Geography Everest is 29,035 feet or 8848 meters high

The summit is the border of Nepal to the south and China or Tibet on the north

It is over 60 million years old

Everest was formed by the movement of the Indian tectonic plate pushing up and against the Asian plate

Everest grows by about a quarter of an inch (0.25") every year

It consist of different types of shale, limestone and marble

The rocky summit is covered with deep snow all year long Weather The Jet Stream sits on top of Everest almost all year long

The wind can blow over 200 mph

The temperature can be -80F

In mid May each year, the jet stream moves north causing the winds the calm and temperatures to warm enough for people to try to summit. This is called the 'summit window'. There is a similar period each fall in November.

It can also be very hot with temperatures over 100F in the Western Cwm, an area climbers go through to reach the summit. History Like all mountains around the world the local indigenous people were the first to see it

Everest is called Chomolungma by the Tibetan people. It means mother goddess of the universe

Everest was named Sagarmatha by the Nepal Government. It means goddess of the sky

It was first identified for the western world by a British survey team lead by Sir George Everest in 1841

Everest was first named Peak 15 and measured at 29,002 feet in 1856

In 1865, it was named Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest

In 1955, the height was adjusted to 29,028 feet and is still used by Nepal

China uses 29,015 feet as the official height today

Using GPS technology, the summit was measured at 29,035 feet or 8850 meters in 1999

Nepal started to remeasure Everest in 2019 due to the 2015 earthquake and it's unkown when it will be finished.

China started to remeasure Everest in 2020 Summits - updated January 2020 Early Attempts and Summits The first attempt was in 1921 by a British expedition from the north (Tibet) side

The first summit was on May 29, 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa from Nepal. They climbed from the south side on a British expedition lead by Colonel John Hunt.

The first north side summit was on May 25, 1960 by Nawang Gombu (Tibetan) and Chinese climbers Chu Yin-Hau and Wang Fu-zhou

The youngest person to summit was American Jordan Romero, age 13 years 11 months, on May 23, 2010 from the north side.

The oldest person to summit was Japanese Miura Yiuchiro, age 80 on May 23, 2013

The first climbers to summit Everest without bottled oxygen were Italian Reinhold Messner with Peter Habler in 1978

Reinhold Messner is the only person to have truly summited Everest solo and without supplemental oxygen. He did it in 1980 from the Tibet side via the Great Couloir Male Summits The youngest male to summit was American Jordan Romero, age 13 years 10 months, on May 23, 2010 from the north side.

The oldest male to summit was Japanese Miura Yiuchiro, age 80 on May 23, 2013

Kami Rita (Topke) Sherpa (Thami) holds the record for most summits (male or female) with 24, the most recent one in 2019.

Pasang Dawa Sherpa of Pangboche has summited 22 times with the last on May 23, 2019.

Apa Sherpa (Thami Og), Phurba Tashi Sherpa (Khumjung) are next with 21 summits each. Both are now retired.

American Dave Hahn has the most non-Sherpa summits with 15, the most recent in 2013 Female Summits The first woman to summit Everest was Junko Tabei of Japan in 1975

The oldest woman to summit was Japanese Tamae Watanabe, age 73, in 2012 from the north

The youngest woman to summit was Indian Malavath Poorna, 13 years 11 months on May 25, 2014 from the north side

699 women have summited through June 2019

Nepali, Lakpa Sherpani holds the women's summit record with eight (1 South, 7 north) Summit Statistics There have been 10,271 summits of Everest through August, 2020, on all routes by 5,790 different people.

1,352 people, mostly Sherpa, have summited multiple times

The Nepal side is more popular with 6,554 summits compared to 3,632 summits from the Tibet side

216 climbers summited without supplemental oxygen through August 2020, about 2.1%

35 climbers have traversed from one side to the other.

621 climbers have summited from both Nepal and Tibet

119 climbers have summited more than once in a single season Death Statistics 304 people (185 westerners and 119 Sherpas) have died on Everest from 1924 to August 2020 or 3%.

Of the deaths, 172 died attempting to summit without using supplemental oxygen.

Of the 306 deaths, 110 died on the descent from their summit bid or 35%

The Nepalese side has seen 6,552 summits with 195 deaths through December 2019 or 3%, a rate of 1.22. 122 died not using Os.

The Tibet side has seen 3,603 summits with 110 deaths through December 2019 or 3.7%, a rate of 1.08. 48 died not using Os.

Most bodies all are still on the mountain but China has removed many bodies from sight.

The top causes of death on both sides were from avalanche (77), fall (71), altitude sickness (36) and exposure (26).

About 62% of all expeditions put at least one member on the summit.

From 1923 to 1999: 170 people died on Everest with 1,169 summits or 14.5%. But the deaths drastically declined from 2000 to 2019 with 8,988 summits and 134 deaths or 1.5%.

However, three years skewed the deaths rates with 17 in 2014, 14 in 2015 and 11 in 2019.

The reduction in deaths is primarily due to better gear, weather forecasting and more people climbing with commercial operations. Climbing There are 18 different climbing routes on Everest

It takes 40 days to climb Mt. Everest in order for the body to adjust to the high altitude

There is 66% less oxygen in each breath on the summit of Everest than at sea level

Thin nylon ropes are used to keep climbers from falling.

Climbers wear spikes on their boots called crampons

They also use ice axes to help stop a fall

Thick, puffy suits filled with goose feathers keep climbers warm

Most climbers eat a lot of rice and noodles for food

Almost all climbers use bottled oxygen because it is so high. It helps keep the climbers warm.

Climbers start using bottled oxygen at 26,000 feet but it only makes a 3,000 foot difference in how they feel so at 27,000 feet, they feel like they are at 24,000 feet

You have to be 16 or older to climb from the Nepal side and between 18 and 60 on the Chinese side.

The average expedition takes about 39 days. Sherpas Sherpa is the name of a people. They mostly live in western Nepal. They migrated from Tibet over the last several hundred years

Sherpa is also used as a last name

Usually their first name is the day of the week they were born. Nyima - Sunday Dawa - Monday Mingma - Tuesday Lhakpa - Wednesday Phurba - Thursday Pasang - Friday Pemba - Saturday

Sherpas help climbers by carrying tents and cooking food to the High Camps

Sherpas climb Everest as a job to support their families

Sherpas can get sick from the altitude like anyone

Sherpas feel it is disrespectful to stand literally on the tippy top since that is where Miyolangsangma, the Tibetan Goddess of Mountains, lives. Trivia Babu Chiri Sherpa spent the night on the summit in 1999

Kami Rita (Topke) Sherpa (Thami) holds the record for most summits (male or female) with 24, the most recent one in 2019

Over 33,000 feet of fixed rope is used each year to set the South Col route

You have to be at least 16 to climb Everest from the south side and 18 from the north

Climbers burn over 10,000 calories each day, double that on the summit climb

Climbers will lose 10 to 20 lbs during the expedition I returned to climb Mt. Everest and stood on the summit on May 21, 2011.You can read about my climb over the internet on my Blog at www.alanarnette.com/blog. This was to raise awareness and research funds for Alzheimer's Disease and 100% of all donations go to Alzheimer's. This was part of climbing the 7 Summits - the highest mountain on each continent.