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Mount
Everest is know as Sanskrit (Nepali) Sagarmatha,
Tibetan Chomolungma, Chinese (Wade-Giles)
Chu-mu-lang-ma Feng, (Pinyin) Zhumulangma Feng,
also spelled Qomolangma Feng. It is the mountain
on the crest of the Great Himalayas in Asia, lying on
the border between Nepal and China (Tibet), at 27° 59'
N, 86° 56' E. It is the highest point on Earth.
Three
barren ridges—the Southeast, Northeast, and West—culminate
in two summits at 29,035 feet (8,850 metres; Everest)
and 28,700 feet (8,748 metres; South Peak). The mountain
can be seen directly from its northeastern side, where
it rises about 12,000 feet (3,600 metres) above the
Plateau of Tibet. The peak of Changtse (24,803 feet
[7,560 metres]) rises to the north. Khumbutse (northwest;
21,867 feet [6,665 metres]), Nuptse (southwest; 25,791
feet [7,861 metres]), and Lhotse (south; 27,923 feet
[8,511 metres]), which also rise around Everest's base,
hide the peak from view on the Nepalese side.
Everest
was finally surmounted in 1953, as the result of efforts
by an expedition sponsored by the Royal Geographical
Society and the Joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine
Club. Open- and closed-circuit oxygen systems, specially
insulated boots and clothing, and portable radio equipment
were used by the climbers. Eight camps were established
on the route that was taken up the Khumbu Icefall and
Glacier, the West Cwm, and the face of Lhotse to the
South Col, a rocky ridge at 26,200 feet (about 8,000
metres). From there, on May 29, 1953, Edmund (later
Sir Edmund) Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay,
a Nepalese Sherpa, ascended the Southeast Ridge, past
South Peak, to the summit.
Reading occured May 12, 2002 by Alpine
Ascents International
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