35 interesting facts about Mount Everest

35 interesting facts about Mount Everest

We share the most interesting facts about Mount Everest, collected over years of reading, writing, and dreaming about its slopes

I recently visited Nepal for the first time to complete the Everest Base Camp trek. I hope to one day go a step further and climb Everest myself as part of my journey to climb the seven peaks.

Until my next summit attempt, I'm focused on gaining as much climbing experience as possible and absorbing as much information as I can about the infamous peak along the way.

The highest mountain on earth, which has captivated the dreams of men and women like me for decades – if not centuries – has a thousand stories to tell. From record peaks to mispronunciations, we take a look at the most interesting facts about Mount Everest.

Interesting facts about Mount Everest

1. Der Mount Everest ist mit 8.848 m der höchste Berg der Erde. Der Gipfel liegt knapp unterhalb der Reiseflughöhe eines Jumbo-Jets. (Quelle: Britannica)
2. Die genaue Höhe des Everest-Gipfels wurde lange diskutiert. Im Laufe der Jahre wurde eine Reihe von Umfragen durchgeführt, die zu unterschiedlichen Höhen geführt wurden:

• 8.848 m vom Survey of India zwischen 1952 und 1954
• 8.872 m von einer italienischen Umfrage im Jahr 1987
• 8.846 m von einer anderen italienischen Umfrage im Jahr 1992
• 8.850 m durch eine amerikanisch geführte Untersuchung im Jahr 1999
• 8.844,43 Mio. von China im Jahr 2005

Finally, a joint Sino-Nepalese calculation in 2020 put it at 8,848.86 m (29,032 feet) – slightly higher than previous surveys. (Source: Britannica, The Guardian)

1. Der Mount Everest ist einer der 14 Achttausender, der einzige Berg der Welt über 8.000 m (26.247 ft). (Quelle: NASA Earth Observatory)

2. Everest is also one of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on all continents. (Source: Britannica)

alt="Interesting facts about Mount Everest – Everest summit">Atlas & BootsThe summit of Mount Everest

1. Der Berg wurde 1852 von Radhanath Sikdar als der höchste der Welt „entdeckt“. Sikdar, ein Inder, arbeitete im britisch regierten Indien an der Great Trigonometrical Survey. Er maß den Berg ursprünglich auf 8.840 m (29.002 ft). (Quelle: BBC News)

2. Until then, the immense mountain was known as Peak XV. It was later named after Sir George Everest, the Surveyor General of India. (Source: BBC News)

3. In all likelihood, Sir George Everest never saw the mountain named after him. (Source: BBC Wales)

4. Everest is often mispronounced. Sir George's surname is pronounced ˈiːvrᵻst (Eve wrist with 'Eve' pronounced as on Christmas Eve), while the mountain has long been called Ever-est as in Everlasting. Sir George himself refused to call the mountain “Everest” because it could neither be written in Hindi nor pronounced by “the native of India.” (Source: World Atlas)

alt="Radhanath Sikdar and George Everest">Public domainRadhanath Sikdar and George Everest

1. Der Mount Everest ist auf Nepali als „Sagarmatha“ bekannt, was „Göttin des Himmels“ bedeutet, und auf Tibetisch als „Chomolungma“, was „Heilige Mutter“ bedeutet. (Quelle: Britannica)

2. One of the most interesting facts about Mount Everest is that it grows by 4 mm every year due to the shifting of tectonic plates. (Source: The Guardian)

3. The summit of Everest lies on the border between Nepal and Tibet (China). Nepal is in the south and China is in the north. (Source: Google Earth)

4. Everest was formed about 55 million years ago when India's tectonic plate crashed into Asia. The collision was so violent that India's plate was pushed under Asia, lifting the landmass upward and creating the Himalayas. (Source: National Geographic)

alt="The Imja Khola Valley above Dingboche">Atlas & BootsThe Himalayas were formed about 55 million years ago

1. Die eiskalten, mächtigen Winde, die die Spitze des Everest peitschen, sind eigentlich ein Jetstream, ein sehr kalter, sich schnell bewegender Wind hoch in der Atmosphäre. (Quelle: National Geographic)

2. The highest wind speed recorded at the summit of Everest was 175 mph (282 km/h), recorded in February 2004. For reference, a Category 5 hurricane is defined as a hurricane with sustained wind speeds greater than 157 mph (253 km/h). (Source: Popular Mechanics)

3. The coldest month on Everest is usually January, when the average summit temperature is around -36 °C (-33 °F). Most climbers reach their peak in May, although climbs also take place in the fall months and occasionally even in the winter. (Source: Mount Everest (2009))

alt="When we arrived it was snowing at the base camp">Atlas & BootsJanuary is the coldest month on Everest

1. Der erste Gipfelversuch wurde 1921 von einer britischen Expedition von der Nordseite aus unternommen. (Quelle: History)

2. In 1924, 13 men died on an expedition to Everest. These included George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, who famously disappeared during a summit attempt in 1924. Whether or not they reached the summit has remained a mystery, although this is generally considered unlikely. (Source: BBC News Magazine)

3. In 1933, David McIntyre and Sir Douglas Douglas-Hamilton became the first people to fly over the summit of Everest. (Source: The Guardian)

4. The first confirmed successful ascent of Everest was on May 29, 1953 by Nepali Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary on a British expedition from the south side. (Source: BBC)

alt="interesting-facts-about-everest-norgay-hilary">Public domainEdmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to climb Everest

1. Die nepalesische Staatsbürgerin Kami Rita Sherpa hält den Rekord für die meisten Everest-Gipfel. Er erreichte den Gipfel zum 23. und 24. Mal im Mai 2019 im Alter von 49 Jahren, nachdem er 1994 seine Erstbesteigung gemacht hatte. (Quelle: Washington Post)

2. There are at least 18 named climbing routes on Everest, including a few that have not yet been climbed. (Source: Outside Magazine)

3. In 1975, the Japanese Junko Tabei became the first woman to climb Everest. Since then, more than 500 women have reached the peak, including the youngest woman, Malavath Poorna, who was 13 when she climbed the peak, and Lhakpa Sherp, who has climbed the peak nine times - more than any other woman. (Source: National Geographic)

alt="interesting-facts-about-everest-junko-tabeit">Public domainJunko Tabei on the summit of Everest

1. Jordan Romero aus Kalifornien ist der jüngste Mensch, der den Mount Everest bestiegen hat. Er bestieg den Gipfel im Jahr 2010, als er gerade einmal 13 Jahre und 11 Monate alt war. (Quelle: The Telegraph)

2. The oldest person to climb Everest is Yuichiro Miura, an 80-year-old Japanese man who completed the feat in 2013. (Source: The Independent)

3. As of December 2018, there have been 9,159 Everest summits across all routes by 5,294 different people. (Source: Himalayan Database)

4. As of December 2018, 295 people have died on Everest since 1924. This equates to a mortality rate of approximately 3.2% (at peak). Unlike 1977, at least one person has died on Everest every year since 1969. (Source: Himalayan Database)

alt="The Everest Monument in Chukpi Lhara">Atlas & BootsA memorial to fallen mountaineers in Chukpi Lhara in Nepal

1. 2018 war ein Rekordjahr für Everest-Gipfel mit 802 dokumentierten. Das bisherige Rekordjahr war 2013 mit 670. 2019 soll der Rekord erneut gebrochen werden. (Quelle: Himalayan Database)

2. It takes an average of 39-40 days to climb Mount Everest from its base camp. This does not include the time spent trekking to the base camp, which is between 10 and 14 days. The entire expedition lasts six to nine weeks. (Source: Alan Arnette)

3. It costs between $30,000 and $85,000 to climb Everest, depending on the assistance required. The average cost is around $67,000. (Source: Alan Arnette)

4. The deadliest year on Everest was 2015, when 19 people died on the mountain. A devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and triggering avalanches on Everest. An avalanche swept through the base camp, killing or injuring dozens of climbers and workers there. (Source: Britannica)

alt="Things to know about the Nuptse West Face of Mount Everest">Atlas & BootsThe Everest massif

1. Auf dem Gipfel des Everest ist aufgrund der Änderung des atmosphärischen Drucks in dieser Höhe nur ein Drittel der Sauerstoffmenge auf Meereshöhe verfügbar. Kletterer verwenden normalerweise Atemgeräte und Flaschensauerstoff, um den Auswirkungen einer verminderten Sauerstoffversorgung standzuhalten. (Quelle: CNN)

2. The final 848 m long section of the mountain is known as the “Death Zone”. Above 8,000 m there is not enough oxygen available for humans to survive for long without supplemental oxygen. (Source: Washington Post)

3. In 1978, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner became the first to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen. In 1980 he also made the first successful solo ascent of Everest. (Source: The Telegraph)

4. There are now “flash expeditions” to the summit of Everest for those willing to spend $110,000. Such expeditions use altitude simulation tents beforehand to replicate mountain acclimatization and shorten the expedition time to just 21 days. (Source: The Telegraph)

5. Although Mount Everest is the highest mountain above sea level, Hawaii's Mauna Kea is the highest mountain from base to peak. Mauna Kea lies largely hidden beneath the ocean's surface, but stands a monumental 10,203 m (33,476 feet) from its submerged base to its summit. (Source: Guinness World Records)

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