Tallest Mountain in the World
Written by John Carl Villanueva
Mount Everest from Kalapatthar. Photo: Pavel Novak
The first people known to have reached the peak of Mount Everest was a pair belonging to the group of John Hunt, a British army officer who led the 9th British expedition to the top of the tallest mountain in the world. The two members of Hunt's team who reached the top first was Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
Since that record setting expedition on May 29, 1953 up to 2008, 2,700 individuals have already made it to the summit.
There are two main routes to get to the top: the southeast ridge which has Nepal as its jump-off point and the northeast ridge which has Tibet. Other routes exist but they are less taken. Hillary and Norgay used the southeast ridge, which is the easier route of the two.
At the bottom of the routes are the mountain's base camps. One base camp is in the Nepal side while the other is in the Tibet side. Sherpas, ethnic people who dwell in the higher regions of Nepal and who serve as porters for the mountaineers, transport supplies to the base camps. It is in the base camps that climbers stay to acclimitize. These places are lined with tents and filled with supplies of food, blankets, and light.
Air pressure is very low at high altitudes, which makes breathing difficult. This is one of the challenges that climbers have to face when they take on the tallest mountain in the world. The brain does not function properly when it lacks oxygen, causing climbers to lose focus. At heights like this, where the terrain can be very tricky, loss of focus can be very costly.
Although it is possible to conquer Everest without supplementary oxygen, climbers who want to be on the safe side take oxygen masks and tanks with them.
Mount Everest is divided into three parts known as formations. They are the Qomolangma Formation, the North Col Formation, and the Rongbuk Formation. The Rongbuk Formation forms the base, North Col comprises the bulk of the mountain, while Qomolangma makes up the top of the Yellow Band up to the summit.
We have some related articles here in Universe Today. Here are the links:
Here are the links of two more articles from USGS:
Here are two episodes at Astronomy Cast that you might want to check out as well:
Filed under: Astronomy
Tags: Hillary, Himalayas, k2, mount everest, Norgay, tallest mountain in the world
