Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the planet which holds various facts you never knew and is an eternal symbol of exploration and adventure. To summit, Mt. Everest is the dream of every adventurer out there in the world. Thousands of trekkers and adventurers from all around the world seek to summit and trek to Everest Base Camp every year. It is one of the most famous destinations and a well-recognized peak among 8000 Meter peaks around the world.
Facts You Never Knew About Everest
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There are lots of amazing facts most adventurer has no knowledge about. Here are some of those interesting and amazing facts about Mt. Everest.
The height of Everest Is yet to be determined
As all of you must have thought that the height of Everest is 29,029 feet and 8,848 meters but it’s not confirmed. As Everest was first surveyed in 1856 its height was measured at 29,002 feet above sea level. Then a century later Everest was resurveyed for its height, and the height was closer to 29,029 feet. Later, the height of Everest was questioned in 1999 and was resurveyed with GPS reading and the height was 29,035 feet above sea level. Along with this issue, later the height was decided to be 29,029 feet above sea level but there is still planning to measure the height of Everest with modern technologies and make the final call for the actual height of Everest.
The biggest question: Was Mt. Everest summited in 1924 or it was not?
The first-ever official summit of Mt. Everest was recorded on May 29, 1953. Two people, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa successfully summited Everest and descended back safely. But there’s that history that states that they were the second team to summit Everest. Back in 1924, there were two people named George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine who was spotted 800 feet below the summit and moving up the final ridge. As the clouds moved in and shroud the mountain they both were never to be seen alive. So, this fact is still unknown whether they were able to climb to the top or not. This subject remains debated amongst climbers to this day.
Can you SKI on Mt. Everest?
Yes, but there are not yet official SKI resorts or anything like that. But to SKI the highest Mountains in the world you must require the skill of a world-class skier and mountaineer. There are people who have SKIED the mountain on various occasions. There is a famous decent back in 1970 by Yuichiro Miura’s. It’s also chronicled in the documentary “The Man Who Skied Down Everest” which later won Academy Award. This man though didn’t SKI the full length of the mountain. There was another world-class Skier Davorin Karnicar who achieved the impressive feat. He Skied for five hours, going down about 12000 feet on his way back to Everest Base Camp on the south side.
The fasted Ascend Ever to Mt. Everest
You must have never known the fast ascend. So, we are here to break it down for you. Normally you require 3-4 days of climbing for reaching the high camps before you ascend to the top itself. But a man named Pemba Dorje Sherpa ascended to the Top of Everest in an astounding 8 hours, 10 minutes. During this time, he was able to gain 11,325 feet and was able to set the world record for the fastest to ascend to the top of Mt. Everest. The official world record was recorded on May 24, 2002, and since then no one has ever been able to break that record. You must need superhuman strength, and much more determination to break that record and set your own.
Everest is not as difficult to summit as the media claims
No doubt about it, climbing Everest can be a hazardous Endeavor, and alert is constantly required. In any case, if you somehow managed to trust a portion of the reports in the prevailing media each spring, you'd feel that it is a waste of time to try and attempt. To make it clearer to you, during the spring 2013 climbing season more than 600 individuals successfully summited and nine individuals lost their lives in the Endeavor. Each death on the mountain is a sad one obviously, yet those numbers show that 1.5% of the individuals who attempt to summit Everest may die. This death rate is nothing compared to K2, which has a death rate that is nearer to 25%, and Annapurna, where a stunning 38% of climbers die while trying to summit. Those two peaks are a lot difficult to summit while compared with those two Everest is the easier one.
And if you carry essential equipment and you have the best crew members then you will be able to successfully summit Everest.