FACTS ABOUT MT. EVEREST

  Location:
Latitude 27° 59' N.....Longitude 86° 56' E. It's summit ridge separates Nepal and Tibet

     Age of Everest: 
    about 50 million years young

        Elevation: 
    29,035 
 

   Named after:
    Sir George Everest in 1865, the British surveyor-general of India. Once known as Peak 15

    Name in Nepal
Sagarmatha: goddess of the sky

 In Tibet:
 Chomolungma: 
           mother goddess of the universe

                            First Ascent: 
        May 29,1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary, NZ  
      Tenzing Norgay, NP, via the South Col

First Solo Ascent: 
        Aug. 20,1980, Reinhold Messner, IT,
             via the NE Ridge to North Face

      First winter Ascent: 
        Feb. 17,1980 -L.Cichy and K. Wielicki, POL

                First Ascent by a Woman: 
          May 16,1975, Junko Tabei, JAP,

First woman to reach the summit of Mt Everest
         from both north & south sides:
            Cathy O'Dowd (S.A.) South
             May 25,1996/North '99 

  First ski descent: 
        Davo Karnicar (Slovenia) 10-7-2000

DID YOU KNOW ......................

MT. EVEREST RISES A FEW MILLIMETERS EACH YEAR, GEOLOGICAL FORCES!
              

            Best and Worst Years on Everest: 
            1993- 129 summitted and 8 died 
                1996- 98 summitted and 15 died 

         First person to summit Everest twice: 
                Nawang Gombu-Nepal
        1 with Whitaker in '63 & again in '65
 Now works at Himalayan mountaineering institute 

             First Oxygen less Ascent: 
        May 8, 1978- Reinhold Messner, IT, & Peter Habeler, AUT, via the South-East Ridge

First person to hike from sea level to summit,  
    NO OXYGEN: 
    Tim Macartney-Snape, Australian May 11, 1990  

            Fastest Ascent from South: 
            Pemba Dorjee Sherpa, Nepal-
    8 hours and 10 minutes May 21, 2004

                Fastest Ascent (north side):
Hans Kammerlander (IT) May, 24,1996, via the standard North Col Ridge Route, 16 hours 45 minutes from base camp
    
       Fastest descent:
In 1988, Jean-Marc Boivin of France descended from
        the top in just 11 minutes, paragliding
 
       Most Summits: 
    Apa Sherpa's 15th ascent came on May 31, 2005
                  

                      
       Oldest Person: 
       Yuichiro Miura, (Japan)-70 years old May,2003
        

            The oldest woman to summit 
  Tamae Watanabe Japan (63 years old) May, 16 2002
          
         Youngest person: 
    Ming Kipa Sherpa (Nepal)-15 years old May, 2003
        

             First Legally Blind Person: 
        Erik Weihenmeyer May, 25th 2001

  
Largest number to reach the top in one day: 
                    50, on May 2002 

            Largest team: 
                In 1975, China tackled Everest 
            410-member team

             Longest stay on top: 
        Babu Chiri Sherpa stayed at the summit 
                     21 and ½ hours.

    Only climber to climb all 4 sides of Everest: 
                    Kushang Sherpa, 
    Instructor with Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
  
                Last year without ascent: 
             1974 

        Highest cause of death: 
    Avalanches-about a (2:1) ratio over falls
    
       Most dangerous area on mountain:
            Khumbu Ice Fall- 20 deaths

    Country with most deaths on mountain: 
          Nepal-46 

        Corpses remaining on Everest: 
        about 120