MOUNT EVEREST
LOTS OF INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MT. EVEREST !!!
- Everest is 29,035 feet or 8848 meters high
- The summit is the border of Nepal to the south and China or Tibet on the north
- It is over 60 million years old
- Everest was formed by the movement of the Indian tectonic plate pushing up and against the Asian plate
- Everest grows by about a quarter of an inch (0.25") every year
- It consist of different types of shale, limestone and marble
- The rocky summit is covered with deep snow all year long
- he Jet Stream sits on top of Everest almost all year long
- The wind can blow over 200 mph
- The temperature can be -80F
- In mid May each year, the jet stream moves north causing the winds the calm and temperatures to warm enough for people to try to summit. This is called the 'summit window'. There is a similar period each fall in November.
- It can be very hot with temperatures over 100F in the Western Cwm, an area climbers go through to reach the summit.
- Like all mountains around the world, the local, indigenous people were the first to see it
- Everest is called Chomolungma in Tibet. It means mother goddess of the universe
- Everest is called Sagarmatha in Nepal. It means goddess of the sky
- It was first identified for the western world by a British survey team lead by Sir George Everest in 1841
- Everest was first named Peak 15 and measured at 29,002 feet in 1856
- In 1865, it was named Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest
- In 1955, the height was adjusted to 29,028 feet and is still used by Nepal
- China uses 29,015 feet as the official height today
- Using GPS technology, the summit was measured at 29,035 feet or 8850 meters in