10 Most Interesting Mount Everest Facts

The world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, lies on the border between Nepal and Tibet, standing at an elevation of 29,032 feet. The mountain lies 8848.86 meters high from sea level. Do you wanna know the interesting Mount Everest facts? The highest mountain got even higher after the devastating earthquake that dismantled Nepal in 2015.

Before getting its Nepal after George Everest, a former Surveyor General of India, the highest mountain of the world was known as Chomolungma, a Tibetan word that tells “mother goddess of the world”. In Nepal Everest is known as ‘Sagarmatha’.

Mount Everest is very famous for its tourism. Among many interesting things, trekking or hiking, climbing mountains, rafting, a helicopter tour of Everest are the major activities to do in Everest.  Mount Everest tourism brings millions of dollars to the economy of Nepal that is before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The main occupation of the people of the Everest region is focused on tourism. After the pandemic, tourism in Everest, like many other countries, is hanging on a thread. 

The other occupation of people living in the mountains, apart from tourism, is Yak farming. If you ever get a chance to visit Everest you will find hundreds of Yaks grazing on the grassland of the Everest region. In this article, we will cover the most interesting facts about Mount Everest

10 Most Interesting Mount Everest Facts

1) Mount Everest touches 2 countries

Nepal and China are the proud owners of Mount Everest. the south side of Everest lies in Nepal and the Northside lies in Tibet(China).

2) It is not the Tallest Mountain

Yes, it is the highest mountain standing at an elevation of 8848.86 meters from sea level but Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain which is 33500 ft. (base to peak) compared to Everest 13796 ft.

3) Mount Everest is now higher

The new height of Everest is now 8848.86 meters and it is believed, the highest mountain will grow even higher in years to come. To be exact Everest rises on average 4mm per year and 40 cm per century 

4) Everest has the world’s harshest climate

Everest is always covered with snow and ice above 5,300 meters, any day of the year. This makes the weather unprecedented and violent. Big and nasty storms can occur at any time. The climate of Everest, especially at the summit, is a nightmare to any living thing. The warmest temperature even in the summer never surpasses -19 °C. Let alone humans even plants and trees don’t stand a chance to live at the top.

5) There are a lot of dead bodies

Most climbers who die on Everest are left behind because it is almost impossible to bring them down. Since the mountain is always covered in snow above 5300 meters, there are still dead bodies of climbers who died years ago. At least 300 people have lost their lives during the expedition and many were Sherpa who always leads and guides the team to the summit. However, Everest is not the deadliest mountain in the world. It is the 7th deadliest mountain with a death rate of 2%.

6) Everest Death Zone

Above the elevation of 8000 meters, the oxygen concentration is only about one-fourth (1/4) of that of sea level, making the region deadliest for any climbers. It becomes mandatory for most human beings to use supplementary oxygen to survive above that elevation.

7) Everest 2 o’clock rule

Due to the unprecedented weather, it becomes mandatory for climbers to reach the summit by 2 pm or else they will be hit by the blizzard of violent snowstorms.

8) First Person to reach the top of Everest

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hilary became the first mountaineers to reach the summit of Everest. 

9) Record of Touching summit of Everest 25 times

Kami Rita Sherpa from Nepal holds the record of touching the summit of Everest a record 25 times.

10) Person who reached summit of Mount Everest without using supplementary oxgyen

Peter Habeler successfully reached the Everest summit without using any supplementary oxygen creating history.

Here are some of the climbing records you might want to read before leaving

• In 1961 Pasang Lhamu Sherpa became the first Nepalese woman to climb Everest inspiring many youngsters.

• Ang Rita from Nepal became the first person ever to reach Everest for a record 10 times for the first time in history.

• The oldest summiteer of Everest, Yūichirō Miura from Japan, reached the summit at the age of 80 years, 224 days

• The youngest summiteer, Jordan Romero from the USA, touched the summit at the age of 13 yrs., 10 months, 10 days