Nepal: about Mt. Everest (Sagarmatha)

Mount Everest, also called Sagarmatha (Nepali: सगरमाथा) is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level.   The mountain is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet, China. By the end of the 2006 climbing season there had been 3,050 ascents to the summit by 2,062 individuals, and at least 630 more ascents in 2007. There have been more than 200 deaths on the mountain where conditions are so difficult that most corpses have been left where they fell, some of them visible from standard climbing routes.   Mount Everest Pictures Mt. Everest, Nepal  Climbers range from experienced mountaineers to relative novices who count on their paid guides to get them to the top. This means climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, often costing more than $25,000 (USD) per person. Although Everest had commanded attraction for many years, it was as late as 1852 that this giant was first measured. Though some sporadic efforts for its measurement were done earlier too but all of them were abandoned in the middle. In the year 1852, The British Trigonometrical Survey of India measured Everest's elevation as 29,002 feet above the sea level. How could, with such limited means and such primitive instruments, anyone find the actual height of the Everest? But surprisingly, that figure was extremely close to the actual height. This remarkably accurate figure remained the officially accepted height for more than one hundred years. It was only in the year 1955 that this figure was slightly adjusted. The adjusted height was merely 26 feet adrift of the 1852 figure. The adjusted figure stands at 29,028 feet (8,848 m). The mountain received its official name in 1865 in honor of Sir George Everest, the British Surveyor General from 1830-1843 who had mapped the Indian subcontinent. He had some reservations about having his name bestowed on the peak, arguing that the mountain should retain its local appellation; a standard policy of the then geographical societies. His thoughts were in accordance to the Victorian norms of that era. Mount Everest Pictures