Mount+Everest

Mount Everest General Information
Mount Everest is a very mysterious site. It is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World because it is the tallest mountain in the entire world. Mount Everest got its English name from Andrew Waugh, who named the mountain after Sir George Everest. The name used to be Mont Everest, but was later changed. At the time however, Andrew Waugh did not know that Sir George Everest pronounced his name differently (EAVE-rest) then its current pronunciation.

The exact height of Mount Everest is 29,028 feet (8,848 meters) high. During earlier years, the mountain measured in at exactly 29,000 feet. To avoid confusion of people thinking this was an estimate, the height was officially changed to 29,002. Currently, Mount Everest is measured in at 29,028 feet.

Mount Everest Ascents
A lot of people have traveled to the summit of Mount Everest. The first successful ascent was by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953. In 2006, Tormod Granheim skied down the northern face of Mount Everest. On May 19, 2007 Smantha Larson reached the top of Mount Everest at the age of 18. The youngest person to reach the summit. In total, there have been about 3,050 ascents to the top of Mount Everest by around 2,065 individuals. About 200 people died while trying to reach the peak of Mount Everest; their corpses have usually been left there because it would be risky for someone trying to survive to take the time and try to haul them down the mountain. Most climbers died in the Death Zone (26,246 feet and above) since it gets harder and harder to breath because of the high altitude. Even wearing oxygen masks doesn't save you all the time. Also, some people even make a trip up Mount Everest just to help clean up the mountain.

Problems on Mount Everest
Like most of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, this wonder is having some small problems. During all the travels up to the summit, there has been a lot of litter and "other" things left on Mount Everest. Apart from the people who go on special occasions to the top of of Mount Everest just to clean up the mountain, there are some other ways. For one, you could encourage anyone climbing Mount Everest to try to hold on to any trash unless they absolutely need to lose the trash. Some adults can help by only going up Mount Everest a little and pick up any trash they see. The fact of Global Warming may come up. There is a threat to all mountains if this keeps up. Near by Hillary and Norgay's campsite was a series of glaciers. These have melted and formed into a long lake. We must help by not polluting of course. However, tourism has shown to do this and it might not be a good idea to stop every tourist from coming to Mount Everest. We can only hope. If we try our best to protect the Mount Everest, it will be here for many years to come!

Mount Everest Ecology
Some new life forms have been found on Mount Everest. One example would be the //Euophrys omnisuperstes//, which is a small, black jumping spider. They feed on insects blown by the wind on to Mount Everest where their prey freezes and dies. A bird called the bar-headed goose has been spotted flying at the higher altitudes. These birds are known as scavengers feeding on corpses of both people and animals. Yaks are another species of animals that can survive on Mount Everest. The type of blood a Yak has allows them to breath in much more air then humans.

Along with animals, plants have the ability to grow on Mount Everest... some anyway. The only plants found can survive at lower locations because it is much warmer and there is hardly any ice. Such trees are //Primula dentculata//, birch trees, blue pines, and Rhododendrons. Even at the 3,700 feet point, small grasses and bushes grow.

Climbing Mount Everest
There are four main ridges travelers use to climb. The Southeast and Northeast are used much more often because the Southwest and Northwest are incredibley hard to travel through. In all, the Southeast ridge is the easiest climb to the top. To start off using the Southeast ridge, climbers travel for about a week to the first base camp. Here they stop, rest, and prepare for the journey. Climbers usually take off way before dawn so they don't have to face the freezing temperatures to begin with. Camp 2 is at 21,300 feet. This means climbers are more than half way done. By the time they reach Camp 3 at 24,500 feet, climbers are usually really worn out. But when climbers reach The Balcony (also known as Camp 4) there are only 5 to 6 miles to the summit. This is where the air gets especially thin so climbers need to conserve oxygen.The Northeast ridge has **6** camps along the way to the top of Mount Everest. This and its rough terrain make it a harderpath to climb. Camp #1 is located at 17,000 feet up Mount Everest. 3,000 feet up is the 2nd camp at 20,000 feet. Camp 3 is up a little bit (21,300 feet) and Camp 4 is at 23,000 feet high. Camp 5 will be seen 25,500 feet, then climbers can rest up and head to the final camp at 27,000 feet. From there, climbers have 2,028 feet left to go until the summit. It's also a pain to climb back down Mount Everest too.

Conclusion
Mount Everest still stands high as the tallest mountain. It is located in Nepal, and boarders China. Mount Everest is also in the Himalaya Mountain Range. It has been here for over 60 million years.



Sources: [|Mt. Everest] [|A History of Everest] [|Mount Everest - Wikipedia] [|Feeling on Top of the World at 18 - Los Angeles Times] [|Image 1 (Aligned Left)] [|Image 2 (Bottom Center)] [|Image 3 (Aligned Right)]