Mount Everest 

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Its elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) was determined using GPS satellite equipment on May 5, 1999. It was previously believed to be slightly lower (29,028 feet /8,848 meters), as determined in 1954 by averaging measurements from various sites around the mountain. The new elevation has been confirmed by the National Geographic Society. Mount Everest, rising 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level. It stands on the border of Nepal and Tibet in a massive range called the Himalaya. This range formed in a gradual collision of 2 of the approximately 30 tectonic plates that make up the earth's outer shell. One plate folded like a tablecloth that is pushed across a table. The highest wrinkle is the Himalaya. The range is still rising about 1 centimeter each year.

Roughly 60 million years ago, india -- then a separate continent -- began to move rapidly northward, eventually colliding with asia. The push crushed the land on the continental shores into what is now the highest mountain range in the world -- the Himalayas, a Sanskrit word meaning "abode of snow."

The entire range of magnificent snow-covered peaks is a natural wonder in anyone's book -- but one stands above the others quite literally. Everest -- Chomolungma to the Tibetans, and Sagarmatha to the Nepalese, who live at its base -- the tallest mountain on Earth, reaching to the skies for over 29,000 feet (8,800 meters). Shrouded in mystery due to its height, remote location and Chinese and Nepalese restrictions on access, Everest has been the dream of climbers since the British first glimpsed the peak in the 1850s. The first seven attempts on Everest, starting with a reconnaissance in 1921, approached the mountain from Tibet, where a route to the summit via the North Col and North Ridge seemed possible. All were unsuccessful. George Mallory, who spearheaded the first three expeditions, lost his life with Andrew Irvine during a failed ascent in 1924. Unsuccessful attempts continued through 1938, then halted during World War II. By the war's end, Tibet had closed its borders, and Nepal, previously inaccessible, had done the opposite. Starting in 1951, expeditions from Nepal grew closer and closer to the summit, via the Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm, over the Geneva Spur to the South Col, and up the Southeast Ridge. In 1953 Edmond Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit.

Since the first successful ascent, many other individuals have sought to be the first at various other accomplishments on Everest, including many alternative routes on both the north and south sides. Italy's Reinhold Messner has climbed Everest twice without oxygen, once in four days. He is also the first to solo climb Everest, which he did in 1980. Ten years earlier, Yuichiro Miura of Japan had been the first person to descend the mountain on skis. In 1975, Junko Tabei, also of Japan, was the first woman to climb Everest. The first disabled person to attempt Everest was American Tom Whittaker, who climbed with a prosthetic leg to 24,000 feet in 1989, 28,000 feet in 1995, and finally reached the summit in 1998. The record for most ascents belongs to Sherpa Ang Rita, who has reached the summit ten times. New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the pinnacle on May 29, 1953, the first recorded men to march over the frozen ridges and stand on the highest point in the world. Since that day, the mountain's appeal has not wavered. More attempts to reach its top have followed in the years after Hillary and Norgay's success -- using different routes, with or without oxygen, the first woman, first solo climb and on and on. Thousands have made the attempt -- more than 700 have succeeded. And at least 150 others have died trying.

Overall, more than 600 climbers from 20 countries have climbed to the summit by various routes from both north and south. Climbers' ages have ranged from nineteen years to sixty. At least 100 people have perished, most commonly by avalanches, falls in crevasses, cold, or the effects of thin air.
Climbing on Everest is very strictly regulated by both the Nepalese and Chinese governments. Permits cost thousands of U.S. dollars ($50,000 for a seven member party in 1996), and are difficult to obtain, and waiting lists extend for years. Treks to Everest base camp, minus the summit attempt, are becoming increasingly popular on both the north and south sides of the mountain. On the north side, a Buddhist monastery stands at the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier, beneath Everest's spectacular north face. The monastery is one of two whose locations were selected specifically to allow religious contemplation of the great peak. The other is the Thyangboche Monastery in Nepal. The once-active Rongbuk monastery in Tibet has required much rejuvenation from the destruction it experienced following China's invasion of Tibet. Mount Everest is also known by the Tibetan name Chomolangma (Goddess Mother of the Snows), and by the Nepali name Sagarmatha (Mother of the Universe).