Mount Everest

Mount Everest (Tibetan: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, Jomolungma, "Holy Mother"; Chinese: 珠穆朗玛峰, Mandarin: Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng, "Jomolungma Peak"; Nepali: सगरमाथा,Sagarmāthā) is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas on the Nepal side of Nepal-China (Tibet) border. Its massif includes neighboring peaks Lhotse(8516 m), Nuptse (7855 m) and Changtse (7580 m).

In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest. Although Tibetans had called Everest "Chomolungma" for centuries, Waugh was unaware of this because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners.

The highest mountain in the world attracts many well-experienced mountaineers as well as novice climbers willing to hire professional guides. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route (other eight-thousanders such as K2or Nanga Parbat are much more difficult), Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather and wind.

By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals.^[4] Climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to US$25,000 per person.^[5] By the end of 2009 Everest had claimed 216 lives,^[4] including eight who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain. Conditions are so difficult in the death zone—altitudes higher than 8,000 metres (26,000 ft)—that most corpses have been left where they fell. Some of them are visible from standard climbing routes.^[6]

Identifying the highest mountain

Location on Earth

Mount Everest relief map

In 1808, the British began the Great Trigonometric Survey of India to determine the location and names of the world's highest mountains. Starting in southern India, the survey teams moved northward using giant 500 kg (1,100 lb)theodolites (each requiring 12 men to carry) to measure heights as accurately as possible. They reached the Himalayan foothills by the 1830s, but Nepal was unwilling to allow the British to enter the country because of suspicions of political aggression and possible annexation. Several requests by the surveyors to enter Nepal were turned down.^[7]

The British were forced to continue their observations from Terai, a region south of Nepal which is parallel to the Himalayas. Conditions in Terai were difficult owing to torrential rains and malaria—three survey officers died from malaria while two others had to retire owing to failing health.^[7]

Nonetheless, in 1847, the British pressed on and began detailed observations of the Himalayan peaks from observation stations up to 240 km (150 mi) away. Weather restricted work to the last three months of the year. In November 1847, Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India made several observations from Sawajpore station located in the eastern end of the Himalayas. Kangchenjunga was then considered the highest peak in the world, and with interest he noted a peak beyond it, some 230 km (140 mi) away. John Armstrong, one of Waugh's officials, also saw the peak from a location farther west and called it peak 'b'. Waugh would later write that the observations indicated that peak 'b' was higher than Kangchenjunga, but given the great distance of the observations, closer observations were required for verification. The following year, Waugh sent a survey official back to Terai to make closer observations of peak 'b', but clouds thwarted all attempts.^[7]

In 1849, Waugh dispatched James Nicolson to the area. Nicolson made two observations from Jirol, 190 km (120 mi) away. Nicolson then took the largest theodolite and headed east, obtaining over 30 observations from five different locations, with the closest being 174 km (108 mi) away from the peak.^[7]

Nicolson retreated to Patna on the Ganges to perform the necessary calculations based on his observations. His raw data gave an average height of 9,200 m (30,200 ft) for peak 'b', but this did not consider light refraction, which distorts heights. The number clearly indicated, however, that peak 'b' was higher than Kangchenjunga. However, Nicolson came down with malaria and was forced to return home, calculations unfinished. Michael Hennessy, one of Waugh's assistants, had begun designating peaks based on roman numerals, with Kangchenjunga named Peak IX, while peak 'b' now became known as Peak XV.^[7]

In 1852, stationed at the survey's headquarters in Dehradun, Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician and surveyor from Bengal, was the first to identify Everest as the world's highest peak, using trigonometric calculations based on Nicolson's measurements.^[8] An official announcement that Peak XV was the highest was delayed for several years as the calculations were repeatedly verified. Waugh began work on Nicolson's data in 1854, and along with his staff spent almost two years working on the calculations, having to deal with the problems of light refraction, barometric pressure, and temperature over the vast distances of the observations. Finally, in March 1856 he announced his findings in a letter to his deputy in Kolkata. Kangchenjunga was declared to be 28,156 ft (8,582 m), while Peak XV was given the height of 29,002 ft (8,840 m). Waugh concluded that Peak XV was "most probably the highest in the world".^[7] Peak XV (measured in feet) was calculated to be exactly 29,000 ft (8,839.2 m) high, but was publicly declared to be 29,002 ft (8,839.8 m). The arbitrary addition of 2 ft (61 cm) was to avoid the impression that an exact height of 29,000 feet (8,839.2 m) was nothing more than a rounded estimate.^[9]

Naming

With the height now established, what to name the peak was clearly the next challenge. While the survey was anxious to preserve local names if possible (e.g. Kangchenjunga and Dhaulagiri), Waugh argued that he could not find any commonly used local name. Waugh's search for a local name was hampered by Nepal and Tibet's exclusion of foreigners. Many local names existed, including "Deodungha" ("Holy Mountain") in Darjeeling^[10] and the Tibetan "Jomolungma" (ཇོ་མོ་གླིང་མ), which appeared as "Chomolungma" on a 1733 map published in Paris by the French geographer D'Anville. In the late 19th century, many European cartographers further believed (incorrectly) that a native name for the mountain was "Gaurisankar",^[11] although this was a result of confusion of Mount Everest with Gauri Sankar, which, when viewed from Kathmandu, stands almost directly in front of Everest.^{[citation needed]}

Waugh argued that with the plethora of local names, it would be difficult to favour one name over all others. So, he decided that Peak XV should be named after George Everest, his predecessor as Surveyor General of India.^[7]^[12] He wrote:

I was taught by my respected chief and predecessor, Colonel Sir George Everest to assign to every geographical object its true local or native appellation. But here is a mountain, most probably the highest in the world, without any local name that we can discover, whose native appellation, if it has any, will not very likely be ascertained before we are allowed to penetrate into Nepal. In the meantime the privilege as well as the duty devolves on me to assign...a name whereby it may be known among citizens and geographers and become a household word among civilized nations.^[13]

George Everest opposed the name suggested by Waugh and told the Royal Geographical Society in 1857 that Everest could not be written inHindi nor pronounced by "the native of India". Waugh's proposed name prevailed despite the objections, and in 1865, the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted Mount Everest as the name for the highest mountain in the world.^[7] Interestingly, the modern pronunciation of Everest ˈɛvərɨst, ˈɛvrɨst^[14] is in fact different from Sir George's pronunciation of his surname, which was /ˈiːvrɨst/.^[15]

Aerial view of Mount Everest from the south

The modern Tibetan name for Mount Everest is ཇོ་མོ་གླིང་མ (Wylie: Jomolungma; also transliterated Chomolungma in the West and Qomolangma in China), meaning "Holy Mother". The official Chinese name is Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng(simplified Chinese: 珠穆朗玛峰; traditional Chinese: 珠穆朗瑪峰), "Jomolungma Peak," although it is sometimes known as Shèngmǔ Fēng (simplified Chinese: 圣母峰; traditional Chinese: 聖母峰), the Chinese for "Holy Mother".

In the early 1960s, the Nepalese government gave Mount Everest the official nameSagarmāthā (सगरमाथा),^[16] although this name had not previously been used. The local inhabitants knew the mountain as Jomolungma. The mountain was not previously named in Nepali.^{[citation needed]} The government set out to find a Nepalese name for the mountain because the government felt the Tibetan name Jomolungma was not acceptable.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, the Chinese People's Daily newspaper published an article making a case against the continued use of the English name for the mountain in the Western world, insisting that it should be referred to by its Tibetan name. The newspaper argued that the Chinese use of the Tibetan name preceded the English one, as "Mount Qomolangma" was marked on a Chinese map more than 280 years ago.^[17]

Measurement

Another aerial view of Mount Everest from the south, with Lhotse in front andNuptse on the left

In 1856, Andrew Waugh announced Everest (then known as Peak XV) as 29,002 ft (8,840 m) high, after several years of calculations based on observations made by the Great Trigonometric Survey.

The 8,848 m (29,029 ft) height given in this article is officially recognised by Nepal and China.^[18]On 9 October 2005, after several months of measurement and calculation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially announced the height of Everest as 8,844.43 m (29,017.16 ft) with accuracy of ±0.21 m (0.69 ft). They claimed it was the most accurate and precise measurement to date.^[19] This height is based on the actual highest point of rock and not on the snow and ice covering it. The Chinese team also measured a snow/ice depth of 3.5 m (11 ft),^[20] which is in agreement with a net elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft). The snow and ice thickness varies over time, making a definitive height of the snow cap impossible to determine.

Camps visible on northeast ridge as seen from north base camp area, Tibet on May 20, 2011

The elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft) was first determined by an Indian survey in 1955, made closer to the mountain, also using theodolites.^{[citation needed]} It was subsequently reaffirmed by a 1975 Chinese measurement 8,848.13 m (29,029.30 ft).^[20] In both cases the snow cap, not the rock head, was measured. In May 1999 an American Everest Expedition, directed by Bradford Washburn, anchored a GPS unit into the highest bedrock. A rock head elevation of 8,850 m (29,035 ft), and a snow/ice elevation 1 m (3 ft) higher, were obtained via this device.^[21] Although it has not been officially recognized by Nepal,^[22] this figure is widely quoted. Geoid uncertainty casts doubt upon the accuracy claimed by both the 1999 and 2005 surveys.

A detailed photogrammetric map (at a scale of 1:50,000) of the Khumbu region, including the south side of Mount Everest, was made by Erwin Schneider as part of the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, which also attempted Lhotse. An even more detailed topographic map of the Everest area was made in the late 1980s under the direction of Bradford Washburn, using extensive aerial photography.^[23]

It is thought that the plate tectonics of the area are adding to the height and moving the summit northeastwards. Two accounts suggest the rates of change are 4 mm (0.16 in) per year (upwards) and 3 to 6 mm (0.12 to 0.24 in) per year (northeastwards),^[21]^[24] but another account mentions more lateral movement (27 mm/1.1 in),^[25] and even shrinkage has been suggested.^[26]

There have recently been debates between the countries of Nepal and China over the official height. Nepal claims it to be 8,848 meters while China claims it to be 8,844 meters. To settle the debate Nepal has plans to remeasure the mountain in the near future.^[27]

Comparisons

The summit of Everest is the point at which the Earth's surface reaches the greatest distance above sea level. Several other mountains are sometimes claimed as alternative "tallest mountains on Earth". Mauna Kea in Hawaii is tallest when measured from its base;^[28] it rises over 10,200 m (6.3 mi) when measured from its base on the mid-ocean floor, but only attains 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level.

By the same measure of base^[28] to summit, Mount McKinley, in Alaska, is also taller than Everest. Despite its height above sea level of only 6,193.6 m (20,320 ft), Mount McKinley sits atop a sloping plain with elevations from 300 m (980 ft) to 900 m (3,000 ft), yielding a height above base in the range of 5,300 to 5,900 m (17,400 to 19,400 ft); a commonly quoted figure is 5,600 m (18,400 ft).^[29] By comparison, reasonable base elevations for Everest range from 4,200 m (13,800 ft) on the south side to 5,200 m (17,100 ft) on the Tibetan Plateau, yielding a height above base in the range of 3,650 to 4,650 m (11,980 to 15,260 ft).^[23]

The summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador is 2,168 m (7,113 ft) farther from the Earth's centre (6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi)) than that of Everest (6,382.3 km (3,965.8 mi)), because the Earth bulges at the Equator. However, Chimborazo attains a height of only 6,267 m (20,561 ft) above sea level, and by this criterion it is not even the highest peak of the Andes.

Climbing routes

Southern and northern climbing routes as seen from the International Space Station.

Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the northeast ridge from Tibet, as well as many other less frequently climbed routes.^[30] Of the two main routes, the southeast ridge is technically easier and is the more frequently used route. It was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953 and the first recognized of fifteen routes to the top by 1996.^[30] This was, however, a route decision dictated more by politics than by design as the Chinese border was closed to the western world in the 1950s after the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet.^[31]

View from space showing South Col route and North Col/Ridge route

Most attempts are made during May before the summer monsoon season. As the monsoon season approaches, a change in the jet stream at this time pushes it northward, thereby reducing the average wind speeds high on the mountain.^[32]^[33] While attempts are sometimes made after the monsoons in September and October, when the jet stream is again temporarily pushed northward, the additional snow deposited by the monsoons and the less stable weather patterns (tail end of the monsoon) makes climbing extremely difficult.

Southeast ridge

The ascent via the southeast ridge begins with a trek to Base Camp at 5,380 m (17,700 ft) on the south side of Everest in Nepal. Expeditions usually fly into Lukla (2,860 m) from Kathmandu and pass through Namche Bazaar. Climbers then hike to Base Camp, which usually takes six to eight days, allowing for proper altitude acclimatization in order to prevent altitude sickness.^[34] Climbing equipment and supplies are carried by yaks, dzopkyos (yak-cow hybrids) and human porters to Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier. When Hillary and Tenzing climbed Everest in 1953, they started from Kathmandu Valley, as there were no roads further east at that time.

Climbers will spend a couple of weeks in Base Camp, acclimatizing to the altitude. During that time, Sherpas and some expedition climbers will set up ropes and ladders in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall. Seracs, crevasses and shifting blocks of ice make the icefall one of the most dangerous sections of the route. Many climbers and Sherpas have been killed in this section. To reduce the hazard, climbers will usually begin their ascent well before dawn, when the freezing temperatures glue ice blocks in place. Above the icefall is Camp I at 6,065 metres (19,900 ft).

From Camp I, climbers make their way up the Western Cwm to the base of the Lhotse face, where Camp II or Advanced Base Camp (ABC) is established at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). The Western Cwm is a flat, gently rising glacial valley, marked by huge lateral crevasses in the centre, which prevent direct access to the upper reaches of the Cwm. Climbers are forced to cross on the far right near the base of Nuptse to a small passageway known as the "Nuptse corner". The Western Cwm is also called the "Valley of Silence" as the topography of the area generally cuts off wind from the climbing route. The high altitude and a clear, windless day can make the Western Cwm unbearably hot for climbers.^[35]

From ABC, climbers ascend the Lhotse face on fixed ropes up to Camp III, located on a small ledge at 7,470 m (24,500 ft). From there, it is another 500 metres to Camp IV on the South Col at 7,920 m (26,000 ft). From Camp III to Camp IV, climbers are faced with two additional challenges: The Geneva Spur and The Yellow Band. The Geneva Spur is an anvil shaped rib of black rock named by the 1952 Swiss expedition. Fixed ropes assist climbers in scrambling over this snow covered rock band. The Yellow Band is a section of interlayered marble,phyllite, and semischist, which also requires about 100 metres of rope for traversing it.^[35]

On the South Col, climbers enter the death zone. Climbers typically only have a maximum of two or three days they can endure at this altitude for making summit bids. Clear weather and low winds are critical factors in deciding whether to make a summit attempt. If weather does not cooperate within these short few days, climbers are forced to descend, many all the way back down to Base Camp.

A view of Everest southeast ridge base camp. The Khumbu Icefall can be seen in the left. In the center are the remnants of a helicopter that crashed in 2003.

From Camp IV, climbers will begin their summit push around midnight with hopes of reaching the summit (still another 1,000 metres above) within 10 to 12 hours. Climbers will first reach "The Balcony" at 8,400 m (27,600 ft), a small platform where they can rest and gaze at peaks to the south and east in the early light of dawn. Continuing up the ridge, climbers are then faced with a series of imposing rock steps which usually forces them to the east into waist-deep snow, a serious avalanche hazard. At 8,750 m (28,700 ft), a small table-sized dome of ice and snow marks the South Summit.^[35]

From the South Summit, climbers follow the knife-edge southeast ridge along what is known as the "Cornice traverse", where snow clings to intermittent rock. This is the most exposed section of the climb as a misstep to the left would send one 2,400 m (8,000 ft) down the southwest face, while to the immediate right is the 3,050 m (10,000 ft) Kangshung face. At the end of this traverse is an imposing 12 m (40 ft) rock wall called the "Hillary Step" at 8,760 m (28,740 ft).^[35]

Hillary and Tenzing were the first climbers to ascend this step and they did it with primitive ice climbing equipment and ropes. Nowadays, climbers will ascend this step using fixed ropes previously set up by Sherpas. Once above the step, it is a comparatively easy climb to the top on moderately angled snow slopes–though the exposure on the ridge is extreme, especially while traversing large cornices of snow. With increasing numbers of people climbing the mountain in recent years, the Step has frequently become a bottleneck, with climbers forced to wait significant amounts of time for their turn on the ropes, leading to problems in getting climbers efficiently up and down the mountain. After the Hillary Step, climbers also must traverse a loose and rocky section that has a large entanglement of fixed ropes that can be troublesome in bad weather. Climbers will typically spend less than a half-hour at the summit, to allow time to descend to Camp IV before darkness sets in, afternoon weather becomes a serious problem, or supplemental oxygen tanks run out.

Northeast ridge

Mount Everest north face from Rongbukin Tibet

The northeast ridge route begins from the north side of Everest in Tibet. Expeditions trek to theRongbuk Glacier, setting up Base Camp at 5,180 m (16,990 ft) on a gravel plain just below the glacier. To reach Camp II, climbers ascend the medial moraine of the east Rongbuk Glacier up to the base of Changtse at around 6,100 m (20,000 ft). Camp III (ABC – Advanced Base Camp) is situated below the North Col at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). To reach Camp IV on the north col, climbers ascend the glacier to the foot of the col where fixed ropes are used to reach the North Col at 7,010 m (23,000 ft). From the North Col, climbers ascend the rocky north ridge to set up Camp V at around 7,775 m (25,500 ft). The route crosses the North Face in a diagonal climb to the base of the Yellow Band reaching the site of Camp VI at 8,230 m (27,000 ft). From Camp VI, climbers will make their final summit push. Climbers face a treacherous traverse from the base of the First Step: 27,890 feet (8,500 m) – 28,000 feet (8,500 m), to the crux of the climb, the Second Step: 28,140 feet (8,580 m) – 28,300 feet. (The Second Step includes a climbing aid called the "Chinese ladder", a metal ladder placed semi-permanently in 1975 by a party of Chinese climbers. It has been almost continuously in place since, and ladders have been used by virtually all climbers on the route.) Once above the Second Step the inconsequential Third Step is clambered over: 28,510 feet (8,690 m) – 28,870 feet (8,800 m). Once above these steps, the summit pyramid is climbed by a snow slope of 50 degrees, to the final summit ridge along which the top is reached.^[36]

See also: the Three Steps

Ascents

Main article: Timeline of climbing Mount Everest

Early expeditions

Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet with the north side of Everest in the background.

In 1885, Clinton Thomas Dent, president of the Alpine Club, suggested that climbing Mount Everest was possible in his book Above the Snow Line.^[37]

The northern approach to the mountain was discovered by George Mallory on the first expedition in 1921. It was an exploratory expedition not equipped for a serious attempt to climb the mountain. With Mallory leading (and thus becoming the first European to set foot on Everest's flanks) they climbed the North Col 7,007 metres (22,989 ft). From there, Mallory espied a route to the top, but the party was unprepared for the great task of climbing any further and descended.

The British returned for a 1922 expedition. George Finch ("The other George") climbed using oxygen for the first time. He ascended at a remarkable speed—950 feet (290 m) per hour, and reached an altitude of 8,320 m (27,300 ft), the first time a human climbed higher than 8,000m. This feat was entirely lost on the British climbing establishment—except for its "unsporting" nature. Mallory and Col. Felix Norton made a second unsuccessful attempt. Mallory was faulted for leading a group down from the North Col which got caught in an avalanche. Mallory was pulled down too, but seven native porters were killed.

The next Expedition was in 1924. The initial attempt by Mallory and Bruce was aborted when weather conditions precluded the establishment of Camp VI. The next attempt was that of Norton and Somervell, who climbed without oxygen and in perfect weather, traversing the North Face into the Great Couloir. Norton managed to reach 8,558 metres (28,077 ft), though he ascended only 100 feet (30 m) or so in the last hour. Mallory rustled up oxygen equipment for a last-ditch effort. He chose young Andrew Irvine as his partner.

On 8 June 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made an attempt on the summit via the North Col/North Ridge/Northeast Ridge route from which they never returned. On 1 May 1999, the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found Mallory's body on the North Face in a snow basin below and to the west of the traditional site of Camp VI. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community whether one or both of them reached the summit 29 years before the confirmed ascent (and of course, safe descent) of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

In 1933, Lady Houston, a British millionaire ex-showgirl, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933, which saw a formation of aircraft led by the Marquess of Clydesdale fly over the summit in an effort to deploy the British Union Flag at the top.^[38]^[39]^[40]

Early expeditions—such as Bruce's in the 1920s and Hugh Ruttledge's two unsuccessful attempts in 1933 and 1936—tried to make an ascent of the mountain from Tibet, via the north face. Access was closed from the north to western expeditions in 1950, after the Chinese asserted control over Tibet. In 1950, Bill Tilman and a small party which included Charles Houston, Oscar Houston and Betsy Cowles undertook an exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal along the route which has now become the standard approach to Everest from the south.^[41]

The Swiss expedition of 1952, led by Edouard Wyss-Dunant, was granted permission to attempt a climb from Nepal. The expedition established a route through the Khumbu ice fall and ascended to the South Col at an elevation of 7,986 metres (26,201 ft). No attempt at an ascent of Everest was ever under consideration in this case.^[42] Raymond Lambert and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were able to reach a height of about 8,595 metres (28,199 ft) on the southeast ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. Tenzing's experience was useful when he was hired to be part of the British expedition in 1953.^[43]

First successful ascent by Tenzing and Hillary

Everest 3D

In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit. The first pair (Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans) came within 100 m (300 feet) of the summit on 26 May 1953, but turned back after running into oxygen problems. As planned, their work in route finding and breaking trail and their caches of extra oxygen were of great aid to the following pair. Two days later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its second climbing pair, the New ZealanderEdmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali sherpa climber. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. local time on 29 May 1953 via the South Col Route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first.^[44] They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.

News of the expedition's success reached London on the morning of QueenElizabeth II's coronation, June 2. Returning to Kathmandu a few days later, Hunt (a Briton) and Hillary (a New Zealander) discovered that they had been promptlyknighted in the Order of the British Empire, a KBE, for the ascent. Tenzing (a subject of the King of Nepal) was granted the George Medal by the UK. Hunt was ultimately made a life peer in Britain, while Hillary became a founding member of theOrder of New Zealand. Hillary and Tenzing are also nationally recognized in Nepal, where annual ceremonies in schools and offices celebrate their accomplishment.^[45]

First ascents without supplemental oxygen and first solo ascent

On 8 May 1978, Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) made the first ascent without supplemental oxygen, using the southeast ridge route.^[30]^[46] On 20 August 1980, Messner reached the summit of the mountain solo for the first time, without supplementary oxygen or support, on the more difficult Northwest route via the North Col to the North Face and the Great Couloir. He climbed for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6,500 metres (21,300 ft).^[30]

First winter ascent

In 1980, a team from Poland led by Andrzej Zawada, Leszek Cichy, and Krzysztof Wielicki became the first to reach the summit during the winter season.

The first woman to get to the top was Junko Tabei, in 1975, after being rescued from an avalanche by her sherpa.

1996 disaster

Main article: 1996 Mount Everest disaster

During the 1996 season, 15 people died while climbing on Mount Everest, making it the deadliest single year in the mountain's history. Eight of them died on 11 May alone. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of climbing Mount Everest.

Journalist Jon Krakauer, on assignment from Outside magazine, was in one of the affected parties, and afterwards published the bestsellerInto Thin Air, which related his experience. Anatoli Boukreev, a guide who felt impugned by Krakauer's book, co-authored a rebuttal book called The Climb. The dispute sparked a debate within the climbing community. In May 2004, Kent Moore, a physicist, and John L. Semple, a surgeon, both researchers from the University of Toronto, told New Scientist magazine that an analysis of weather conditions on 11 May suggested that freak weather caused oxygen levels to plunge approximately 14%.^[47]^[48]

The storm's impact on climbers on the North Ridge of Mount Everest, where several climbers also died, was detailed in a first-hand account by British filmmaker and writer Matt Dickinson in his book The Other Side of Everest. 16-year-old Mark Pfetzer was on the climb and wrote about it in his account, Within Reach: My Everest Story.

2005: Helicopter landing

On 14 May 2005, pilot Didier Delsalle of France landed a Eurocopter AS 350 B3 helicopter on the summit of Mount Everest^[49] (without any witness) and took off after about four minutes. (His rotors were continually engaged, constituting a "hover landing", and avoiding the risks of relying on the snow to support the aircraft.) He thereby set rotorcraft world records, for highest of both landing (de facto) and take-off (formally).^[50]

Delsalle had also performed, two days earlier, a take-off from the South Col; some press reports suggested that the report of the summit landing was a misunderstanding of a South Col landing.^[51]

2006: David Sharp controversy

Apa Sherpa has reached the summit 21 times

Min Bahadur Sherchan was nearly 77 years old, when he reached the top on his first attempt

Double-amputee climber Mark Inglis revealed in an interview with the press on 23 May 2006,^[52] that his climbing party, and many others, had passed a distressed climber, David Sharp, on 15 May, sheltering under a rock overhang 450 metres (1,480 ft) below the summit, without attempting a rescue. The revelation sparked wide debate on climbing ethics, especially as applied to Everest. The climbers who left him said that the rescue efforts would have been useless and only have caused more deaths. Much of this controversy was captured by the Discovery Channel while filming the television program Everest: Beyond the Limit. A crucial decision affecting the fate of Sharp is shown in the program, where an early returning climber (Max Chaya) is descending and radios to his base camp manager (Russell Brice) that he has found a climber in distress. He is unable to identify Sharp, who had chosen to climb solo without any support and so did not identify himself to other climbers. The base camp manager assumes that Sharp is part of a group that has abandoned him, and informs his climber that there is no chance of him being able to help Sharp. As Sharp's condition deteriorates through the day and other descending climbers pass him, his opportunities for rescue diminish: his legs and feet curl from frostbite, preventing him from walking; the later descending climbers are lower on oxygen and lack the strength to offer aid; time runs out for any Sherpas to return and rescue him. Most importantly, Sharp's decision to forgo all support left him with no margin for recovery.

As this debate raged, on 26 May, Australian climber Lincoln Hall was found alive, after being declared dead the day before. He was found by a party of four climbers (Dan Mazur, Andrew Brash, Myles Osborne and Jangbu Sherpa) who, giving up their own summit attempt, stayed with Hall and descended with him and a party of 11 Sherpas sent up to carry him down. Hall later fully recovered. Similar actions have been recorded since, including on 21 May 2007, when Canadian climber Meagan McGrath initiated the successful high-altitude rescue of Nepali Usha Bista.

Various records

The youngest person to climb Mount Everest was 13-year-old Jordan Romero in May 2010.^[53] Apa Sherpa holds the record for reaching the summit more times than any other person (21 times as of May 2011).

The fastest ascent via the northeast ridge was accomplished in 2007 by Austrian climber Christian Stangl, who took 16h 42min for the 10 km distance from Camp III to the summit, just barely beating Italian Hans Kammerlander's record of 17 hours, accomplished in 1996. Both men climbed alone and without supplementary oxygen. The fastest oxygen-supported ascent over the southeast ridge was Nepalese Pemba Dorjie Sherpa's 2004 climb, taking 8h 10min for the 17-km route. The fastest ascent without supplementary oxygen via the southeast ridge was accomplished by French Marc Batard, who reached the summit in 22h 30min in 1988.^[54]

The first descent by paraglider was by Jean-Marc Boivin on 26 September 1988,^[55] and the first descent by ski was in 2000 by Davo Karnicar.^[56]

The oldest climber to reach Mount Everest's summit is 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan, on 25 May 2008 from the Nepalese side. Sherchan beat the previous record set in 2007 by 71-year-old Katsusuke Yanagisawa.^[57] The oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest from both sides (Nepal and Tibet) of the mountain is 60-year-old Julio Bird, a Puerto Rican cardiologist who reached the summit of Mount Everest from the north side on May 17, 2010.^[58]

The first self-propelled ascent of Mount Everest, the highest point on the earth's surface, starting from the lowest point on the earth's surface – the Dead Sea – was by Phil and Pauline Sanderson in 2006.^[59]^[60]

Death zone

Main article: Death zone

At the higher regions of Mount Everest, climbers seeking the summit typically spend substantial time within the "death zone" (altitudes higher than 8,000 m/26,246 ft), and face significant challenges to survival. Temperatures can dip to very low levels, resulting in frostbite of any body part exposed to the air. Since temperatures are so low, snow is well-frozen in certain areas and death or injury by slipping and falling can occur. High winds at these altitudes on Everest are also a potential threat to climbers.

Another significant threat to climbers is low atmospheric pressure. The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is about a third of sea level pressure, resulting in the availability of only about a third as much oxygen to breathe.^[61]

In May 2007, the Caudwell Xtreme Everest undertook a medical study of oxygen levels in human blood at extreme altitude. Over 200 volunteers climbed to Everest Base Camp where various medical tests were performed to examine blood oxygen levels. A small team also performed tests on the way to the summit.^[62]

Even at base camp, the low partial pressure of oxygen had direct effect on blood oxygen saturation levels. At sea level, blood oxygen saturation is generally 98% to 99%. At base camp, blood saturation fell to between 85% and 87%. Blood samples taken at the summit indicated very low oxygen levels in the blood. A side effect of low blood oxygen is a vastly increased breathing rate, often 80–90 breaths per minute as opposed to a more typical 20–30. Exhaustion can occur merely attempting to breathe.^[63]

Lack of oxygen, exhaustion, extreme cold, and climbing hazards all contribute to the death toll. An injured person who cannot walk is in serious trouble, since rescue by helicopter is generally impractical and carrying the person off the mountain is very risky. People who die during the climb are typically left behind. About 150 bodies have never been recovered. It is not uncommon to find corpses near the standard climbing routes.^[64]

Using bottled oxygen

Northern panoramic view of Everest fromTibetan Plateau

Most expeditions use oxygen masks and tanks above 8,000 m (26,246 ft).^[65] Everest can be climbed without supplementary oxygen, but only by the most accomplished mountaineers and at increased risk. Humans do not think clearly with low oxygen, and the combination of extremeweather, low temperatures, and steep slopes often require quick, accurate decisions.

The use of bottled oxygen to ascend Mount Everest has been controversial. It was first used in 1922 by George Finch ("the other George") and Geoffrey Bruce who climbed up to 25,500 ft (7,800 m) at a spectacular speed of 1000 vertical feet per hour. Pinned down by a fierce storm, they escaped death by breathing oxygen from a jury-rigged set-up during the night. The next day they climbed to 26,500 ft (8,100 m) at 900 vf/h--nearly three times as fast as non-oxygen users. Yet the use of oxygen was considered so unsportsmanlike that none of the rest of the Alpine world recognized this high ascent rate.^{[citation needed]} George Mallory himself described the use of such oxygen as unsportsmanlike, but he later concluded that it would be impossible for him to summit without it and consequently used it in his ill-fated attempt in 1924.^[66]When Tenzing and Hillary made the first successful summit in 1953, they used bottled oxygen. For the next twenty-five years, bottled oxygen was considered standard for any successful summit.

Reinhold Messner was the first climber to break the bottled oxygen tradition and in 1978, with Peter Habeler, made the first successful climb without it. Although critics alleged that he sucked mini-bottles of oxygen – a claim that Messner denied – Messner silenced them when he summited the mountain solo, without supplemental oxygen or any porters or climbing partners, on the more difficult northwest route, in 1980. Once the climbing community was satisfied that the mountain could be climbed without supplemental oxygen, many purists then took the next logical step of insisting that's how it should be climbed.^[67]

The aftermath of the 1996 disaster further intensified the debate. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air (1997) expressed the author's personal criticisms of the use of bottled oxygen. Krakauer wrote that the use of bottled oxygen allowed otherwise unqualified climbers to attempt to summit, leading to dangerous situations and more deaths. The 10–11 May 1996 disaster was partially caused by the sheer number of climbers (34 on that day) attempting to ascend, causing bottlenecks at the Hillary Step and delaying many climbers, most of whom summitted after the usual 2 p.m. turnaround time. He proposed banning bottled oxygen except for emergency cases, arguing that this would both decrease the growing pollution on Everest—many bottles have accumulated on its slopes—and keep marginally qualified climbers off the mountain.

The 1996 disaster also introduced the issue of the guide's role in using bottled oxygen.^[68] Guide Anatoli Boukreev's decision not to use bottled oxygen was sharply criticized by Jon Krakauer. Boukreev's supporters (who include G. Weston DeWalt, who co-wrote The Climb) state that using bottled oxygen gives a false sense of security.^[69] Krakauer and his supporters point out that, without bottled oxygen, Boukreev could not directly help his clients descend.^[70] They state that Boukreev said that he was going down with client Martin Adams,^[70]but just below the South Summit, Boukreev determines that Adams was doing fine on the descent and so descends at a faster pace, leaving Adams behind. Adams states in The Climb: "For me, it was business as usual, Anatoli's going by, and I had no problems with that."^[71]

2004 photo mosaic the Himalayas with Makalu and Mount Everest from the International Space Station, Expedition 8.

Thefts and other crimes

Some climbers have reported life-threatening thefts from supply caches. Vitor Negrete, the first Brazilian to climb Everest without oxygen and part of David Sharp's party, died during his descent, and theft from his high-altitude camp may have contributed.^[72]

In addition to theft, the 2008 book High Crimes by Michael Kodas describes unethical guides and Sherpas, prostitution and gambling at the Tibet Base Camp, fraud related to the sale of oxygen bottles, and climbers collecting donations under the pretense of removing trash from the mountain.^[73]^[74]

Flora and fauna

Euophrys omnisuperstes, a minute black jumping spider, has been found at elevations as high as 6,700 metres (22,000 ft), possibly making it the highest confirmed non-microscopic permanent resident on Earth. It lurks in crevices and may feed on frozen insects that have been blown there by the wind. It should be noted that there is a high likelihood of microscopic life at even higher altitudes.^[75] Birds, such as the Bar-headed Goose, have been seen flying at the higher altitudes of the mountain, while others, such as the Chough, have been spotted as high as the South Col (7,920 m)^[76] scavenging on food, or even corpses, left by prior climbing expeditions.

Geology

The last rays of sunlight on Mount Everest on 5 May 2007

Geologists have subdivided the rocks comprising Mount Everest into three units called "formations".^[77]^[78] Each formation is separated from the other by low-anglefaults, called “detachments”, along which they have been thrust over each other. From the summit of Mount Everest to its base these rock units are the Qomolangma Formation, the North Col Formation, and the Rongbuk Formation.

From its summit to the top of the Yellow Band, about 8,600 m (28,000 ft) above sea level, the top of Mount Everest consists of the Qomolangma Formation, which has also been designated as either the Everest Formation or Jolmo Lungama Formation. It consists of grayish to dark gray or white, parallel laminated and bedded,Ordovician limestone inter layered with subordinate beds of recrystallized dolomitewith argillaceous laminae and siltstone. Gansser first reported finding microscopic fragments of crinoids in this limestone.^[79] Later petrographic analysis of samples of the limestone from near the summit revealed them to be composed of carbonate pellets and finely fragmented remains of trilobites, crinoids, and ostracods. Other samples were so badly sheared and recrystallized that their original constituents could not be determined. A thick, white-weathering thrombolite bed that is 60 m (200 ft) thick comprises the foot of the "Third Step," and base of the summit pyramid of Everest. This bed, which crops out starting about 70 m (300 ft) below the summit of Mount Everest, consists of sediments trapped, bound, and cemented by the biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria, in shallow marine waters. The Qomolangma Formation is broken up by several high-angle faults that terminate at the low angle thrust fault, the Qomolangma Detachment. This detachment separates it from the underlying Yellow Band. The lower five metres of the Qomolangma Formation overlying this detachment are very highly deformed.^[77]^[78]^[80]

The bulk of Mount Everest, between 7,000 and 8,600 m (23,000 and 28,200 ft), consists of the North Col Formation, of which the Yellow Band forms its upper part between 8,200 to 8,600 m (26,900 to 28,200 ft). The Yellow Band consists of intercalated beds of Middle Cambriandiopside-epidote-bearing marble, which weathers a distinctive yellowish brown, and muscovite-biotite phyllite and semischist. Petrographic analysis of marble collected from about 8,300 m (27,200 ft) found it to consist as much as five percent of the ghosts of recrystallized crinoid ossicles. The upper five metres of the Yellow Band lying adjacent to the Qomolangma Detachment is badly deformed. A 5–40 cm (2–16 in) thick fault breccia separates it from the overlying Qomolangma Formation.^[77]^[78]^[80]

The remainder of the North Col Formation, exposed between 7,000 to 8,200 m (23,000 to 26,900 ft) on Mount Everest, consists of interlayered and deformed schist, phyllite, and minor marble. Between 7,600 and 8,200 m (24,900 and 26,900 ft), the North Col Formation consists chiefly of biotite-quartz phyllite and chlorite-biotite phyllite intercalated with minor amounts of biotite-sericite-quartz schist. Between 7,000 and 7,600 m (23,000 and 24,900 ft), the lower part of the North Col Formation consists of biotite-quartz schist intercalated with epidote-quartz schist, biotite-calcite-quartz schist, and thin layers of quartzose marble. These metamorphic rocks appear to be the result of the metamorphism of Middle to Early Cambrian deep sea flysch composed of interbedded, mudstone, shale, clayey sandstone, calcareous sandstone, graywacke, and sandy limestone. The base of the North Col Formation is a regional thrust fault called the "Lhotse detachment".^[77]^[78]^[80]

Below 7,000 m (23,000 ft), the Rongbuk Formation underlies the North Col Formation and forms the base of Mount Everest. It consists of sillminite-K-feldspar grade schist and gneiss intruded by numerous sills and dikes of leucogranite ranging in thickness from 1 cm to 1,500 m (0.4 in to 4,900 ft).^[78]^[81]

Environment

Besides rubbish, the degradation on Himalayan peaks because of global warming and other issues concerned Apa Sherpa. "When I first started climbing Everest, the trail to the summit was covered with ice and snow. But it is now dotted with bare rocks. The melting ice has also exposed deep crevasses, making expeditions more dangerous."^[82]

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains (

/ˌhɪməˈleɪ.ə/ or /hɪˈmɑːləjə/;^[1]^[2]Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas orHimalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from theTibetan Plateau. By extension, it is also the name of a massive mountain system that includes the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and other, lesser, ranges that extend out from thePamir Knot.

Together, the Himalayan mountain system is the planet's highest, and home to the world's highest peaks, the Eight-thousanders, which include Mount Everest and K2. To comprehend the enormous scale of this mountain range, consider that Aconcagua, in the Andes, at 6,962 metres (22,841 ft) is the highest peak outside Asia, whereas the Himalayan system includesover 100 mountains exceeding 7,200 m (23,600 ft).^[3]

The main Himalayan range runs west to east, from the Indus river valley to the Brahmaputra river valley, forming an arc 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long, which varies in width from 400 km (250 mi) in the western Kashmir-Xinjiang region to 150 km (93 mi) in the easternTibet-Arunachal Pradesh region. The range consists of three coextensive sub-ranges, with the northernmost, and highest, known as the Great or Inner Himalayas.

Some of the world's major river systems arise in the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 3 billion people (almost half of Earth's population) in 18 countries. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia; many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

Geologically, the origin of the Himalayas is the impact of the Indian tectonic plate traveling northward at 15 cm per year to impact the Eurasian continent, about 40-50 million years ago. The formation of the Himalayan arc resulted since the lighter rock of the seabeds of that time were easily uplifted into mountains. An often-cited fact used to illustrate this process is that the summit of Mount Everest is made of marine limestone.^[

Ecology

Everest, the highest peak of the Himalayas (left) and Lhotse(right), no. 4

K2, on the border ofPakistan and China

Kangchenjunga, on the border of Nepal and Sikkim, India

Nanda Devi, the highest peak within India

The flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the front of the range. This diversity of climate, altitude, rainfall and soil conditions generates a variety of distinct plant and animal communities. In fact the extrema of high altitude (low atmospheric pressure) and very cold at the most elevated reaches allow extremophile organisms to survive.^[5]

Lowland forests

On the Indo-Gangetic plain at the base of the mountains, an alluvial plain drained by the Indus and Ganges-Brahmaputra river systems, vegetation varies from west to east with rainfall. The xeric Northwestern thorn scrub forests occupy the plains of Pakistan and the Indian Punjab. Further east lie the Upper Gangetic plains moist deciduous forests of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and Lower Gangetic plains moist deciduous forests of Bihar and West Bengal. These are monsoon forests, with drought-deciduous trees that lose their leaves during the dry season. The moister Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests occupy the plains of Assam.

The Terai belt

Above the alluvial plain lies the Terai strip, a seasonally marshy zone of sand and clay soils. The Terai has higher rainfall than the plains, and the downward-rushing rivers of the Himalaya slow down and spread out in the flatter Terai zone, depositing fertile silt during the monsoon season and receding in the dry season. The Terai has a high water table due to groundwater percolating down from the adjacent zone. The central part of the Terai belt is occupied by the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands, a mosaic of grasslands, savannas, deciduous and evergreen forests that includes some of the world's tallest grasslands. The grasslands of the Terai belt are home to the Indian rhinoceros(Rhinoceros unicornis).

Bhabhar belt

Above the Terai belt is an upland zone known as the Bhabhar, a zone of porous and rocky soils made up of debris washed down from the higher ranges. The Bhabhar and the lower Shiwalik ranges have a subtropical climate. The Himalayan subtropical pine forests occupy the western end of the subtropical belt, with forests dominated by Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii). The central part of the range is home to theHimalayan subtropical broadleaf forests, dominated by the sal tree (Shorea robusta). They are at the foot of the Himalayas where the Himalayan streams descend on to the plains.

Shiwalik Hills

Also called Churia or Margalla Hills, Sivalik Hills is an intermittent outermost range of foothills extending across the Himalayan region throughPakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan. This region consists of many sub-ranges. Summits are generally 600 to 1,200 meters (2,000 to 3,900 ft). Steeper southern slopes form along a fault zone called Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT); northern slopes are gentler. Permeable conglomerates and other rocks allow rainwater to percolate downslope into the Bhabhar and Terai, supporting only scrubby forests upslope. The Himalayan subtropical pine and broadleaf forests continue here.

Inner Terai or Dun Valleys

The Inner Terai valleys are open valleys north of Shiwalik Hills or nestled between Shiwalik subranges. Examples include Dehra Dun in India and Chitwan in Nepal. Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests grow here.

Lesser Himalaya

Himalayas from Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh.

Also called Mahabharat Range, the Lesser Himalayas is a prominent range 2,000 to 3,000 meters (6,600 to 9,800 ft) high formed along the Main Boundary Thrust fault zone, with a steep southern face and gentler northern slopes. They are nearly continuous except for river gorges, where rivers from to the north gather like candelabra in a handful of places to break through the range.

At these elevations and above the biogeography of the Himalayas is generally divided by the Kali Gandaki Gorge in central Nepal, one of the deepest canyons in the world.

At the middle elevations of the range, the subtropical forests yield to a belt of temperate broadleaf and mixed forests growing between 1,500 and 3,000 meters (4,900 and 9,800 ft), with the western Himalayan broadleaf forests to the west of the Gandaki River, and theeastern Himalayan broadleaf forests to the east. The western broadleaf forests stretch from the Kashmir Valley, across Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and through western Nepal. The eastern broadleaf forests stretch across eastern Nepal, through Sikkim and Bhutan, and through much of Arunachal Pradesh.

Midlands

This 'hilly' region (Pahad), averaging about 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) immediately north of the Mahabharat Range, rises over about 100 kilometres (330,000 ft) to about 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) at the Main Central Thrust fault zone, where the Greater Himalaya begin.

Above the broadleaf forests, between 3,000 and 4,000 meters (9,800 and 13,000 ft), are temperate coniferous forests, likewise split by the Gandaki River. The western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests are found below treeline in northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and western Nepal. The eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests are found in eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh. Along the border between Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, the eastern subalpine conifer forests mix with thenortheastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests. East Himalayan Fir, West Himalayan Spruce, and Himalayan Hemlock are some important trees of these forests. Rhododendrons are exceptionally diverse here, with over 60 species recorded in the northeastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests.

Greater Himalaya

North of the Main Central Thrust, the highest ranges rise abruptly as much as 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) into the realm of perpetual snow and ice. As the Himalayan system becomes wider from east to west, the number of parallel high ranges increases. For example, the Kagmara and Kanjiroba ranges both reach well over 6,000 meters (20,000 ft) north of the Dhaulagiri Himalaya in central Nepal.

Montane grasslands and shrublands grow above treeline. The northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows are found in the high elevations of northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh. To the east, the western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadowscover extensive areas along the Tibetan border with Uttarakhand and western Nepal. The eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows grow above the eastern and northeastern subalpine conifer forests, along the Tibetan border with eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh. The shrublands are composed of junipers as well as a wide variety of rhododendrons. They also possess a remarkable variety of wildflowers: Valley of Flowers National Park in the western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows contains hundreds of species. The upper limit of the grasslands increases from west to east, rising from 3,500 meters (11,500 ft) to 5,500 meters (18,000 ft). The grasslands are the summer habitat of the endangered snow leopard (Uncia uncia).

Trans-Himalaya

The watershed between rivers flowing south into the Ganges or Indus and rivers flowing north into the Brahmaputra or mainstem Indus that flow around the ends of the entire range often follows somewhat lower, less rugged mountains tens of kilometers north of the highest ranges. South-flowing rivers form valleys in this region, often semi-arid due to rainshadow effects. These valleys hold some of the highest permanent villages on earth.

Origins and growth

The 6,000 km plus journey of the India landmass (Indian Plate) before its collision with Asia (Eurasian Plate) about 40 to 50 million years ago

Main article: Geology of the Himalaya

The Himalayas are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consist mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundarybetween the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. This is referred to as a fold mountain.

The collision began in the Upper Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago, when the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate, moving at about 15 cm per year, collided with the Eurasian Plate. About 50 million years ago, this fast moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed theTethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since these sediments were light, they crumpled into mountain ranges rather than sinking to the floor. The Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan plateau, which forces the plateau to move upwards. TheArakan Yoma highlands in Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengalwere also formed as a result of this collision.

The Indo-Australian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year, and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia. About 20 mm per year of the India-Asia convergence is absorbed by thrusting along the Himalaya southern front. This leads to the Himalayas rising by about 5 mm per year, making them geologically active. The movement of the Indian plate into the Asian plate also makes this region seismically active, leading to earthquakes from time to time.

Glaciers and river systems

The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000 glaciers, which store about 12,000 km³ of freshwater. The 70 km-long Siachen Glacier at the India-Pakistan border is the second longest glacier in the world outside the polar region. Some of the other more famous glaciers include theGangotri and Yamunotri (Uttarakhand), Nubra, Biafo and Baltoro (Karakoram region), Zemu(Sikkim) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount Everest region).

The higher regions of the Himalayas are snowbound throughout the year, in spite of their proximity to the tropics, and they form the sources for several large perennial rivers, most of which combine into two large river systems:

The western rivers combine into the Indus Basin, of which the Indus River is the largest. The Indus begins in Tibet at the confluence of Sengge and Gar rivers and flows southwest through India and then through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. It is fed by the Jhelum, theChenab, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej rivers, among others.

Most of the other Himalayan rivers drain the Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin. Its two main rivers are the Ganges and the Brahmaputra and theYamuna, among other tributaries. The Brahmaputra originates as the Yarlung Tsangpo River in western Tibet, and flows east through Tibetand west through the plains of Assam. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra meet in Bangladesh, and drain into the Bay of Bengal through the world's largest river delta.^[6]

The eastern-most Himalayan rivers feed the Ayeyarwady River, which originates in eastern Tibet and flows south through Myanmar to drain into the Andaman Sea.

The Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and the Huang He (Yellow River) all originate from parts of the Tibetan plateau that are geologically distinct from the Himalaya mountains, and are therefore not considered true Himalayan rivers. Some geologists refer to all the rivers collectively as the circum-Himalayan rivers.^[7] In recent years, scientists have monitored a notable increase in the rate of glacier retreat across the region as a result of global climate change.^[8] Although the effect of this will not be known for many years, it potentially could mean disaster for the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the glaciers to feed the rivers of northern India during the dry seasons.^[9]

Glaciers near K2 in the Xinjiang, China andPakistan.
This image shows the termini of the glaciers in the Bhutan-Himalaya. Glacial lakes have been forming rapidly on the surface of the debris-covered glaciers in this region during the last few decades.
Snow-capped peaks and ridges of the eastern Himalaya Mountains create an irregular white-on-red patchwork between major rivers in south-western China.

Lakes

A high Himalayan lake at an altitude of around 5,000 metres Sikkim, India

The Himalaya region is dotted with hundreds of lakes. Most lakes are found at altitudes of less than 5,000 m, with the size of the lakes diminishing with altitude. Pangong Tso, which is spread across the border between India and China, and Yamdrok Tso, located in central Tibet, are amongst the largest with surface areas of 700 km², and 638 km², respectively. Other notable lakes include Gurudogmar lake in North Sikkim, Tsongmo lake, near the Indo-China border in Sikkim, and Tilicho lake in Nepal in the Annapurna massif.

The mountain lakes are known to geographers as tarns if they are caused by glacial activity. Tarns are found mostly in the upper reaches of the Himalaya, above 5,500 metres.^[10]

Impact on climate

Pass in Ladakh with the typical Buddhist prayer flags and chorten

The Himalayas have a profound effect on the climate of the Indian subcontinent and theTibetan plateau. They prevent frigid, dry Arctic winds blowing south into the subcontinent, which keeps South Asia much warmer than corresponding temperate regions in the other continents. It also forms a barrier for the monsoon winds, keeping them from traveling northwards, and causing heavy rainfall in the Terai region. The Himalayas are also believed to play an important part in the formation of Central Asian deserts, such as the Taklamakan andGobi.

The mountain ranges also prevent western winter disturbances in Iran from traveling further, resulting in snow in Kashmir and rainfall for parts of Punjab and northern India. Despite being a barrier to the cold, northernly winter winds, the Brahmaputra valley receives part of the frigid winds, thus lowering the temperature in the North East India and Bangladesh.

The Himalayas, which are often called "The Roof of the World", contain the greatest area of glaciers and permafrost outside of the poles. Ten of Asia’s largest rivers flow from here, and more than a billion people’s livelihoods depend on them. To complicate matters, temperatures are rising more rapidly here than the global average. In Nepal, the temperature has risen 0.6 degree C over the last decade, whereas the global warming has been around 0.7 degree C over the last hundred years.^[11]

Mountain passes

The Himalayan range at Yumesongdong inSikkim, in the Yumthang River valley

The rugged terrain makes few routes through the mountains possible. Some of these routes include:

Banihal is an important pass connecting the hill areas of Jammu to the Kashmir Valley.
Zoji La lies between the vale of Kashmir and the Kargil district, and is the only Western entrance to the highlands of Ladakh.
Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, India.
Mohan Pass is the principal pass in the Siwalik Hills, the southern most and geologically youngest foothills running parallel to the main Himalayas in Sikkim.
Kora La at 4,594 metres (15,072 ft) elevation on the Nepal-Tibet border at the upper end ofMustang. The Kali Gandaki Gorge (a graben),^{[citation needed]} transects the main Himalaya and Transhimalayan ranges. Kora La is the lowest pass through both ranges between K2 and Everest, but some 300 metres (980 ft) higher than Nathula and Jelepla passes further east between Sikkim and Tibet.
Arniko Rajmarg/Friendship Highway route from Kathmandu, Nepal crossing into Tibet at Kodari/Zhangmu, to Nyalam, Lalung-La pass (5,050m/16,570'), Tingri, Xêgar, Lakpa La pass (5,250m/17,225'), to Lhatse on the Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra River about 460 road kilometers west of Lhasa.
Gangtok in Sikkim to Lhasa in Tibet, via the Nathula Pass and Jelepla Passes (offshoots of the ancient Silk Road).

Impact on politics and culture

Mountain sheds like these are used by the rural populace as shelter for cattle in summer months as they take them for grazing in higher altitudes.

Some of the world's major rivers, the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong,Salween, Red River (Asia), Xunjiang, Chao Phraya, Irrawaddy River, Amu Darya, Syr Darya,Tarim River and Yellow River, arise in the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 3 billion people (almost half of Earth's population) in Afghanistan, Bangladesh,Bhutan, People's Republic of China, India (almost half of the population of India live within 500 km of the Himalayan range),^{[citation needed]}, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, Tajikistan,Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia andPakistan.

The Himalayas, due to their large size and expanse, have been a natural barrier to the movement of people for tens of thousands of years. In particular, this has prevented intermingling of people from the Indian subcontinent with people from China and Mongolia, causing significantly different languages and customs between these regions. The Himalayas have also hindered trade routes and prevented military expeditions across its expanse. For instance, Genghis Khan could not expand his empire south of the Himalayas into the subcontinent.

Notable peaks of the Himalayan system (includes outlying ranges)

Peak Name	Other names and meaning	Elevation (m)	Elevation (ft)	Rank	First Western ascent	Notes
Everest	Sagarmatha (Nepali), "Head of the World",^[12] Chomolungma (Tibetan), "Goddess mother of the snows"^[13]	8,848	29,035.44	1	1953	East of Kathmandu on Nepal-People's Republic of China (Tibet) border.
K2	Chogo Gangri, Qogir Feng, Mount Godwin Austen, Dapsang	8,611	28,251	2	1954	On border between Xinjiang, PRC andPakistan-administered Kashmir.
Kangchenjunga	Kangchen Dzö-nga, "Five Treasures of the Great Snow"	8,586	28,169	3	1955	On Nepal's far eastern border with Sikkim,India.
Lhotse	"South Peak"	8,516	27,940	4	1956	On Nepal-PRC (Tibet) border. Part of Everest massif.
Makalu	"The Great Black"	8,462	27,765	5	1955	On Nepal-PRC (Tibet) border, east of Mt. Everest.
Cho Oyu	Qowowuyag, "Turquoise Goddess"	8,201	26,905	6	1954	On Nepal-PRC (Tibet) border, west of Mt. Everest.
Dhaulagiri	"White Mountain"	8,167	26,764	7	1960	Central Nepal, west of Kaligandaki River.
Manaslu	Kutang, "Mountain of the Spirit"	8,156	26,758	8	1956	Central Nepal, east of Pokhara.
Nanga Parbat	Diamir, "Naked Mountain"	8,126	26,660	9	1953	Northern Areas of Pakistan. East end of Himalaya, overlooking Indus River.
Annapurna	"Goddess of the Harvests"	8,091	26,545	10	1950	Central Nepal, north of Pokhara.
Gasherbrum I	"Beautiful Mountain"	8,080	26,509	11	1958	Pakistan Karakoram
Broad Peak	Faichan Kangri	8,047	26,401	12	1957	Pakistan Karakoram
Gasherbrum II	–	8,035	26,362	13	1956	Pakistan Karakoram
Shishapangma	Xixiabangma, "Crest Above The Grassy Plains", Gosainthan	8,013	26,289	14	1964	Tibet, PRC, about 10 km north of Nepal border.
Gyachung Kang	unknown	7,952	26,089	15	1964	On Nepal-PRC (Tibet) border. Highest mountain under 8,000 meters.
Gasherbrum IV	–	7,925	26,001	17	1958	Pakistan Karakoram
Masherbrum	unknown	7,821	25,660	22	1960	Pakistan Karakoram
Nanda Devi	"Bliss-giving Goddess"	7,817	25,645	23	1936	Uttarakhand, India. Highest peak entirely within India.
Rakaposhi	"Shining Wall"	7,788	25,551		1958	Pakistan Karakoram
Tirich Mir	"King of Shadows" or "King of Tirich Valley"	7,708	25,289		1950	Pakistan near Chitral. Highest peak in Hindu Kush
Gangkhar Puensum	Gankar Punzum, "Three Mountain Siblings"	7,570	24,836		Unclimbed	Bhutan. World's highest unclimbed peak. Off-limits to mountaineers.
Ismoil Somoni Peak	"Stalin Peak" 1933–1962 "Communism Peak" 1962–1998	7,495	24,590	50	1933	Tajikistan Pamir, highest in former USSR
Machapuchare	"Fish Tail"	6,993	22,943		1957 (short of actual summit.)	In Annapurna range, appearing Matterhorn-like from Pokhara, Nepal. Considered sacred to Lord Shiva, currently off-limits.
Ama Dablam	"Mother And Her Necklace"	6,848	22,467		1961	Considered by some^[who?] to be one of the most beautiful peaks in the Himalayas. InKhumbu region, Nepal.
Kailash	Sanskrit: Kailāsa Parvata, Tibetan:Kang Rinpoche (Precious Snow Peak), Mandarin Chinese:Gāngrénbōqí fēng	6,638	21,778		Unclimbed	Located in western Tibet near sources ofIndus, Brahmaputra, Karnali and Sutlej Rivers. Sacred to Bön, Buddhist, Hindu andJain religions. Circumambulated by manypilgrims.

Panorama

2004 photo mosaic the Himalayas with Makalu and Mount Everest from the International Space Station, Expedition 8.

A panorama of Garhwal Himalaya from Dhanaulti, India

Notable Himalayan mountaineers

George Mallory (1886–1924) Attempted first ascent of Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924; died on North Face along with Sandy Irvine.
Noel Odell (1890–1987) British. First ascent, in 1936, of Nanda Devi, which remained the highest summitted peak until 1950. Last person to see Mallory and Irvine high up on Everest in 1924.
Bill Tilman (1898–1977) British. First ascent of Nanda Devi in 1936. In 1934, first person to penetrate Nanda Devi sanctuary
Frank Smythe (1900–1949) British. Kamet, and early attempt on Kangchenjunga.
Eric Shipton (1907–1977) British. With Bill Tilman, first to penetrate Nanda Devi sanctuary. Discovered route to Everest over Khumbu Glacier.
John Hunt (1910–1998) British. Leader of 1953 expedition of Mount Everest.
Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986) Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer. First man on Everest's summit along with Edmund Hillary.
Maurice Herzog (b. 1919) First person to summit an Eight-thousander, Annapurna, in 1950. Lost all toes and most fingers due to frostbite. Peak not climbed again until 1970.
Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) New Zealand mountaineer and explorer, the first man on Everest's summit along with Tenzing Norgay.
Tom Bourdillon (1924–1956) member of British Everest expeditions 1951, 1952, and 1953, reached 300 feet (90 m) from summit of Everestthree days before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay finally conquered it.
Hermann Buhl (1924–1957) First ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1953 (feat accomplished solo and without oxygen). First ascent of Broad Peak. Died in fall on Chogolisa, body never found.
Willi Unsoeld (1926–1979) United States. First ascent of Everest from West Face and first major traverse of a Himalayan peak, with Tom Hornbein 1963. Daughter Nanda Devi Unsoeld killed during Nanda Devi expedition 1976. Died during avalanche on Mount Rainier, 1979.
Chris Bonington (b. 1934) First ascent of Annapurna (South Face), 4 ascents of Everest.
Nawang Gombu (b. 1936) Indian mountaineer. First person to climb Everest twice: 1963 and 1965.
Jim Whittaker (b. 1936) United States. First American to summit Everest.
Reinhold Messner (born 1944) Italian mountaineer. First man to climb all fourteen mountains over 8000 metres (collectively known as theeight-thousanders).
Jerzy Kukuczka (1948–1989) Polish mountaineer. Ascended all fourteen eight-thousanders faster than anybody else, establishing ten new routes.
Erhard Loretan Swiss climber. Ascended all 14 8000ers, most establishing new routes and/or in alpine style.
Nazir Sabir Pakistani mountaineer. First ascent of two eight thousanders (Broad Peak & Gasherbrum II) in a single attempt.
Swami Sundaranand (b. 1926 India) Climbed 25 mountains with little or no equipment from 1950–1990 to experience open eyed Samādhiusing the ancient techniques of the Himalayan yogis. Noted also for his extensive photography of the Indian Himalayas.^[14]^[15]^[16]
Casey Mackins An English mountaineer who climbed Mt Everest by a new route without oxygen from Tibet in 1984 and then again from Nepal in 1990 during his famous Sea to Summit expedition where he became the first person to climb Everest starting from sea level
José Antonio Delgado Sucre(1965–2006) was the first Venezuelan mountaineer to reach the summit of five eight-thousanders. He was one of the most experienced climbers in Latin America.
Ed Viesturs (b. June 22, 1959) is the first American, and 12th person overall, to summit all fourteen eight-thousanders, and the sixth climber to do it without bottled oxygen.
Pemba Dorjie (born c. 1977) a Sherpa who currently holds the world record for the quickest climb to the summit of Mount Everest from camp. On May 21, 2004 Dorjie set that record, with a total time of 8 hours and 10 minutes.
Apa Sherpa (born c. 1960) On May 11, 2011, successfully summited Mt. Everest for the 21st time, breaking his own record for most successful ascents.
Krzysztof Wielicki (born 1950) Polish mountaineer, the fifth man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders. Three of them (Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga and Lhotse) he ascended as the first man ever to do it in winter.

Religion

The Taktshang Monastery, also known as the "Tiger's Nest"

The Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu & Kashmir,India.

Several places in the Himalaya are of religious significance in Hinduism, Jainism, andBuddhism. In Hinduism, the Himalaya have also been personified as the god Himavat, the father of Shiva's consort, Parvati.

Some of the important religious places in the Himalayas are:-

Haridwar, the place where the river Ganges enters the plains.
Badrinath, a temple dedicated to Vishnu.
Kedarnath, where one of the 12 Jyotirlingas is located.
Gaumukh, the source of the Bhagirathi (and hence, by extension, the Ganges), located a few miles above the town of Gangotri.
Devprayag, where the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi merge to form the Ganges.
Rishikesh, has a temple of Lakshmana.
Mount Kailash, a 6,638 m high peak which is the abode of the Hindu Gods Shiva and Uma and is also venerated by Buddhists. The peak is forbidden to climb, it is so sacred it is circled at its base. Lake Manasarowar lies at the base of Mount Kailash, and is the source of the Brahmaputra.
Amarnath, has a natural Shiva linga of ice which forms for a few weeks each year. Thousands of people visit this cave during these few weeks.
The Vaishno Devi is a popular shrine among Durga devotees.
Sri Hemkund Sahib – Sikh gurudwara where Guru Gobind Singh is claimed to have meditated and achieved enlightenment in a previous incarnation.

In addition to the above, a number of Tibetan Buddhist sites are situated in the Himalaya, including the residence of the Dalai Lama. There were over 6,000 monasteries in Tibet.^[17]The Tibetan Muslims had their own mosques in Lhasa and Shigatse.^[18]

The following mystic entities are associated with the Himalayas:

The Yeti is one of the most famous creatures in cryptozoology. It is a large primate-like creature that is supposed to live in the Himalaya. Most mainstream scientists and experts consider current evidence of the Yeti's existence unpersuasive, and the result of hoaxes, legend or misidentification of mundane creatures.
Shambhala is a mystical city with various legends associated with it, it is one of twenty-four Himalayan hidden realms, or beyul, inVajrayana Buddhism.^[19] While some legends consider it to be a real city where secret Buddhist doctrines are being preserved, other legends believe that the city does not physically exist, and can only be reached in the mental realm.

«Tibet. Himalayas», 1933
Nicholas Roerich

The Himalayas in art, literature, and film

Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, is the signature account of life in 19th century Indiaas seen through British eyes and is based on the exploits of a young boy in the Himalayas and plains of India while engaged in the Great Game.
Shangri-La is a fictional utopia situated somewhere in the Himalayas, based on the legendary Shambhala. It is described in the novel Lost Horizon, written by the British writer James Hilton in 1933.
Tintin in Tibet is one of the series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring the young reporter Tintin investigating a plane crash in the Gosain Than massif in the Himalayas. (1960)
The Hollywood movie Vertical Limit (2000), is set in the K2 peak of the Himalayas, in Pakistan.
Several levels of Tomb Raider II and one level in Tomb Raider: Legend of the Tomb Raider series are situated in the Himalayas.
The Inheritance of Loss written by Kiran Desai is partly set in the Himalaya Mountains.
Rumer Godden's novel Black Narcissus (1939) is about an order of nuns who set up a convent in the Himalayas. The film, released in 1947 by Powell and Pressburger and starring Deborah Kerr, was not actually shot in the Himalayas and relied primarily on matte paintingsto evoke the mountains.
Isabel Allende's novel, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon takes place mostly in the Forbidden Kingdom, a fictional country in the Himalayas.
Dragon Rider is authored by Cornelia Funke and tells the story of an epic journey that a small boy, a brownie, and a dragon take to the "Rim of Heaven," a place in the Himalayas where dragons reside.
Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is an elaborately themed roller coaster located at Disney's Animal Kingdom atWalt Disney World that takes riders through a yeti-guarded Mount Everest.
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War and the interim period before the PRC's People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1950. Heinrich Harrer took part in a German mountaineering expedition to the Himalayas, intending to climb Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest mountain in the world.
Seven Years in Tibet (1997 film) is a 1997 film based on the book of the same name written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer.
Journey of a Red Fridge (2007), directed by Lucian and Natasa Muntean (Lunam Docs), is an award-winning documentary that tells the story of child porters working in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal.
G.I. Joe: The Movie is a 1987 animated feature, in which an ancient civilization known as Cobra-La has taken refuge deep within the Himalayas after the Ice Age, which nearly wiped them off the face of the Earth.