How high is Mount Everest?

Everest is part of the Himalayan range in Asia, on the border between Nepal and China (Tibet). Its Nepali name is Sagarmatha and its Tibetan name is Chomolungma. The English name comes from George Everest, a British surveyor who worked in India, but local names are much older. In 2020, Nepal and China announced the latest measured height: 8,848.86 metres, usually rounded to 8,849.

How did such a high mountain form? Millions of years ago, the plate carrying India crashed into the plate carrying Asia. The land crumpled and rose, building the Himalayas. The collision is still going, so Everest grows by a few millimetres a year. Even near the top, rocks contain fossils of sea creatures, because they began on an ancient sea floor. See mountains and plate tectonics.

The summit is a dangerous place. Temperatures can fall far below freezing, winds are strong and the air is thin, with only about a third of the oxygen pressure that you get at sea level. Above 8,000 metres is sometimes called the "death zone" because the body cannot adapt to it. Most climbers use extra oxygen from bottles and spend weeks getting used to the height at camps.

On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa from Nepal, were the first to be confirmed at the top. The Sherpa people live in the mountains and work as expert guides and carriers; many climbs would not be possible without them. Today hundreds of people climb the mountain each year, which brings problems such as rubbish and crowding.

Everest is the highest point above sea level. Measured from base to peak, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller, but much of it is under the sea. The mountain is found in Asia.