Mount Everest – 30 Miraculous Facts Amazing Records & Extremes

Mount Everest is the highest mountain peak on the planet with a startling height of 8,848 meters – a fact that probably everyone is familiar. In fact, there are bountiful records and feats achieved by several mountaineers en route to the top of the world. Following are some of the spellbinding and atypical facts about the Giant of them all:

1. The name ‘Everest’ was given to the mountain in 1865 after British Surveyor General of India, Sir George Everest.
2. Locally, Everest is popularly known as ‘Sagarmatha’ in Nepali and ‘Chomolungma’ in Tibetan.
3. On 23^rd May 1953, Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from Nepal successfully ascended the highest peak of the world. The team comprised an additional 13 mountaineers, one journalist, 20 Sherpa guides and 362 local porters.
4. Due to the devastating earthquake in 2015, it was the first time after 1974 that no one climbed to the top of the highest peak, during this year.
5. In 2011, two Nepali men, Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa climbed Mount Everest and then proceeded to paraglide off of the summit. Then, they hiked and kayaked to the Bay of Bengal, winning the award of National Geographic Adventurers of the Year.
6. At the summit of Everest, one can experience a 3G mobile phone coverage, which in itself is a grand triumph.
7. Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, along with Austrian Peter Habeler climbed Mount Everest, without oxygen
8. Messner was also the first successful solo climber to the peak, which he achieved in the year 1980.
9. In 2005, Didier Delsalle landed a helicopter on the summit of Mount Everest. Two days later he did it again, proving that it was just not a fluke.
10. Scott E. Parazynski is the only person to have flown in space and successfully climbed Mount Everest.
11. Babu Chiri Sherpa ascended Mount Everest 10 times by the age of 30 and once stayed on the summit for 21 hours, the longest time by anyone ever! Sadly, on his last ascent, he fell into a crevasse and died while taking photographs.
12. There is a small jumping spider named Euophrys omnisuperstes, which lives at elevations up to 6,700 meters on Mount Everest. It is the highest known permanent resident of the earth!
13. Yuichiro Miura holds the title of ‘The oldest person to summit Mount Everest.’ He gained this title at the age of 70 for the first time, and then recaptured it at 75, furthermore again at 80!
14. An unidentified corpse wearing green boots was identified somewhere in the mountains, which later became a landmark and named Green Boots even to this day. In May 2014, Green Boots was reported missing, presumably removed or buried.
15. Attempting to climb Everest is banned to those who have not previously reached an altitude equaling at least 6, 500 meters.
16. The World’s highest webcam at Kala Patthar provides one of the best vantage points of Mount Everest.
17. Sir Edmund Hillary’s son, Peter, has also climbed Mt. Everest, not only once but five times commencing in 1990.
18. The fastest descent from the peak was made in only 11 minutes! It was a Frenchman Jean-Marc Boivin, who paraglided down in 1988.
19. In 2010, Jordan Romero became the youngest person to reach the top of Everest at the age of 13.
20. Apa Sherpa, a 57-year-old Nepali, summited the Mt. Everest 21 times and held the record for the most number of times of ascent till 2013.
21. Junko Tabei, from Japan, is the first woman ever to climb Mt Everest. She achieved this feat in 1975.
22. Similarly, another plausible record was achieved by an American Erik Weihenmayer in 2001 for being the first blind person to reach the top of the world.
23. In 1924, George Mallory, 37, and Andrew Irvine, 22, disappeared on their expedition to Everest. Whether they reached the summit remains a mystery. In 1999, Mallory’s body was found at 27,000ft.
24. Pem Dorjee Sherpa and Moni Mulepati became the first couple to get married at the top of Mount Everest, in 2005.
25. The record for the most numbers of people reaching the top was set on 10^th of May 1993, where a total of 40 climbers ascended the peak that day.
26. Mark Inglis, a New Zealander became the first double amputee to reach the summit in 2006.
27. In October 1950, expeditions from the north were prohibited after China invaded Tibet. The same year, Nepal opened up access to Everest’s south side.
28. In 2000, Davo Karnicar from Slovenia was the first person to ski down Everest.
29. The only climber to scale all four sides of Everest is Kushang Sherpa.
30. Tenzing Norgay unsuccessfully tried to get to the top of Everest six times before reaching it with Hillary.