Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the largest and highest mountain in the world. Mount Everest is in the Himalayas. It is about 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) high.

                 Its peak is on the border of Nepal and China. It is above the death zone where the air is too thin for a human being, so usually extra o2 is used when climbing. The Death Zone refers to the parts of Mount Everest that are above 25,000 ft above sea level.  Mount Everest was climbed first in May 1953 by the Tenging Norgay Sherpa  and  Sir Edmund Hillary after 31 years of British trials to get a man on top - the exploration of the Everest region started 1921 and first realistic try to go on top was 1922.

                  Two other mountains also can be named as "highest" mountains - the volcano Mauna Kea on Hawaii island is the highest mountain measured from the base underwater to the summit ( 11 kilometres), and the summit of Chimborazo is the fixed point on Earth which is the greatest distance from the center - because of the modified ball shape of the planet Earth which is "thicker" around the Equator than measured around the poles. The Sherpas are the local people who live at the foot of Mount Everest and not the porters who carry the climbers' luggage. For the Sherpas, Mount Everest is a sacred mountain and before they climb Mount Everest they always do a sacrificial offering.