Mount Everest Details

Mount Everest (8,849m, Sagarmatha in Nepali, Chomolungma in Tibetan) straddles the Nepal-Tibet border and is the world's highest point above sea level. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first summited it on May 29, 1953. Since then, over 6,000 people have reached the summit; 310+ have died attempting it — many bodies remain frozen on the mountain. The 'Death Zone' begins at 8,000m — where oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life indefinitely. Summit air has 33% of sea-level oxygen. Climbers typically spend months acclimatizing, use supplemental oxygen above 7,000m, and move in tight windows of good weather. The south face in Nepal offers a technically easier but heavily trafficked route; the North Face from Tibet is technically harder and less crowded. Commercial expeditions have created iconic overcrowding — 2019 summit photos showed queues of hundreds of climbers waiting at the Hillary Step.