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Mount Everest

Mountain information
NameMount Everest
Other nameTallest Mountain in the World|photo=Everest kalapatthar crop.jpg
Elevation29028.9 ft (8848 m)
Prominence29028.9 ft (8848 m)
ListingSeven Summits
Eight-thousander
Country high point
Ultra
LocationNP Solukhumbu District, Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal
PRC Tingri County, Xigazê Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China
RangeMahalangur Himal, Himalayas
First ascent29 May 1953
NZ Edmund Hillary
NP Tenzing Norgay
Easiest routeSouth Col (Nepal)

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Mount Everest (Tibetan: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, Jomolungma, "Holy Mother"; Chinese: 珠穆朗玛峰, Mandarin: Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng, "Jomolungma Peak"; , Sagarmāthā) is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8848 m (29028.9 ft) above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas on the Nepal side of Nepal-China (Tibet) border. Its massif includes neighboring peaks Lhotse (8516 m), Nuptse (7855 m) and Changtse (7580 m).

In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29002 ft (8839.8 m). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest. Although Tibetans had called Everest "Chomolungma" for centuries, Waugh was unaware of this because Nepal and Tibet were closed to foreigners.

The highest mountain in the world attracts many well-experienced mountaineers as well as novice climbers willing to hire professional guides. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route (other eight-thousanders such as K2 or Nanga Parbat are much more difficult), Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather and wind.

By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals. Climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to US$25,000 per person. By the end of 2009 Everest had claimed 216 lives, including eight who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain. Conditions are so difficult in the death zone-altitudes higher than 8000 m (26246.7 ft)-that most corpses have been left where they fell. Some of them are visible from standard climbing routes.


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