General Information
Situated in south central Asia in the Himalayas, on the frontier of Nepal and Tibet, Mount Everest is the highest mountain peak in the world. The peak is known as Chomo Iungma by the people of Tibet and Sagarmatha by the Nepalese, both translating poetically to "Goddess of the Wind". Although the English naming is much of the peak celebrates Sir George Everest, surveyor general of India from 1830 to 1843, who in 1841 first recorded the location and height of the mountain. According to a 1954 Indian government survey, the summit is 8848 m above sea level.
History
Over the many years, explorers have made numerous attempts to reach the summit of Mount Everest. On the first noteworthy expedition, British explorers began the ascent in the spring of 1922. By May 20th, 1922, three of the group attained a record height of 8225 m. Primarily attempted by the British during the early years, the following expeditions managed to get closer and closer until the zenith was finally reached on May 29, 1953 by two members of a British expedition: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Many men were killed during the expeditions by the icy weather and violent winds.
There were also several Swiss expeditions and in 1956 four members of a Swiss expedition repeated the achievement. An American expedition was successful on May 1 and again on May 22, 1963, using the previously unattempted western ridge ascent. In 1965, two teams of climbers from India scaled the mountain, and in October 1973 two members of a Japanese expedition became the first persons to reach the summit during the dangerous autumn season.
Formation
On the geological time scale, Everest and the rest of the 2400-km Himalayan Range is relatively new. Fifty million years ago, the Himalayas were formed when two plates of the earth’s crust collided. The one to the south, containing India, Australia, and the rest of the Indian Ocean crunched into the Eurasian plate, carrying Europe, central Asia, and China. The sharp impact thrust parts of the Tibetan Plateau high into the air, creating the Fold Mountains that after millions of years of wind and ice erosion, we now know as the Himalayas.