This panorama was taken by Scott Parazynski on 7 May 2009 at IMG Camp II on Mt. Everest in Nepal at an elevation of 6,600 meters (21,500 feet). A GigaPan Epic and Canon PowerShot G9 were used. This image is 330 degree panorama. The SD card in use was of insufficient size to capture a full 360 degrees.

Begining at far left you can observe a small portion of the west face of Everest, with a backdrop of clouds just behind Lhotse (the dark summit just inset from the border; this is the 4th highest mountain in the world). Just below Lhotse is the steep Lhotse Face, the standard approach to the summit of Everest; The photograph was taken early in the season, so Camp III (between 24,000 and 24,500 feet above sea level) has not yet been established.

If you zoom in tightly, however, you can see remnants of the 2008 post-monsoon climbing route: a diagonal cut coarsing up towards the Yellow Band (a limestone band of rock at roughly 25,000 feet) is still present. Moving to the right you can see some of the sub-peaks of Lhotse, followed by the intimidating Nupstse, with hanging glaciers and heavily crevassed features. The low point in the skyline is the location of the Western Cwm, the valley than connects Camp II to Camp I, the Khumbu Icefall and Everest Base Camp. On the far right of the frame is the very steep and hulking west face of Everest. Camp II is in the foreground, dominated by the cook and dining tents of the International Mountain Guides and Himex mountaineering teams.

This picture was taken as part of the coverage of astronaut Scott Parazynski's climb (Everest Updates online at onorbit.com/everest ) in coordination with Keith Cowing and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education ( www.challenger.org )