Mount Everest: A Brief Introduction

Mt. Everest is the highest pick of the world which has stayed as a head of Nepal and Nepalese people.It is a part of the Himalaya range in Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China. It is 8,848 M high and lies on the boarder of Nepal and Tibet on the northern region of Nepal. The peak was first named as Peak XV. It is called Sagarmatha " Goddess of the Sky" in Nepal and Chomolungma "Goddess of the Mother of the World" by Chinese. . The name Chomolungma had been in common use of Tibetans for centuries which Chinese claim is in use in their society from three centuries more and which had appeared too on a 1733 map published in Paris by the French geographer D'Anville, but there were no such definite and single name to the peak in use among Nepalese society so Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India who was assaigned the job to choose and propose the suitable and common name to the peak found it difficult to propose an established and single local name because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners. And he argued that with the plethora of local names, it would be difficult to favour one specific name over all others. So, he decided that Peak XV should be named after George Everest, his predecessor as Surveyor General of India. 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.
George Everest registered his oppossion in naming the elevation after his surname but in 1865, the Royal Geographical Society officially adopted Mount Everest as the name for the highest mountain in the world.

In 1852 the Great Trigonometrically Survey of India declared the hight of Peak XV as 29,002 feet which accepted officially for more than later hundred years but in 1955 the hight of the Mt. Everest was adjusted to 29,028 feet. In 1865 it received its English official name as Mt. Everest in honour of Sir George Everest, a former British Surveyor General and was the superintendent of the survey in 1823 which declared Peak XV as the world's tallest elevation.
It was first climbed by Tenzing Norgey from Nepal and Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand on 29 of May, 1953 from Nepalese side.
Though Mt. Everest is not the world's difficult mountain to climb, its danger includes crevasses, avalanches, ferocious winds upto 125 mph, sudden storms, temperature upto 40 F below zero and oxygen deprivation which makes the climbing really difficult and dangerous. The climbing really becomes difficult above death zone which starts from 25,000 feet from which there will be high possibility of loss of balance over the body of the climbers. One may feel extreme body fatigue, nausea, headache, and double vision and hallucination.
Identifying and naming the highest mountain
In 1808, the British began the Great Trigonometric Survey of India to determine the location and names of the world's highest mountains which started from the southern India gradually moved northward. They reached the Himalayan foothills by the 1830s, but because of fear of different possible political aggression and annexation Nepal rejected the request of the team and didnot allow the team to enter Nepal. But the Surveyor team continued the mission and measured the Nepali peaks staying from the observation station up to 240 km far from the real spot from 1847 and measured Kanchanjanga as highest elevation of the world though they (the surveyor team) had, at the same time found another peak named peak ‘b’ as another possible highest summit of the world. And the same possible highest summit named peak ‘b’ later on became Peak XV and Mt. Everest and officially recorded as highest elevation (29,002 ft) of the world in 1853. In fact, 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. And at that time Kanchanjangha, the previously supposed highest elevation was declared to be of 28,156 ft high, one among the ten summits having the height more than 8,000 m.
But on 9 October 2005, PRC's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially challenged the previous official claim and announced the height of Everest as 8,844.43 m. claimed their measurement as the most accurate and precise measurement to date. But the fact is the snow and ice’s thickness varies over time, making a definitive height of the snow cap impossible to determine. Even the experts thought that the plate tectonics of the area are adding the height and moving the summit northeastwards. One among two recent scientific investigations suggested that the rates of change of the height of the Everest are 4 mm (0.16 in) per year (upwards) and 3 to 6 mm (0.12 to 0.24 in) per year (northeastwards) and another account mentions more lateral movement (27 mm/1.1 in), and even shrinkage has been suggested.
Routes in Riding the Mt. Everest
Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the northeast ridge from Tibet,along with many other less frequently used routes. And of the two main routes, the southeast ridge is technically easier and is the more frequently-used route. It was the same route that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953used and the first recognized of fifteen routes to the elevation by 1996.And another route which begins from the Chinese border was closed to the western world in the 1950s after the People's Republic of China took over Tibet.

Till this date most attempts are made during May before the summer monsoon season. As the monsoon season approaches, a change in the jet stream pushes it northward, thereby reducing the average wind speeds high on the mountain. While attempts are sometimes made after the monsoons during September and October, when the jet stream is again temporarily pushed northward, in which the additional snow deposited by the monsoons and the less stable weather patterns (till the end of the monsoon) makes climbing extremely difficult and dangerous.
Southeast ridge
Generally the ascent through the southeast ridge begins with a six to eight days 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 possible altitude sickness. Climbing equipment and supplies of the expedition groups are carried by yaks, dzopkyos (yak hybrids) and human porters to Base Camp on the Khumbu Glacier.
The ropes and ladders in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall will be generally set by experts and sherpas . Seracs, crevasses and shifting blocks of ice make the icefall which is one of the most dangerous sections of this 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’( 6,065 metres or 19,900 ft).
From Camp I, climbers make their way up to the base of the Lhotse face, where Camp II or Advanced Base Camp (ABC) is set at 6,500 m (21,300 ft). Climbers have to cross on the far right near the base of Nuptse to a small passageway known as the "Nuptse corner". In between the region falls the Western Cwm which 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.
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). Within these two camps, Camp III and Camp IV, climbers face two additional challenges along with the problems of high altitude: The Geneva Spur and The Yellow Band. The Geneva Spur is an anvil shaped rib of black rock named by a 1952 Swiss expedition group. Set Fixed ropes assist climbers in crossing over this snow covered rock band. And The Yellow Band is a section of interlayered marble, phyllite, and semischist which also requires about 100 metres of rope for traversing it. Then climbers enter the death zone. It is significantly more difficult for a climber to survive at the death zone. 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 remains the high danger of death by slipping and falling. High winds at these altitudes are also a potential threat to climbers. The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is about a third of sea level pressure, meaning there is about a third as much oxygen available to breathe as at sea level. Climbers typically only have a maximum of two or three days wait that they can make at this altitude for making summit bids whether to make a summit attempt. If weather does not cooperate within these short few day that clear weather and low winds are critical factors in making decision to make the final attempt, climbers are forced to descend, may all the way back down to Base Camp.
From Camp IV, climbers 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 dawn of light. Continuing up the ridge, climbers are then faced with a series of imposing rock steps which generally forces them to the east into waist deep snow, a serious avalanche hazard. At 8,750 m (28,700 ft),is the South Summit, a small table-sized dome of ice and snow.From the South Summit, climbers follow the "Cornice traverse", the knife-edge southeast ridge where snow clings to intermittent rock. This is the most exposed section of the climb as a minor 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) high rock wall called the "Hillary Step" at 8,760 m (28,740 ft).
Nowadays, climbers ascend this step using previously fixed ropes but the first climbers, Hillary and Tenzing had used primitive ice-climbing equipment and ropes to cross this dangerous rock wall. 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 very large cornices of snow. Climbers will typically spend less than a half-hour on the "top of the world" as they realize the need to descend to Camp IV before darkness sets in.
Northeast ridge
It is a route that begins from the Chinese territory which includes six Camps. Expeditions trek to the Rongbuk 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, 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 - 28,000 feet), to the crux of the climb, the Second Step (28,140 feet - 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 the same place since, and is used by virtually all climbers on this route. Above the Second Step is Third Step (28,510 feet - 28,870 feet).After crossing these steps, the summit pyramid will be climbed by means of a snow slope of 50 degrees, to the final summit ridge along which the top is reached. The Chinese border was closed to the western world in the 1950s after the People's Republic of China took over Tibet.