Mount Everest

Mount Everest (8,848.86 m / 29,031.7 ft) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Named after British surveyor Sir George Everest, it is known in Nepali as "Sagarmatha" and in Tibetan as "Chomolungma" (Goddess Mother of the World). Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed ascent on May 29, 1953. Since then, over 6,000 people have reached the summit, and around 310 have died attempting the climb. More than 200 bodies remain on the mountain — the extreme cold and altitude make recovery nearly impossible. The "Death Zone" above 8,000 meters contains so little oxygen that the human body begins to die. Climbers use supplemental oxygen but remain at severe risk from altitude sickness, frostbite, exhaustion, and rapidly changing weather. Everest continues to attract approximately 1,000 climbers annually. Traffic jams of climbers near the summit have become a dangerous phenomenon. The mountain is also covered in human waste — years of expeditions have left an environmental crisis that Nepal is slowly addressing.