How high is Mount Everest and where is it?
Over the years it has attracted a long line of human beings hoping to become the few to actually make the summit
MOUNT Everest is the pinnacle, both literally and metaphorically, for the world's most skilled mountain climbers.
Over the years it has attracted a long line of human beings hoping to become the few to actually make the summit...
How high is Mount Everest and where is it?
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, reaching a height of 29,029ft at the top of the Peak XV.
It lies among a stretch of peaks which span the border between Nepal and Tibet, in the Mahalangur Himal.
Above 26,000ft, climbers spend a lot of time in the section known as the Death Zone death zone, facing significant challenges to survival.
Temperatures can dip to very low levels, resulting in frostbite of any body part exposed to the air.
Who was the first to climb Everest?
Climbers, or British ones at the very least, have been dreaming of reaching the summit ever since 1885, when then-Alpine Club president Clinton Dent suggested it was possible.
George Mallory and Guy Bullock discovered the northern approach to the peak in 1921 during a British exploratory expedition which was not equipped to actually reach the summit.
New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali Sherpa climber, became the first pair to conquer the mountain on May 28, 1953.
The next successful ascent was on 23 May 1956 by Ernst Schmied and Juerg Marmet, followed by Dölf Reist and Hans-Rudolf von Gunten on 24 May 1957. Around 4,000 have scaled the summit since, .
Read more about Mount Everest
And how many have died trying to climb Everest?
Latest figures say more than 290 people trying to climb Everest, but the real number could be much higher.
Most of the victims remain on the mountain, buried underneath the snow and almost perfectly-preserved, because it is too difficult to bring their bodies down.
The death toll is so high that Nepal last month banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains in a bid to reduce accidents.
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