the summit 29 years before the confirmed ascent (and of course, safe descent) of Everest by Sir
Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Early expeditions—such as Bruce's in the 1920s and
Hugh Ruttledge's two unsuccessful attempts in 1933 and 1936—tried to make an ascent of the mountain from
Tibet, via the north face. Access was closed from the north to western expeditions in 1950, after the Chinese asserted control over Tibet. In 1950,
Bill Tilman and a small party which included
Charles Houston, Oscar Houston and Betsy Cowles undertook an exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal along the route which has now become the standard approach to Everest from the south.
[24]
The
Swiss expedition of 1952, led by
Edouard Wyss-Dunant, was granted permission to attempt a climb from Nepal. The expedition established a route through the Khumbu ice fall and ascended to the South Col at an elevation of 7,986 m (26,201 ft). No attempt at an ascent of Everest was ever under consideration in this case.
[25] Raymond Lambert and
Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were able to reach a height of about 8,595 m (28,199 ft) on the southeast ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. Tenzing's experience was useful when he was hired to be part of the British expedition in 1953.
[26]
First successful ascent by Tenzing and Hillary
In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by
John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit. The first pair (
Tom Bourdillon and
Charles Evans) came within 100 m (330 ft) of the summit on 26 May 1953, but turned back after running into oxygen problems. As planned, their work in route finding and breaking trail and their caches of extra oxygen were of great aid to the following pair. Two days later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its second climbing pair, the New Zealander
Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay, a
Nepali sherpa climber from
Darjeeling, India. They reached the summit at 11:30 am local time on 29 May 1953 via the South Col Route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first.
[27]They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.
News of the expedition's success reached London on the morning of Queen
Elizabeth II's coronation, 2 June. Returning to
Kathmandu a few days later, Hunt (a Briton) and Hillary (a New Zealander) discovered that they had been promptly
knighted in the
Order of the British Empire, a KBE, for the ascent. Tenzing, a Nepali sherpa who was a citizen of India, was granted the
George Medal by the UK. Hunt was ultimately made a
life peer in Britain, while Hillary became a founding member of the
Order of New Zealand. Hillary and Tenzing are also nationally recognized in Nepal, where annual ceremonies in schools and offices celebrate their accomplishment.
[28]
Measurement
Mount Everest from base camp one
The 8,848 m (29,029 ft) height given is officially recognised by Nepal and China,
[29] although Nepal is planning a new survey.
[30]
In 1856, Andrew Waugh announced Everest (then known as Peak XV) as 29,002 ft (8,840 m) high, after several years of calculations based on observations made by the
Great Trigonometric Survey.
The elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft) was first determined by an Indian survey in 1955, made closer to the mountain, also using
theodolites.
[citation needed]It was subsequently reaffirmed by a 1975 Chinese measurement 8,848.13 m (29,029.30 ft).
[31] In both cases the snow cap, not the rock head, was measured. In May 1999 an American Everest Expedition, directed by
Bradford Washburn, anchored a
GPS unit into the highest bedrock. A rock head elevation of 8,850 m (29,035 ft), and a snow/ice elevation 1 m (3 ft) higher, were obtained via this device.
[32] Although it has not been officially recognized by Nepal,
[33] this figure is widely quoted.
Geoid uncertainty casts doubt upon the accuracy claimed by both the 1999 and 2005 surveys.
A detailed
photogrammetric map (at a scale of 1:50,000) of the
Khumbu region, including the south side of Mount Everest, was made by Erwin Schneider as part of the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, which also attempted
Lhotse. An even more detailed
topographic map of the Everest area was made in the late 1980s under the direction of Bradford Washburn, using extensive
aerial photography.
[34]
On 9 October 2005, after several months of measurement and calculation, the
Chinese Academy of Sciences and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially announced the height of Everest as 8,844.43 m (29,017.16 ft) with accuracy of ±0.21 m (0.69 ft). They claimed it was the most accurate and precise measurement to date.
[35] This height is based on the actual highest point of rock and not on the snow and ice covering it. The Chinese team also measured a snow/ice depth of 3.5 m (11 ft),
[31] which is in agreement with a net elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft). The snow and ice thickness varies over time, making a definitive height of the snow cap impossible to determine.
It is thought that the
plate tectonics of the area are adding to the height and moving the summit northeastwards. Two accounts suggest the rates of change are 4 mm (0.16 in) per year (upwards) and 3 to 6 mm (0.12 to 0.24 in) per year (northeastwards),
[32][36] but another account mentions more lateral movement (27 mm or 1.1 in),
[37] and even shrinkage has been suggested.
[38]
Comparisons
The summit of Everest is the point at which the Earth's surface reaches the greatest distance above sea level. Several other mountains are sometimes claimed as alternative "tallest mountains on Earth".
Mauna Kea in Hawaii is tallest when measured from its base;
[39] it rises over 10,200 m (33,464.6 ft) when measured from its base on the mid-ocean floor, but only attains 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level.
By the same measure of base to summit,
Mount McKinley, in
Alaska, is also taller than Everest.
[39] Despite its height above sea level of only 6,193.6 m (20,320 ft), Mount McKinley sits atop a sloping plain with elevations from 300 m (980 ft) to 900 m (3,000 ft), yielding a height above base in the range of 5,300 to 5,900 m (17,400 to 19,400 ft); a commonly quoted figure is 5,600 m (18,400 ft).
[40] By comparison, reasonable base elevations for Everest range from 4,200 m (13,800 ft) on the south side to 5,200 m (17,100 ft) on the
Tibetan Plateau, yielding a height above base in the range of 3,650 to 4,650 m (11,980 to 15,260 ft).
[34]
The summit of
Chimborazo in Ecuador is 2,168 m (7,113 ft) farther from the Earth's centre (6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi)) than that of Everest (6,382.3 km (3,965.8 mi)), because the Earth bulges at the Equator.
[8] This is despite Chimborazo having a peak 6,268 m (20,564.3 ft) above sea level versus Mount Everest's 8,848 m (29,028.9 ft).
Geology
Climbers pass by the yellow band
Geologists have subdivided the rocks comprising Mount Everest into three units called "
formations".
[41][42] Each formation is separated from the other by low-angle
faults, called "
detachments", along which they have been thrust over each other. From the summit of Mount Everest to its base these rock units are the Qomolangma Formation, the
North Col Formation, and the Rongbuk Formation.
From its summit to the top of the Yellow Band, about 8,600 m (28,000 ft) above sea level, the top of Mount Everest consists of the Qomolangma Formation, which has also been designated as either the Everest Formation or Jolmo Lungama Formation. It consists of grayish to dark gray or white, parallel laminated and bedded,
Ordovician limestone inter layered with subordinate beds of recrystallized
dolomite with
argillaceous laminae and
siltstone. Gansser first reported finding microscopic fragments of
crinoids in this limestone.
[43] Later
petrographic analysis of samples of the limestone from near the summit revealed them to be composed of carbonate pellets and finely fragmented remains of
trilobites, crinoids, and
ostracods. Other samples were so badly sheared and recrystallized that their original constituents could not be determined. A thick, white-weathering
thrombolite bed that is 60 m (200 ft) thick comprises the foot of the "Third Step", and base of the summit pyramid of Everest. This bed, which crops out starting about 70 m (300 ft) below the summit of Mount Everest, consists of sediments trapped, bound, and cemented by the biofilms of micro-organisms, especially
cyanobacteria, in shallow marine waters. The Qomolangma Formation is broken up by several high-angle faults that terminate at the low angle
thrust fault, the Qomolangma Detachment. This detachment separates it from the underlying Yellow Band. The lower five meters of the Qomolangma Formation overlying this detachment are very highly deformed.
[41][42][44]
The bulk of Mount Everest, between 7,000 and 8,600 m (23,000 and 28,200 ft), consists of the
North Col Formation, of which the Yellow Band forms its upper part between 8,200 to 8,600 m (26,900 to 28,200 ft). The Yellow Band consists of
intercalated beds of Middle
Cambrian diopside-
epidote-bearing
marble, which weathers a distinctive yellowish brown, and
muscovite-
biotitephyllite and
semischist. Petrographic analysis of marble collected from about 8,300 m (27,200 ft) found it to consist as much as five percent of the ghosts of recrystallized crinoid ossicles. The upper five meters of the Yellow Band lying adjacent to the Qomolangma Detachment is badly deformed. A 5–40 cm (2–16 in) thick fault
breccia separates it from the overlying Qomolangma Formation.
[41][42][44]
The remainder of the North Col Formation, exposed between 7,000 to 8,200 m (23,000 to 26,900 ft) on Mount Everest, consists of interlayered and deformed schist, phyllite, and minor marble. Between 7,600 and 8,200 m (24,900 and 26,900 ft), the North Col Formation consists chiefly of biotite-quartz phyllite and chlorite-biotite phyllite intercalated with minor amounts of biotite-
sericite-quartz schist. Between 7,000 and 7,600 m (23,000 and 24,900 ft), the lower part of the North Col Formation consists of biotite-quartz schist intercalated with epidote-quartz schist, biotite-calcite-quartz schist, and thin layers of
quartzose marble. These metamorphic rocks appear to be the result of the metamorphism of Middle to Early Cambrian deep sea
flysch composed of interbedded,
mudstone,
shale, clayey
sandstone, calcareous sandstone,
graywacke, and sandy limestone. The base of the North Col Formation is a regional thrust fault called the "Lhotse detachment".
[41][42][44]
Below 7,000 m (23,000 ft), the Rongbuk Formation underlies the North Col Formation and forms the base of Mount Everest. It consists of
sillimanite-
K-feldspar grade schist and
gneiss intruded by numerous
sills and
dikes of
leucogranite ranging in thickness from 1 cm to 1,500 m (0.4 in to 4,900 ft).
[42][45] These leucogranites are part of a belt of Late
Oligocene–
Miocene intrusive rocks known as the Higher Himalayan leucogranite. They formed as the result of partial melting of
Paleoproterozoic to Ordovician high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Higher Himalayan Sequence about 20 to 24 million years ago during the subduction of the Indian Plate.
[46]
Flora and fauna
Euophrys omnisuperstes, a minute black
jumping spider, has been found at elevations as high as 6,700 metres (22,000 ft), possibly making it the highest confirmed non-microscopic permanent resident on Earth. It lurks in crevices and may feed on frozen insects that have been blown there by the wind. It should be noted that there is a high likelihood of microscopic life at even higher altitudes.
[47] Birds, such as the
Bar-headed Goose, have been seen flying at the higher altitudes of the mountain, while others, such as the
Chough, have been spotted as high as the South Col at 7,920 metres (25,980 ft)
[48] scavenging on food, or even corpses, left by prior climbing expeditions. There is a
moss that grows at 6,480 metres (21,260 ft) on Mount Everest.
[49] It may be the highest altitude plant species.
[49]
Environment
Besides rubbish, the degradation on Himalayan peaks and other issues concerned long-time Everest guide and climber Apa Sherpa. He said when he first started climbing Everest, the trail to the summit was covered with ice and snow. But it is now dotted with bare rocks. The melting ice has also exposed deep
crevasses, making expeditions more dangerous.
[53] Apa organized an expedition to remove 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) of rubbish from the lower part of the mountain and another 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) from higher areas.
[53]
Climbing
Because Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, it has attracted considerable attention and climbing attempts. A set of climbing routes has been established, and the risks in climbing are well known.
Southern and northern climbing routes as seen from the
International Space Station. (The names on the photo are links to corresponding pages.)
Routes
Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from
Nepal and the north ridge from
Tibet, as well as many other less frequently climbed routes.
[57] 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 recognized of fifteen routes to the top by 1996.
[57] 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 the People's Republic of China
invaded Tibet.
[58]
View from space showing South Col route and North Col/Ridge route
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.
[59][60] 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 extremely difficult.
Southeast ridge
The ascent via the southeast ridge begins with a trek to
Base Camp at 5,380 m (17,700 ft) on the south side of Everest in Nepal. Expeditions usually fly into
Lukla (2,860 m) from
Kathmandu and pass through
Namche Bazaar. Climbers then hike to Base Camp, which usually takes six to eight days, allowing for proper altitude acclimatization in order to prevent
altitude sickness.
[61] Climbing equipment and supplies are carried by
yaks,
dzopkyos(yak-cow hybrids) and human
porters to Base Camp on the
Khumbu Glacier. When Hillary and Tenzing climbed Everest in 1953, the British expedition that they were part of (over 400 climbers, porters and sherpas at that point) started from the Kathmandu Valley, as there were no roads further east at that time.
Climbers will spend a couple of weeks in Base Camp, acclimatizing to the altitude. During that time,
Sherpas and some expedition climbers will set up ropes and ladders in the treacherous
Khumbu Icefall.
Seracs, crevasses and shifting blocks of ice make the icefall one of the most dangerous sections of the route. Many climbers and Sherpas have been killed in this section. To reduce the hazard, climbers will usually begin their ascent well before dawn, when the freezing temperatures glue
ice blocks in place. Above the icefall is Camp I at 6,065 metres (19,900 ft).
From Camp I, climbers make their way up the
Western Cwm to the base of the
Lhotse face, where Camp II or Advanced Base Camp (ABC) is established at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). The Western Cwm is a flat, gently rising glacial valley, marked by huge lateral
crevasses in the centre, which prevent direct access to the upper reaches of the Cwm. Climbers are forced to cross on the far right near the base of
Nuptse to a small passageway known as the "Nuptse corner". The Western Cwm is also called the "Valley of Silence" as the topography of the area generally cuts off wind from the climbing route. The
high altitude and a clear, windless day can make the Western Cwm unbearably hot for climbers.
[62]
From ABC, climbers ascend the Lhotse face on
fixed ropes up to Camp III, located on a small ledge at 7,470 m (24,500 ft). From there, it is another 500 meters to Camp IV on the
South Col at 7,920 m (26,000 ft). From Camp III to Camp IV, climbers are faced with two additional challenges: The
Geneva Spur and The Yellow Band. The Geneva Spur is an anvil shaped rib of black rock named by the
1952 Swiss expedition. Fixed ropes assist climbers in
scrambling over this snow covered rock band. The Yellow Band is a section of interlayered
marble,
phyllite, and
semischist, which also requires about 100 meters of rope for traversing it.
[62]
On the South Col, climbers enter the
death zone. Climbers typically only have a maximum of two or three days that they can endure at this altitude for making summit bids. Clear weather and low winds are critical factors in deciding whether to make a summit attempt. If weather does not cooperate within these short few days, climbers are forced to descend, many all the way back down to Base Camp.
A view of Everest southeast ridge
base camp. The
Khumbu Icefall can be seen in the left. In the center are the remnants of a helicopter that crashed in 2003.
From Camp IV, climbers will begin their summit push around midnight with hopes of reaching the summit (still another 1,000 meters above) within 10 to 12 hours. Climbers will first reach "The Balcony" at 8,400 m (27,600 ft), a small platform where they can rest and gaze at peaks to the south and east in the early light of dawn. Continuing up the ridge, climbers are then faced with a series of imposing rock steps which usually forces them to the east into waist-deep snow, a serious
avalanche hazard. At 8,750 m (28,700 ft), a small table-sized dome of ice and snow marks the South Summit.
[62]
From the South Summit, climbers follow the knife-edge southeast ridge along what is known as the "Cornice traverse", where snow clings to intermittent rock. This is the most exposed section of the climb as a misstep to the left would send one 2,400 m (8,000 ft) down the southwest face, while to the immediate right is the 3,050 m (10,000 ft)
Kangshung Face. At the end of this traverse is an imposing 12 m (40 ft) rock wall called the "Hillary Step" at 8,760 m (28,740 ft).
[62]
Hillary and Tenzing were the first climbers to ascend this step and they did it with primitive ice climbing equipment and ropes. Nowadays, climbers will ascend this step using fixed ropes previously set up by Sherpas. Once above the step, it is a comparatively easy climb to the top on moderately angled snow slopes—though the exposure on the ridge is extreme, especially while traversing large cornices of snow. With increasing numbers of people climbing the mountain in recent years, the Step has frequently become a
bottleneck, with climbers forced to wait significant amounts of time for their turn on the ropes, leading to problems in getting climbers efficiently up and down the mountain. After the Hillary Step, climbers also must traverse a loose and rocky section that has a large entanglement of fixed ropes that can be troublesome in bad weather. Climbers will typically spend less than half an hour at the summit to allow time to descend to Camp IV before darkness sets in, to avoid serious problems with afternoon weather, or because supplemental oxygen tanks run out.
North ridge
Mount Everest north face from
Rongbukin Tibet
The north ridge route begins from the north side of Everest in Tibet. Expeditions trek to the
Rongbuk Glacier, setting up base camp at 5,180 m (16,990 ft) on a gravel plain just below the glacier. To reach Camp II, climbers ascend the medial moraine of the east Rongbuk Glacier up to the base of
Changtse at around 6,100 m (20,000 ft). Camp III (ABC—Advanced Base Camp) is situated below the
North Col at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). To reach Camp IV on the north col, climbers ascend the glacier to the foot of the col where fixed ropes are used to reach the North Col at 7,010 m (23,000 ft). From the North Col, climbers ascend the rocky north ridge to set up Camp V at around 7,775 m (25,500 ft). The route crosses the North Face in a diagonal climb to the base of the Yellow Band reaching the site of Camp VI at 8,230 m (27,000 ft). From Camp VI, climbers will make their final summit push. Climbers face a treacherous traverse from the base of the First Step: ascending from 8,501 metres (27,890 ft) to 8,534 m (28,000 ft), to the crux of the climb, the Second Step: ascending from 8,577 metres (28,140 ft) to 8,626 m (28,300 ft). (The Second Step includes a climbing aid called the "Chinese ladder", a metal ladder placed semi-permanently in 1975 by a party of Chinese climbers. It has been almost continuously in place since, and ladders have been used by virtually all climbers on the route.) Once above the Second Step the inconsequential Third Step is clambered over: ascending from 8,690 m (28,510 ft) to 8,800 m (28,870 ft). Once above these steps, the summit pyramid is climbed by a snow slope of 50 degrees, to the final summit ridge along which the top is reached.
[63]
Death zone
The summit of Mount Everest.
Lance Trumbull - EverestPeaceProject.org
At the higher regions of Mount Everest, climbers seeking the summit typically spend substantial time within the
death zone (altitudes higher than 8,000 metres (26,000 ft)), and face significant challenges to survival. Temperatures can dip to very low levels, resulting in
frostbite of any body part exposed to the air. Since temperatures are so low, snow is well-frozen in certain areas and death or injury by slipping and falling can occur. High winds at these altitudes on Everest are also a potential threat to climbers.
Another significant threat to climbers is low atmospheric pressure. The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is about a third of sea level pressure or 0.333 standard atmospheres (337 mbar), resulting in the availability of only about a third as much oxygen to breathe.
[64]
Debilitating effects of the death zone are so great that it takes most climbers up to 12 hours to walk the distance of 1.72 kilometres (1.07 mi)) from South Col to the summit.
[65] Achieving even this level of performance requires prolonged altitude acclimatization, which takes 40–60 days for a typical expedition. A sea-level dweller exposed to the atmospheric conditions at the altitude above 28,000 feet (8,500 m) without acclimatization would likely lose consciousness within 2 to 3 minutes.
[66]
In May 2007, the Caudwell Xtreme Everest undertook a medical study of oxygen levels in human blood at extreme altitude. Over 200 volunteers climbed to Everest Base Camp where various medical tests were performed to examine blood oxygen levels. A small team also performed tests on the way to the summit.
[67]
Even at base camp, the low
partial pressure of oxygen had direct effect on blood oxygen saturation levels. At sea level,
blood oxygen saturation is generally 98–99%. At base camp, blood saturation fell to between 85–87%. Blood samples taken at the summit indicated very low oxygen levels in the blood. A side effect of low blood oxygen is a vastly increased breathing rate, often 80–90 breaths per minute as opposed to a more typical 20–30. Exhaustion can occur merely attempting to breathe.
[68]
Lack of oxygen, exhaustion, extreme cold, and climbing hazards all contribute to the death toll. An injured person who cannot walk is in serious trouble, since rescue by helicopter is generally impractical and carrying the person off the mountain is very risky. People who die during the climb are typically left behind. About 150 bodies have never been recovered. It is not uncommon to find corpses near the standard climbing routes.
[69]
Supplemental oxygen
Everest as seen from Gokyo Ri
Most expeditions use
oxygen masks and
tanks above 8,000 m (26,000 ft).
[70] Everest can be climbed without supplementary oxygen, but only by the most accomplished mountaineers and at increased risk. Humans do not think clearly with low oxygen, and the combination of extreme weather, low temperatures, and steep slopes often require quick, accurate decisions.
The use of bottled oxygen to ascend Mount Everest has been controversial. It was first used on the
1922 British Mount Everest Expedition by George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce who climbed up to 7,800 m (25,600 ft) at a spectacular speed of 1000 vertical feet per hour (vf/h). Pinned down by a fierce storm, they escaped death by breathing oxygen from a jury-rigged set-up during the night. The next day they climbed to 8,100 m (26,600 ft) at 900 vf/h—nearly three times as fast as non-oxygen users. Yet the use of oxygen was considered so unsportsmanlike that none of the rest of the Alpine world recognized this high ascent rate.
[citation needed] George Mallory himself described the use of such oxygen as unsportsmanlike, but he later concluded that it would be impossible for him to summit without it and consequently used it on his final attempt in 1924.
[71] When
Tenzing and Hillary made the first successful summit in 1953, they used bottled oxygen, with the expedition's physiologist Griffith Pugh referring to the oxygen debate as a "futile controversy", noting that oxygen "greatly increases subjective appreciation of the surroundings, which after all is one of the chief reasons for climbing."
[72] For the next twenty-five years, bottled oxygen was considered standard for any successful summit.
Reinhold Messner was the first climber to break the bottled oxygen tradition and in 1978, with
Peter Habeler, made the first successful climb without it. Although critics alleged that he sucked mini-bottles of oxygen—a claim that Messner denied—Messner silenced them when he summited the mountain solo, without supplemental oxygen or any porters or climbing partners, on the more difficult northwest route, in 1980. Once the climbing community was satisfied that the mountain could be climbed without supplemental oxygen, many purists then took the next logical step of insisting that's how it
should be climbed.
[73]
The aftermath of the
1996 disaster further intensified the debate.
Jon Krakauer's
Into Thin Air (1997) expressed the author's personal criticisms of the use of bottled oxygen. Krakauer wrote that the use of bottled oxygen allowed otherwise unqualified climbers to attempt to summit, leading to dangerous situations and more deaths. The
10–11 May 1996 disaster was partially caused by the sheer number of climbers (34 on that day) attempting to ascend, causing bottlenecks at the Hillary Step and delaying many climbers, most of whom summitted after the usual 2 pm turnaround time. He proposed banning bottled oxygen except for emergency cases, arguing that this would both decrease the growing pollution on Everest—many bottles have accumulated on its slopes—and keep marginally qualified climbers off the mountain.
The 1996 disaster also introduced the issue of the guide's role in using bottled oxygen.
[74] Guide
Anatoli Boukreev's decision not to use bottled oxygen was sharply criticized by Jon Krakauer. Boukreev's supporters (who include G. Weston DeWalt, who co-wrote
The Climb) state that using bottled oxygen gives a false sense of security.
[75] Krakauer and his supporters point out that, without bottled oxygen, Boukreev could not directly help his clients descend.
[76] They state that Boukreev said that he was going down with client Martin Adams,
[76] but just below the South Summit, Boukreev determined that Adams was doing fine on the descent and so descended at a faster pace, leaving Adams behind. Adams states in
The Climb: "For me, it was business as usual, Anatoli's going by, and I had no problems with that."
[77]
Notable climbing records
By the end of the 2010 climbing season, there had been 5,104 ascents to the summit by about 3,142 individuals.
[78] Some notable "firsts" by climbers include:
Min Bahadur Sherchan was nearly 77 years old when he reached the top on his first attempt
Apa Sherpa has reached the summit 21 times
- 1922 – First climb to 8,000 metres (26,247 ft), by George Finch and Captain C. Geoffrey Bruce[79]
- 1952 – First climb to South Col by 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition
- 1953 – First ascent by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on 1953 British Mount Everest expedition
- 1975 – First female ascent, by Junko Tabei[78]
- 1978 – First ascent without supplemental oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler[80]
- 1980 – First solo ascent, by Reinhold Messner[80]
- 1980 – First winter ascent, by Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki[81][82]
- 1988 – First descent by paraglider, by Jean-Marc Boivin[83]
- 1995 – First female ascent without supplemental oxygen by Alison Hargreaves
- 1998 – Fastest to reach the summit via the southeast ridge (South Col), without supplemental oxygen, by Kazi Sherpa, in 20 hours and 24 minutes.[84][85][86]
- 2000 – First descent by ski by Davo Karničar[87]
- 2001 – First ascent by a blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer[88]
- 2004 – Fastest to reach the summit via the southeast ridge (South Col), with supplemental oxygen, by Pemba Dorje Sherpa, in 8 hours and 10 minutes.[89]
- 2007 – Fastest to reach the summit via the northeast ridge, without supplemental oxygen, by Christian Stangl[90][91]
- 2010 – Youngest to reach the summit, by Jordan Romero (13-year-old)[92]
- 2011/2013 – Most times to reach the summit, jointly held by Apa Sherpa (21 times; 10 May 1990 – 11 May 2011) and Phurba Tashi (21 times; 1999–2013)[53]
- 2012 – Oldest female to reach the summit, by Tamae Watanabe (73-year-old)[93]
- 2013 – Oldest to reach the summit, by Yuichiro Miura, 80 years old[94]
1996 disaster
During the 1996 season, 15 people died while climbing on Mount Everest, the highest number of fatalities in a single year in the mountain's history. Eight of them died on 11 May alone. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of climbing Mount Everest.
Journalist
Jon Krakauer, on assignment from
Outside magazine, was in one of the affected parties, and afterwards published the bestseller
Into Thin Air, which related his experience.
Anatoli Boukreev, a guide who felt impugned by Krakauer's book, co-authored a rebuttal book called
The Climb. The dispute sparked a debate within the climbing community. In May 2004, Kent Moore, a physicist, and John L. Semple, a surgeon, both researchers from the
University of Toronto, told
New Scientist magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on 11 May suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge approximately 14%.
[95][96]
The storm's impact on climbers on the North Ridge of Mount 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. 16-year-old Mark Pfetzer was on the climb and wrote about it in his account,
Within Reach: My Everest Story.
2005: Helicopter landing
Everest, Khumbu Glacier, Kumbu Icefall
Some press reports suggested that the report of the summit landing was a misunderstanding of a South Col landing, but he had also landed on South Col two days earlier,
[99] with this landing and the Everest records confirmed by the FAI.
[98] Delsalle also rescued two Japanese climbers at 16,000 ft (4,880 m) while he was there. One climber noted that the new record meant a better chance of rescue.
[97]
2006: Controversy
Double-amputee climber
Mark Inglis revealed in an interview with the press on 23 May 2006, that his climbing party, and many others, had passed a distressed climber,
David Sharp, on 15 May, sheltering under a rock overhang 450 metres (1,480 ft) below the summit, without attempting a rescue.
[100] The revelation sparked wide debate on climbing ethics, especially as applied to the arduous conditions in the
death zone of the highest 850 m of Everest. The climbers who left him said that the rescue efforts would have been useless and only have caused more deaths. Much of this controversy was captured by the
Discovery Channel while filming the television program
Everest: Beyond the Limit. A crucial decision affecting the fate of Sharp is shown in the program, where an early returning climber (Max Chaya) is descending and radios to his base camp manager (
Russell Brice) that he has found a climber in distress. He is unable to identify Sharp, who had chosen to climb solo without any support and so did not identify himself to other climbers. The base camp manager assumes that Sharp is part of a group that has already calculated that they must abandon him, and informs his lone climber that there is no chance of him being able to help Sharp by himself. As Sharp's condition deteriorates through the day and other descending climbers pass him, his opportunities for rescue diminish: his legs and feet curl from
frostbite, preventing him from walking; the later descending climbers are lower on oxygen and lack the strength to offer aid; time runs out for any Sherpas to return and rescue him. Most importantly, Sharp's decision to climb without support left him with no margin for recovery.
As this debate raged, on 26 May, Australian climber
Lincoln Hall was found alive, after being declared dead the day before. He was found by a party of four climbers (
Dan Mazur, Andrew Brash, Myles Osborne and Jangbu Sherpa) who, giving up their own summit attempt, stayed with Hall and descended with him and a party of 11 Sherpas sent up to carry him down. Hall later fully recovered. Similar actions have been recorded since, including on 21 May 2007, when Canadian climber Meagan McGrath initiated the successful high-altitude rescue of
Nepali Usha Bista. Recognizing her heroic rescue, Major Meagan McGrath was selected as a 2011 recipient of the
Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation of Canada Humanitarian Award, which recognizes a Canadian who has personally or administratively contributed a significant service or act in the Himalayan Region of Nepal.
[101]
Statistics
Ascents of Mount Everest by year through 2010
By the end of the 2010 climbing season, there had been 5,104 ascents to the summit by about 3,142 individuals, with 77% of these ascents being accomplished since 2000.
[78] The summit was achieved in 7 of the 22 years from 1953 to 1974, and has not been missed since 1975.
[78] In 2007, the record number of 633 ascents was recorded, by 350 climbers and 253
sherpas.
[78]
A remarkable illustration of the explosion of popularity of Everest is provided by the numbers of daily ascents. Analysis of the
1996 Mount Everest disaster shows that part of the blame was on the bottleneck caused by the large number of climbers (33 to 36) attempting to summit on the same day; this was considered unusually high at the time. By comparison, on 23 May 2010, the summit of Mount Everest was reached by 169 climbers – more summits in a single day than in the cumulative 31 years from the first successful summit in 1953 through 1983.
[78]
There have been 219 fatalities recorded on Mount Everest from the
1922 British Mount Everest Expedition through the end of 2010, a rate of 4.3 fatalities for every 100 summits (this is a general rate, and includes fatalities amongst support climbers, those who turned back before the peak, those who died en route to the peak and those who died while descending from the peak). Of the 219 fatalities, 58 (26.5%) were climbers who had summited but did not complete their descent.
[78] Though the rate of fatalities has decreased since the year 2000 (1.4 fatalities for every 100 summits, with 3938 summits since 2000), the significant increase in the total number of climbers still means 54 fatalities since 2000: 33 on the northeast ridge, 17 on the southeast ridge, 2 on southwest face, and 2 on north face.
[78]
Nearly all attempts at the summit are done using one of the two main routes. The traffic seen by each route varies from year to year. In 2005–07, more than half of all climbers elected to use the more challenging, but cheaper northeast route. In 2008, the northeast route was closed by the Chinese government for the entire climbing season, and the only people able to reach the summit from the north that year were athletes responsible for
carrying the Olympic torch for the
2008 Summer Olympics.
[102] The route was closed to foreigners once again in 2009 in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile.
[103] These closures led to declining interest in the north route, and, in 2010, two-thirds of the climbers reached the summit from the south.
[78]
Everest economy
Climbing Mount Everest can be a relatively expensive undertaking for climbers. Climbing gear required to reach the summit may cost in excess of US$8,000 and most climbers also use bottled oxygen, which adds around $3,000. The permit to enter the Everest area from the south via Nepal costs $10,000 to $25,000 per person, depending on the size of the team. The ascent typically starts in one of the two base camps near the mountain, both of which are approximately 100 kilometres (60 mi) from
Kathmandu and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from
Lhasa (the two nearest cities with major airports); transferring one's equipment from the airport to the base camp may add as much as $2,000.
Beyond this point, costs may vary widely. It is technically possible to reach the summit with minimal additional expenses, and there are 'budget' travel agencies which offer logistical support for such trips. However, this is considered difficult and dangerous (as illustrated by the case of
David Sharp). Many climbers hire "full service" guide companies, which provide a wide spectrum of services, including acquisition of permits, transportation to/from base camp, food, tents,
fixed ropes,
[104] medical assistance while on the mountain, an experienced mountaineer guide, and even personal porters to carry one's backpack and cook one's meals. The cost of such a guide service may range from $40,000 to $80,000 per person.
[105] Since most equipment is moved by
sherpas, clients of full-service guide companies can often keep their backpack weights under 10 kilograms (22 lb), or hire a sherpa to carry their backpack for them. This can be contrasted with expeditions to less commercialized peaks (for example, climbers attempting
Mount McKinley are often expected to carry backpacks over 30 kilograms (66 lb) and occasionally to tow a
sled with 35 kilograms (77 lb) of gear and food.
[106])
According to
Jon Krakauer, the era of
commercialization of Everest started in 1985, when the summit was reached by a guided expedition led by
David Breashears that included
Richard Bass, a wealthy 55-year old businessman and an amateur mountain climber with only 4 years of climbing experience.
[107] By the early 1990s, multiple companies were offering guided tours to the mountain.
Rob Hall, the mountaineer who died in the
1996 disaster, had successfully guided 39 clients to the summit prior to that incident.
[108]
The degree of commercialization of Mount Everest is a frequent subject of criticism.
Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of
Tenzing Norgay, said in a 2003 interview that his late father would have been shocked to discover that rich thrill-seekers with no climbing experience were now routinely reaching the summit:
You still have to climb this mountain yourself with your feet. But the spirit of adventure is not there any more. It is lost. There are people going up there who have no idea how to put on
crampons. They are climbing because they have paid someone $65,000. It is very selfish. It endangers the lives of others.
[109]
You could die in each climb and that meant you were responsible for yourself. We were real mountaineers: careful, aware and even afraid. By climbing mountains we were not learning how big we were. We were finding out how breakable, how weak and how full of fear we are. You can only get this if you expose yourself to high danger. I have always said that a mountain without danger is not a mountain. ... High-altitude alpinism has become tourism and show. These commercial trips to Everest, they are still dangerous. But the guides and organisers tell clients, "Don't worry, it's all organised." The route is prepared by hundreds of Sherpas. Extra oxygen is available in all camps, right up to the summit. People will cook for you and lay out your beds. Clients feel safe and don't care about the risks.
[110]
However, not all opinions on the subject among prominent mountaineers are strictly negative. For example,
Edmund Hillary, who went on record saying that he hasn't liked "the commercialization of mountaineering, particularly of Mt. Everest"
[111] and claimed that "Having people pay $65,000 and then be led up the mountain by a couple of experienced guides ... isn't really mountaineering at all",
[112] nevertheless noted that he was pleased by the changes brought to Everest area by the Westerners:
I don’t have any regrets because I worked very hard indeed to improve the condition for the local people. When we first went in there they didn’t have any schools, they didn’t have any medical facilities, all over the years we have established 27 schools, we have two hospitals and a dozen medical clinics and then we've built bridges over wild mountain rivers and put in fresh water pipelines so in cooperation with the Sherpas we've done a lot to benefit them.
[113]
Thefts and other crimes
Some climbers have reported life-threatening thefts from supply caches.
Vitor Negrete, the first Brazilian to climb Everest without oxygen and part of David Sharp's party, died during his descent, and theft from his high-altitude camp may have contributed.
[114]
In addition to theft, the 2008 book
High Crimes by Michael Kodas describes unethical guides and Sherpas, prostitution and gambling at the Tibet Base Camp, fraud related to the sale of oxygen bottles, and climbers collecting donations under the pretense of removing trash from the mountain.
[115][116]
Mythological significance
The southern part of Mt. Everest is regarded as one of several "hidden valleys" of refuge designated by
Padmasambhava, a ninth-century "
lotus-born" Buddhist saint.
[117]
Near the base of the north side of Mt. Everest lies
Rongbuk Monastery, which is the "sacred threshold to Mount Everest", with the most dramatic views of the world.
[118] For
Sherpas living on the slopes of Everest in the
Khumbu region of
Nepal, Rongbuk Monastery was an important pilgrimage site, accessed in a few days of travel across the Himalaya through
Nangpa La.
[119]
Miyolangsangma, a
Tibetan Buddhist "
Goddess of Inexhaustible Giving", is believed to have lived at the top of Mt. Everest. According to Sherpa Buddhist monks, Mt. Everest is Miyolangsangma's palace and playground, and all climbers are only partially welcome guests, having arrived without invitation.
[117]
The
Sherpa people also believe that Mt. Everest and its flanks are blessed with spiritual energy, and one should show reverence when passing through this sacred landscape. Here, the
karmic effects of one's actions are magnified, and impure thoughts are best avoided.
[117]
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