Interesting Facts About Mount Everest

Introduction

The Mount Everest is known as the tallest mountain on the planet, but that’s not all! Explore the other interesting facts about Mount Everest in this gallery that you still need to know. You will be amazed to know the different facts related to Mount Everest which are often not commonly known.

Mount Everest formed about 60 million years ago, but its history could be a lot older! It’s Tibetan name “Chomolungma” also means “Goddess of the Sky”.  Sir George Everest was responsible for surveying the longest meridian arc (from the south of India to the north of Nepal) during his time. In 1865 the mountain was named after him.

While Westerners view Mount Everest as a way to conquer the world and earn some bragging rights, Tibetans have a different view of the mountains. They regard the mountains as a goddess. Mount Everest is treated as the top goddess due to its height and the fact that many people have given up their lives on the way to “pleasing the goddess.”

Wedding at Everest

A couple in Nepal has attempted to get married at the summit of Everest. Surprisingly, they were successful, but they only stayed on the peak for 10 minutes to finish up the basic rituals of the wedding. An interesting fact about this event is that this was a complete secret as both had no idea that they would actually reach the top. The chances of going to the top were low, but they were successful.

The Speed of the Wind

The wind blows at the Mount Everest at a rate of 200 miles per hour which is surprisingly high. This is one reason why many of the climbers find it difficult to maintain proper balance and die due to falling off. The high-speed wind is also a cause of lack of proper oxygen supplies and sudden changing temperatures.

Maiden Year Fact

The year 1974 is the only year after the discovery of Mount Everest that no one attempted to climb the Mount Everest in this year. This is why it is known as the Maiden Year.

Tragedies of Mount Everest

There are two main tragedies known for Everest. The first one took place in the year 2014 and took the life of more than 16 climbers. Rescue operations were carried out till the time, and then they were stopped. There were multiple avalanches and were directly in the path of climbers. This year was a sad one for the Sherpas working at Everest who eventually decided to cease the operations for the current year 2014.

However, soon the next tragedy took place. One of the biggest tragedies in the history of Mount Everest includes the Earthquakes of 2015. On the afternoon of April 2015, Mount Everest and other parts of Nepal were struck with a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. This killed more than 22 people as it resulted in a violent avalanche. Many other campers were stuck and were rescued later on. It is said that more than 700 people were near Mount Everest at the time when Earthquake took place. There were a series of different avalanches that affected different areas surrounding Everest. In addition, the earthquake also destroyed the base camp of Mount Everest. This tragedy is considered the worst in the history of Mount Everest.

Successful Climbers of Mount Everest

Most notable successful climbers include, of course, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (the first persons to reach the summit) as well as Reinhold Messner (the first person to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen). Kami Rita Sherpa is a Nepali woman who has made a record of climbing the Mount Everest successfully 22 times. Ang Rita is another woman who has made the record of climbing the Everest for more than 10 times without any extra supplemental oxygen.

Although approximately 4,000 people have attempted to conquer Mount Everest ever since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the top of the world in 1953, hundreds of aspirants haven’t been that so lucky.

Anyway, attempting to climb all the way up to the summit of Mount Everest will also make your bills climb, that’s for sure. The expedition normally costs between $35,000 and $100,000. Now that’s also daunting! Not many plan to spend such a huge amount of money on climbing a mountain.

The youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest is an Indian girl named MalavathPurna. She was 13 years and 11 months old when she did the feat in 2014. The oldest is a Japanese mountaineer named Yuichiro Miura, who was 80 when he made the summit. He said the descent from the mountain almost killed him.

Almost 280 people have died in an attempt to reach the summit. Deaths occur every year in the Mount Everest in the last few years.

Deaths at Mount Everest

Mount Everest is so deadly that avalanches are pretty frequent. Other causes of death while trying to reach the top of Mount Everest include accidental falling, exposure to frostbite, and altitude sickness. Other than that, the Everest is often under the risk of severe snow falling that restricts the oxygen supply of the climbers and stops them from going further. The ultimate end is death because those daredevils who start the journey to the top don’t have a “No” or “Back off” in their list.

The Growing Mountain

An interesting fact about Mount Everest is that it has been growing by more than 4 mm each year. Some rough math means that Mount Everest has grown approximately a mile taller in the last 26,000 years!

However, technically Mount Everest is not the tallest mountain. The tallest mountain is actually Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano in the US state of Hawaii. It is about 33,000 feet tall, considerably higher than Mount Everest. However, much of Mauna Kea is submerged in the ocean which makes it seem smaller from a plain sighting (at 13,803 feet),

Conclusion

Mount Everest is not only a dangerous mountain, but it is a spectacular work of nature that is an example of its own. There are many interesting factoids related to the Mount Everest which have been listed above. Don’t forget to share this with a mountain lover!