Statistics:
Statistics Everest is 29,035 feet high.
Everest is moving northeast at a rate of 2.4 inches a year.
Temperatures can fall below -60°F.
Wind speeds can approach 120 mph.
Climbing Everest:
Climbing Everest Everest is usually climbed in spring.
Climbers spend up to a month becoming acclimated.
From base camp to summit and back can take over six weeks.
Between 300 and 400 climbers and support staff gather at Everest Base Camp each year.
Risky Business:
Risky Business Climbing Everest is extremely dangerous.
Altitude sickness causes many to return without reaching the summit.
Weather can change abruptly into life-threatening storms.
For every five who make the attempt, one person dies.
Tough Terrain:
Tough Terrain Khumbu Ice Fall, 17,600 feet
Massive crevasses and fissures in moving ice
Yellow Band, 25,000 feet
Transition from ice/snow to rock
South Col, 26,000 feet
Severe winds
Hillary Step, 28,750 feet
40-foot section of rock, ice, and snow
Record Book:
Record Book First ascent: Hillary and Norgay, 1953
First ascent without oxygen: Messner and Habeler, 1978
First ascent by a woman: Tabei, 1975 First ascent by an American: Whittaker, 1963
First ascent by an American woman: Allison, 1988