CHAPTER 1 THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD The peak rises from a mountain range known as the Himalayas Ice boulders crevices and glaciers cover the mountain Snow is always on the summit The wind can blow more than 100 miles per hour 161 km h At 29 035 feet 8 850 m above sea level Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain Snow elevation and cold conditions make Mount Everest one of Earth's most hostile places
Mount Everest is on the border of Nepal and Tibet In Tibet the mountain is called Chomolungma This name means Goddess Mother of the World In Nepal Mount Everest is known as Sagarmatha IS IT REALLY THE TALLEST Mountains elevations are usually listed from sea level Mount Everest is the tallest using this method But mountains can also be measured from the center of the earth Using this method Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is the tallest It is 1 5 miles 2 4 km closer to outer space than Everest Mauna Kea in Hawaii is also taller than Mount Everest when measured from its base at the ocean floor However more than half of Mauna Kea is under the sea
In 1953 Edmund Hillary left and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach Mount Everest's summit In the Sanskrit language this means Peak of Heaven In English the mountain was originally called Peak XV fifteen In 1865 it took on its current name The mountain was named for Sir George Everest He was a surveyor from the United Kingdom
