Interesting Facts About Mountains

Introduction

Just by looking at them, mountains never fail to take our breaths away. Mountains are so tall that one starts to question nature that how was something so beautiful so elegantly made. When you get to see these interesting facts about the mountains, you’ll be more amazed by them.

Is Everest Actually the tallest mountain?

Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on Big Island, Hawaii, USA, is technically the highest volcano in the world. Not Mount Everest? From a plain sighting, Mauna Kea has an elevation of just 4,207.3 meters (13,803 feet). But the truth is, more than half of the mountain is submerged in the sea. Rising from the oceanic base, the total height of Mauna Kea is over 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) tall, making it considerably taller than Mount Everest, which is 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) tall. It is over a million years old, but it made its last eruption about 4,600 years ago.

The youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest

Jordan Romero from Salt Lake City, Utah became the youngest person ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Of course, he was accompanied by his father, his step-mother and three Sherpas. Romero has also reached the summits of other mountains such as Mount Kilimanjaro and Vinson Massif.

Interesting Facts about Mount Kilimanjaro

Mount Kilimanjaro is the largest mountain by height in the whole of Africa. It extends over 20,000 feet and is quite an easy mountain to accomplish. It takes roughly 5 days to climb this mountain. It has beautiful scenes around it such as green pastures and forest areas. Some interesting facts about Mount Kilimanjaro are that it is the easiest high-elevation mountain to accomplish. The youngest climber to climb this mountain was  Keats Boyd who made it to the top at the age of 7 only.

On the other hand, the oldest climber to reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro was Angela Vorobeva, and she was 86 years old at that time. Another man Paraplegic Chris Waddell climbed this mountain on his very own custom hand-built cycle. A disabled Quadruple amputee Kyle Maynard made it to the top of the Mount Kilimanjaro in the year 2012. This was a very famous and well known World Record since he did not use his prosthetics.

Mountains were pretty much formed in that way, but the difference is that the mountains are peaked, while plateaus have a flat top.

Marilyn and Munro

The names “Marilyn” and “Munro” is a kind of wordplay of the name “Marilyn Monroe,” the late American actress. Currently, there are more than 2,000 “Marilyns” and 282 “Munros” identified

Hawaii Mountains

Yes, when you step on the islands of Hawaii, you’re literally stepping at the top of the mountains!

Two Nepalese climbers — PemDorjee, 23 and Moni Mulepati, 24 — exchanged their vows at the peak of Mount Everest. The ceremony was short though, lasting only 10 minutes.

The definition of a Mountain

There is no generally accepted explanation on how tall a hill is to be classified as a mountain. It varies from country to country, or region to region. Some areas say its 1,000 feet, others say 2,000.

The Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency in the UK and one of the biggest producer of maps, used to say it was 1,000 feet but that was a long time ago.

The Rocky Mountain Range

Actually, the Rocky Mountains is now the world’s third longest mountain range. It stretches from the part of British Columbia, Canada to New Mexico in the United States, more than 3,000 miles.

The lowest point of the mountain can be called a base or a foot.

The tallest mountain in our Solar System

Despite the fact that our mother earth is blessed with some of the best mountains, the tallest mountain in our solar system is on the planet Mars. This is known as the Olympus Mons, and it is an active volcanic mountain. It has a maximum height of 16 miles and spreads on the surface for more than 341 miles. Since there is no tectonic plate movement at mars, the mountain stays fixed at its point and erupts quite many times allowing for repeated lava flows.

The higher you go up the mountain, the cooler the air will be. It’s because the Earth’s atmosphere feels less pressure in the higher altitudes, as the gas in the atmosphere goes up and expands. Obviously, the higher the mountain, the thinner and cooler the air will be as you reach towards the peak.

Volcanic Mountains are essential

Another important fact about Volcanic mountains is that they are essential for mankind’s survival. This is because the volcanoes and lavas give out minerals and some specific chemicals which are used all around the globe. Additionally, mountains do affect the weather too and are the main reason why rain and snowfall in some specific areas but not in others. The height of the mountains reduces the air pressure, and condensation takes place. This results in rain, and if the mountain is very tall, it will result in a snowfall rather than rain. Freshwater originates from mountains and from the various waterfalls that are formed due to the rain.

Gangkhar Puensum

Gangkhar Puensum means “White Peak of the Three Spiritual Brothers.” Its elevation rises up to 7,750 meters (24,840 feet) and has a prominence of 2,995 meters (9,826 feet). It has remained unclimbed out of deference towards the spiritual beliefs of the locals, so climbing the Gangkhar Puensum has been totally prohibited since 2003.

But then again, that depends on the country or region. Some regions insist that any elevation is considered a mountain when it rises up to at least 1,000 feet, some say at least 2,000 feet

This proves that yes, mountains do have a life after all. And they continue to grow, just like Mount Everest. It is getting taller every year because the tectonic plates continue to collide. However, the “4 mm” is quite unsure as some sources say that Mount Everest grows taller by 30 inches a year.

Speaking of German, the Annapurna Massif was first conquered by an 11-man German expedition led by Günther Hauser in 1965 

Mountains start below the sea too

Another interesting fact about mountains is that they reside under the sea and oceans as well. In fact, the tallest mountain on the planet which is the Mount Kea stands at 30,000 feet from the sea bed.

As of November 11, 1999, the height of Mount Everest is declared as being six feet (2 meters) higher, with the new total height of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters). However, Mount Everest is not considered the tallest due to the Mount Kea.

These are some of the most interesting facts about mountains. You might not know many of these before so do share this valuable knowledge with your friends too. We hope you liked these amazing and interesting facts.