Mount Everest is the highest mountain peak in the modern world and is located in the Mahalangur mountain range that runs through both Tibet and Nepal. The peak of Mount Everest is recorded at 8,848 meters above sea level. The precise summit point of Mount Everest runs through both the international border of China and Nepal. The official height was under scrutiny for five years due to arguments between China and Nepal regarding how to calculate the official height. China stated that the recorded height should be rock height, while Nepal wanted to record the height taking in consideration the snow height. A consensus was reached and both China and Nepal agreed to consider the rock height as the true height of Mount Everest. …show more content…
Historians know that the two reached a camp at 8,168 meters, the last such camp as no one had ever managed to make it further. It is assumed that they departed from this camp on a final push to the summit. Evidence throughout the years have suggested that the two might have made the summit, or very close to the summit. In 1999, George Mallory’s body was found at 8,155 meters. The body was discovered well preserved with evidence of a severe rope jerk injury around the waist, suggesting that at one point during the climb, the two climbers were roped together. It is assumed that Mallory experienced a fall from a significant height. Speculation on the cause of death wasn’t the fall, but head trauma potentially caused by a pick ax that the climber would have used to try and stop the fall. To this day, Andrew Irvine’s body has yet to be recovered.
The First Successful Summit Reach
In May of 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were documented as being the first mountaineers to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest. They were the first official climbers to reach the summit using the southeast ridge.
The Mountain Today
Today Mount Everest is still an endurance battle. Many experienced climbers have attempted to climb to the summit with more failures than successes. Permits are needed to be allowed to climb the mountain and many times the mountain will be closed down to climbers due to injuries or