Mount Everest is the largest and highest mountain in the world. Its located in the Himalayas. It is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) high. Its peak is on the border of Tibet (China) and Nepal. It’s over 60 million years old and rises 40cm per century.
Mount Everest Facts for Kids:
- Mount Everest is 29,035 feet above sea level.
- Mount Everest is over 60 million years old.
- It is named after British Surveyor, Sir George Everest
- Over 4,000 people have successful climbed Mount Everest in history
- Unfortunately, over 300 people have died attempting to climb the mountain
- Nepal went to remeasure Mount Everest in 2019 because there was an earthquake in 2015 and they wanted to see if the height changed. It will take them until 2020 to finish measuring it.
- The first person to try to climb Mount Everest tried in the year 1921 and they started on the North or the Tibet side.
- Sir Edmund Hillary and his son Peter Hillary were the first father and son to climb Mount Everest.
- People have skied down Mount Everest.
- Some people snowboard down Mount Everest.
- Google is even on top of Mount Everest.
- In 2011 a person named Kenton Cool tweeted from the top of Mount Everest saying, “Everest Summit no 9! 1sttweet from the top of the world thanks to a weak 3G signal.”
- More than 8 tons of garbage has been taken off of Mount Everest.
Does Mount Everest Get Bigger?
Each year Mt Everest gets bigger and bigger. Even though it is always getting bigger, it only grows a quarter of an inch each year.
How Did Mount Everest Form?
Mount Everest was formed from the tectonic plates. When the Indian tectonic plate pushed against the Asian tectonic plate, it caused Mount Everest to be formed.
What Is Mount Everest Made Of?
Mount Everest is made of different kinds of limestone such as shale and marble. One cool thing about the mountain is that it has snow on it no matter what time of year it is.
The weather of Mount Everest
The weather of Mount Everest has a temperature that can be even as low as -80 degrees Fahrenheit. It also has a Jet Stream that is on top of the mountain all year long.
Sometimes, Mount Everest can get up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Western Cwm which is an area that climbers go through when they are climbing the mountain.
Jet Stream
A jet stream is when the air has a current that moves around the surface of the earth. A jet stream can change the way that the weather is going to be.
A jet stream is a wind that is usually found high up in the atmosphere. These streams of wind move really fast and can go from 120 miles per hour to 250 miles per hour.
Jet streams form where there is hot and cold air and are found all over the world but most of them are found in the polar regions.
On Mount Everest, when it is the middle of May, the Jet Stream will move to the north and this causes the wind to slow down and the temperatures to be warm enough for people to try to climb the mountain. Sometimes this is called the “summit window.” This happens again in November as well.
Who Discovered Mount Everest?
In 1941, there was a surveying team from Britain that was led by Sir George Everest. While they were surveying the land, they discovered Mount Everest.
It was first named Peak 15 and it only measured at 29,0002 feet in 1856.
Other Names for Mount Everest
In Tibet, they call Mount Everest “Chomolungma.” In Nepal, they call Mount Everest “Sagarmatha.”
- Tibet-Chomolungma which means “Mother Goddess of the Universe.”
- Nepal-Sagarmatha which means “Goddess of the Sky.”
Mount Everest was only named Mount Everest in 1856 after Sir George Everest.
People Who Climbed Mount Everest
There are many people who climbed Mount Everest and did not make it, and there are other people who were successful in their climb such as:
- Sir Edmund Hillary-Sir Edmund Hillary was from New Zealand and he climbed Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.
- Tenzing Norgay-Tenzing Norgay was from Nepal and he climbed Mount Everest also on May 29, 1953.
- Nawang Gombu-Nawan Gombu was the first person to climb Mount Everest from the Northside on May 25, 1960.
- Chu Yin-Hau and Wnag Fu-zhou also climbed Mount Everest on May 25, 1960, from the Northside.
- Reinhold Messner and Peter Habler were the first two people that climbed Mount Everest without bringing bottled oxygen. They climbed the mountain in 1978.
- Junko Tabei was the first woman to climb Mount Everest in 1975.
- Tamae Watanabe was the oldest woman to climb Mount Everest in 2012 and she was 73 years old.
These two climbers climbed from the south side of the mountain and they were able to successfully reach the peak.
The world’s youngest climber was Jordan Romero. He was born and raised in the United States of America and he was only 13 years old when he climbed Mount Everest on May 23, 2010.
The world’s oldest climber was Yuichiro Miura who was born in Japan. He climbed Mount Everest on May 223, 2013, and was 80 years old.
Even though there are some people that have been able to actually climb Mount Everest, 223 people died trying to climb this great mountain. Most of the people that died on the mountain are still there because it is so hard to climb that it would be even harder to try to bring people that died down the mountain.
People Who Died Trying to Climb the Mountain
There have been over 300 people that died between the years 1924 to 2019. Many of them died for these reasons:
- Not taking oxygen.
- Coming down the mountain.
- Avalanches
- Altitude Sickness
- Lack of Oxygen
Even though there were a lot of deaths, most of the deaths happened in the past because now climbers have:
- Better weather forecasting
- Better equipment
- They use commercial climbing gear and guides.
Oxygen Level of Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the deadliest highest point on earth and has a lot less oxygen on the mountain than at sea level. This thin air is up to 66% less oxygen than we have at sea level.
When people decide that they are going to climb the mountain, they need to practice for over two months so that their bodies can adjust to the lack of oxygen and to the high altitude.
Climbing Mount Everest
There are at least 18 different routes that people can climb. To help climb Everest, they use nylon ropes so that if they fall, they have something to catch them. They also use spikes on their boots and use ice axes to help them be safe.
Most people prepare by buying suits that are full of feathers so that they can stay warm. They also pack rice to eat and oxygen to breathe for when they get higher on the mountain.
Everest is 29,029 feet (8,848 meters or 5.5 miles) the area above 8,000 meters is known as the “Death zone” there is so little oxygen that the body starts to die, cell by cell so it’s important to enter and exit this area quickly.
Nepal has a rule that you must be at least 16 years of age to climb Mount Everest from the Nepal side and you must be between 18 and 60 years old to climb from the China side.
It takes most people around 39 days to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
People of Mount Everest
The people that live in western Nepal are called Sherpa’s.
This is a group of people that migrated from Tibet in the past hundreds of years. Not only is there a name of people called Sherpa, Sherpa is also a popular last name for people in Nepal.
Names of People of Mount Everest
The people from Mount Everest use the day of the week that they were born as their first names. It goes like this:
- Monday-Dawa
- Tuesday-Mingma
- Wednesday-Lhakpa
- Thursday-Phurba
- Friday-Pasang
- Saturday-Pemba
- Sunday-Nyima
The Sherpa people use the mountain to help make money for their families. They help people to climb and they also help to carry equipment and cook food in the camps.
They also get sick sometimes from the high altitude even though they are used to climbing.
One interesting thing about the Sherpa is that they think it is disrespectful for people to stand on the very tip of Mount Everest because this is where the Tibetan Goddess of the mountain, Miyolangsangma lives.
Summit
Some people call Mount Everest the summit. A summit is the top of a mountain. The word summit can also be used to mean “to reach the top.” So people sometimes say that someone summited Mount Everest which means they climbed to the top of Mount Everest.
What Did You Learn?
- What is Mount Everest?
Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. - Where is Mount Everest located?
Mount Everest is located on the border of Nepal and Tibet. - Why is Mount Everest dangerous?
Mount Everest is dangerous because people want to climb it and it has 66% less oxygen than on land. Sometimes people that climb the mountain die from not having enough oxygen. - Who is Mount Everest named after?
Mount Everest is named after George Everest who found Mount Everest in 1856. - What is the weather like at Mount Everest?
The weather can be less than -80 degrees Fahrenheit and never gets above freezing even though there are some parts of the climb that can get up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
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