She is flawless. The movement of the fabric is intricately detailed and the lines of the body are just perfect. Created over two thousand years ago, it seems modern. The figure surprises with proportionality and harmony. Most often, she is identified with the goddess of love, and is called Venus, although the Greek name of this goddess is not Venus, but Aphrodite. And it is called Milos by the name of the place where it was discovered about two hundred years ago by a Greek fisherman - the islands of Milos.

Many mysteries are connected with the work, one of them concerns the lost hands of the goddess. There are several suggestions about what their position was and what Venus held.

One of the most common and well-founded assumptions is that in one hand she held an apple, and with the other she held falling clothes. As evidence, the words of the peasants who discovered the statue are cited, which confirm that this fruit was put into the hand of Venus. The assumption has a mythological justification. The goddess of love received an apple with the inscription "the most beautiful" from Paris, who preferred it to Athena and Hera.

But not everyone agrees with this. There is also a popular version that the location of the body of Venus, in particular, the turn of the shoulders and torso, indicates that the goddess was spinning. Accordingly, in one hand she held the yarn, and with the other she controlled the thread and spindle.

They confirm their hypothesis with a digital reconstruction of the statue, proving that the pose of the statue corresponds to that which the body of the spinner takes. Indeed, the position of the torso of the sculpture is very similar to the position of spinning women. Such a composition was often depicted on antique vessels.

Another version suggests that the sculptor sculpted the goddess of victory Nike. In one hand she holds the shield of the god of war Mars, and with the other she writes the names of warriors who became famous for victories in battles. This interpretation provides an explanation for the proud look of the goddess.

There is also a hypothesis about the original pairing of the sculpture. The left hand of Venus supposedly rested on the shoulder of Mars, the god of war. There are also less popular assumptions: the goddess is supplied with a mirror or a laurel wreath.

History of the find.

The famous statue was discovered on April 8, 1820 in ruins ancient city on Milo Island, a farmer named Yorgos Kentrotas, along with French sailor Olivier Coutier. Having changed several owners while trying to take it out of the country, the statue eventually came to the French ambassador in Istanbul, the Marquis de Riviere. It was the Marquis who presented Venus to the French King Louis XVIII, who, in turn, gave the statue to the Louvre, where it is located to this day.

Kentrotas found the sculpture along with the hands, or rather with fragments of hands. They tried to reconstruct them, but the hands turned out to be "too rough and inelegant." Modern art historians believe that this does not mean at all that the hands did not belong to Venus, they were just badly damaged. When the statue was transported to Paris in 1820, both the arms and the original plinth were lost.

There is a version that the pedestal of Venus disappeared not by chance.

The creation of the statue is attributed to Alexandrov of Antioch - it is believed that he carved this masterpiece from stone between 130 and 100 BC. The statue was found with a pedestal plate, on which the name of the creator was engraved. Subsequently, the pedestal mysteriously disappeared.

Perhaps the clue to his disappearance lies in the fact that 19th-century art historians decided that the statue of Venus was the work of the Greek sculptor Praxiteles (it was very similar to his statues). This classified the statue as belonging to the classical era (480-323 BC), whose creations were valued much more than the sculptures of the Hellenistic period. To support this version, even at the cost of misinformation, the plinth was removed before the sculpture was presented to the king.

There are numerous reconstructions in which Venus de Milo is depicted with hands in various versions. Whatever it was, but the hands of Venus were holding something.

sources

Trying to answer the question: where is Everest and in what country - it will take a lot to tell. Everest is in the Himalayas, everyone knows that. But what they are, not many people know.

Yes, and with Everest itself, not everything is simple, since the direct peak of Everest is located on the territory of China, but you can get to it not only from China. After all, the base of the mountain is located on the territory of two countries - Nepal and China. Accordingly, the routes of conquest come from different directions.

Everest location

In the southern part of Central Asia, north of the Bay of Bengal, which separates the Hindustan and Indochina peninsulas, there is a huge mountain range, which is the highest on the entire planet.

This is the Himalayas, where 10 of the 14 highest mountains in the world are located, the height of which exceeds eight thousand meters. The other four eight-thousanders are located in the Karakorum system, which adjoins Tibet from the western side. Both the Himalayas and the Karakorum mountain systems include several mountain ranges that are simultaneously in different countries ah and are the boundaries of their territories. In the Himalayas, these are the ranges: Mahalangur-Himal, Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Nangaparbat, Annapurna and Langtang. On opposite sides of insurmountable ridges lived people not only of different nationalities, but also of different ways of life, different faiths and speaking different languages. And of course, they called “their” mountains in their own way, not even thinking that the people living on the other side gave them “their” names.

So it happened with the largest mountain range "Mahalangur-Himal" on one side of which the Nepalese lived, and on the other Tibetans. Moreover, both Nepalese and Tibetans, not even knowing that between them is the highest mountain range and the most high mountain in the world, deified this peak. The Tibetans called her Chomolungma, which means "Holy Mother" or "Goddess - Mother of the Earth", this name was given to her by the name of Sherab Chzhamma, the goddess of the national religion of the Tibetans. The Nepalese called the mountain "Jomo Kang Kar", which means "Lady of the White Snows".

Where is Mount Everest located?

Everest is nothing more than the highest part of the Mahalangur Himal range, a mountain range called Khumbu Himal. And these are several peaks, the two highest of which are the main ones.

Oddly enough, but to understand where Everest is, being even almost in close proximity to it, is quite difficult. This is due to the fact that Everest is surrounded by the highest peaks. Itself - the main, northern peak of Everest has the shape of a trihedral pyramid. Its southern slope is steeper, therefore, freshly fallen snow and even last year's blackened snow, called firn, do not linger on the slope itself and its ribs, therefore this side is usually bare. The height of the Northeast Ridge is 8393 meters.

• On the south side of Everest, through the 7906 m high South Col Pass, there is Lhotse Peak - 8516 meters, which is sometimes mistakenly called the South Peak.
• From the north, behind the steep North Col with a height of 7020 m, there is Changze Peak - 7543 meters.
• In the east of the massif there is a completely impenetrable steep steep wall Kangshung - this is 3350 meters of almost sheer cliff.

The height of Everest itself from the foot to the top is just the same - 3550 meters. Glaciers descend from the massif in all directions, ending at an altitude of about 5 km. Part of Chomolungma located on the territory of Nepal is part of the Nepalese national park Sagarmatha.

The name of the highest mountain in the world

It is noteworthy that the name of the highest mountain in the world - Chomolungma was first recorded in writing on a map in 1717. This map was made by French Jesuit missionaries who visited Tibet at that time. However, the map was a schematic map, it did not have elevation marks and did not receive wide publicity, and the name Chomolungma did not attract the attention of geographers of that time.

The European name for the mountain, Everest, appeared much later. At the beginning of the 19th century in India, then a British colony, the Royal Geographical Society began to conduct thorough geodetic surveys. George Everest served in the British East India Company, which conducted this survey. Having devoted more than 37 years to service from 1806 to 1843 as the chief surveyor of India, George Everest created Indian geodesy and cartography almost from scratch. For which in 1827 he became a member of the Royal Geographical Society. Having risen to the rank of colonel, George Everest returned to his homeland in 1843 and continued to work in the Royal Geographical Society. For special services in 1861 he was awarded a knighthood. And from 1862 to 1865 he was vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society.

After himself in India, George Everest left a worthy successor, Andrew Waugh, who continued his work. Prior to this, maps of almost all of India had been created. Of great interest were mountainous areas, located to the north, there were the highest peaks of the mountain range. However, since the territory of Nepal was then closed to foreigners, surveyors carried out measurements at a distance. The geodetic instruments at their disposal even then made it possible to do this.

Andrew Waugh attracted to this work the gifted Bengali mathematician Radhanat Sikdar, who was educated at the College in Calcutta and, on the recommendation of college teacher John Tytler, at the age of 19, was accepted by George Everest on an expedition to the post of "computer" with a meager salary of 30 rupees a month. In the shortest time, Sikdar recommended himself as a specialist with high level geodetic skill. Moreover, it was he who created new techniques for studying heights at a distance. By the way, among his merits was the formula for converting barometer readings taken at different temperatures to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, which is still used today.

In 1852, Andrew Waugh commissioned Sikdar to measure the snowy peaks in the Darjeeling region, where the British built a hill station and near which is the Kanchenjunga peak (8598 m), then considered the highest in the entire mountain system of the Himalayas. After measuring six times from various positions, Sikdar came to the conclusion that, almost 200 kilometers from Darjeeling, the height indicated on the map as Peak XV is higher than Kanchenjunga peak by as much as 250 meters. It turned out that the height of Peak XV is 8848 meters above sea level and this peak is the highest on earth. He reported this to his leader. However, this information was published only a few years later, after repeated verification and verification with other sources.

According to the rules established by George Everest, this mountain had to be given a local name. However, neither Andrew Waugh nor his staff knew what it was called, and therefore, paying tribute to his former boss, Andrew suggested naming this peak after George Everest. With this name, the last created map was sent to Britain, to the Royal Geographical Society. And Peak XV was officially named Everest.

This name was not perceived in the Soviet Union for quite a long time, and on the maps published in the USSR, this peak was listed as Chomolungma almost until 1985. Similarly, the government of Nepal did not recognize the Chinese name Chomolungma and in 1965 the Nepalese gave it its own name "Sagarmatha" meaning "Heavenly peak". This confusion existed until recently, until a compromise was found in the cartographic world. Now, on modern maps, this entire mountain range is called Chomolungma, and the peak, 8848 m high, is designated as Everest (Sagarmatha). The territory adjacent to the peak north of Kathmandu with an area of ​​1148 square kilometers has been declared a Sagarmatha National Park since 1976.

History of conquest

It is believed that mountaineering as a sport appeared since the first ascent of Mont Blanc by Michel-Gabriel Packard and Jacques Balma, which was on August 8, 1786. Since then, August 8 is celebrated as the International Mountaineer's Day in the world. And although the height of Mont Blanc is only 4810 meters, at that time it was a feat. And at the same time it was a start to the conquest of higher peaks. Very quickly, many followers of Michel and Jacques were found, who, despite mortal dangers, lack of experience and the necessary equipment, began to climb famous peaks, understanding higher and higher. So in 1799 A. Humboldt climbed the peak of Chimborazo with a height of 5800 meters in South America. In 1829, the guide of the expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Killar Khashirov, climbed Elbrus alone at a height of 5642 meters. In 1907, T. Longstaff and H. Broquereli conquered the seven-thousander Trisul 7123 m.

So, one after another, all the European peaks were conquered, and then all the famous peaks of America, Africa, and New Zealand. But the desperate daredevils did not stop there. There was a dream to climb the "Roof of the World", as climbers dubbed the Himalayas, including the highest mountain on our planet - Everest Peak. There were a lot of attempts to climb the peaks of the Himalayas and Karakorum. Moreover, teams from different countries “mastered” different peaks. So the Germans tried to conquer Kanchenjunga and Nanga Parbat, the Americans and Italians stormed Chogori, and the British stubbornly tried to take Everest.

The British Geographical Society specifically created the Everest Committee, whose task was to organize expeditions to Everest. The British developed a plan to climb the highest mountain in the world back in 1893, but for the first time they tried to climb Everest only in 1921. At that time, Maharaja Chandra Shamsher from the Rana family ruled Nepal and any climbing ascents of foreigners were prohibited. The Tibetans also did not immediately agree to let the British into their territory, and only at the insistence of the Viceroy of India, the Dalai Lama agreed to allow an English expedition to Chomolungma. Therefore, it was decided to storm Everest not from the Nepalese side, but from the north, from Tibet. The point where the expedition was equipped was the city of Darjeeling, in West Bengal. From Darjeeling, the route ran first to the northeast, in order to go around Nepal from the east, and then through Tibet to the west along the Nepalese border. In total, from Darjeeling to the foot of Everest, the expedition covered almost 500 km.

The first expedition was led in 1921 by Colonel Howard Bury. In addition to climbers, the expedition was attended by a geologist and two topographers. This expedition turned out to be reconnaissance, which determined the route along which it is possible to get to the foot of the Chomolungma, in order to then climb the peak. In addition, due to the peculiarities of the climate, the most convenient time of the year was established to avoid winds and monsoons, as well as the state of snows allowing climbing. According to their calculations, the ascent should be made only during a period of relatively stable meteorological conditions, that is, in May - June (before the monsoons) and in September - November (after the monsoons). Here they are Members of the 1921 expedition. Standing left to right: A.F.R. Wollaston, Charles Howard-Bury, Alexander Heron, Harold Raeburn seated: George Mallory, Oliver Wheeler, Guy Bullock, Henry T. Morshead.

The second expedition was organized in 1922. They set off at the end of May. The expedition was led by General Bruce. On the route planned in 1921, from Darjeeling to the starting point of the ascent, everything needed was delivered on pack yaks, and then to the lower camp at the foot of Everest, Tibetan porters carried all the property on themselves. Further, the role of porters was played by the Nepalese from the Sherpa tribe, who live in the mountains and are accustomed to rarefied air. The Sherpa tribe later began to provide all Himalayan expeditions with guides and porters, which became their profession.

The ascent route was determined along the Rongbuk glacier, then along the slope to the North Col, where an intermediate camp was set up, and then along the northern ridge and northern slope. During the first attempt, we climbed to a height of 8138 m. During the second attempt, we reached 8321 m. It remained to climb another 519 m to the top, which was only 1 km horizontally. But a strong wind picked up, besides, the main climbers Bruce and Finch, despite the oxygen apparatus, developed altitude sickness and had to go down to the lower camp.

On June 6, the last attempt was made to climb from the lower camp to the North Col. 3 climbers and 14 porters Sherpas went on the assault. Went in four bundles. The upper two ligaments were not injured, and 7 Sherpas died in the lower ones. This tragedy once again confirmed the correctness of Howard Bury's assumption that climbing avalanche slopes after the start of the monsoon is very dangerous.

The next attempt to climb the highest mountain in the world was made in 1924. The expedition was again led by General Bruce. However, on the way he contracted malaria and the climbing group was led by Norton. Like last time, the Sherpa porters lifted all the necessary equipment to the North Ridge to a height of 8170 m. They set up an upper camp there and started climbing from it. The assault went two Norton and Sommervell. Went without oxygen apparatus. At an altitude of 8540 m, Somervell stopped, unable to go any further. Norton single-handedly climbed to a height of 8573 m and also abandoned further ascent. Climbers, severely frostbitten, with great difficulty descended to the upper camp, and then down with the help of Sherpas.

In the same year, the de Englishmen Mallory and Irwin tried once again to make the ascent. Went with oxygen apparatus. But they also failed. Having reached an altitude of approximately 8500 meters, they died, most likely falling off the rocks. During an expedition in 1933, an ice ax belonging to one of them was found at this height. The expedition was extremely unsuccessful, because another Englishman and one of the Tibetan porters died. After Everest took the lives of the best English climbers, for a long time no one dared to repeat their attempts. Here are these brave pioneers: Irwin and Mallory are standing on the left, Somervell is sitting third on the left.

After all that had happened, the Dalai Lama forbade these attempts, and only in 1933 did the Everest Committee succeed in resuming the expedition to Everest.

The participants of the first expeditions, due to their age, could not participate in this, the expedition was led by Ruttledge, and almost the entire team was new. The ascent was carried out along the same route through the Northern Col. Sherpas lifted the entire load to a height of 8350 m, from where the ascent was started for the umpteenth time. As a result of two attempts, a height of 8565 m was reached. Then, because of the strongest winds, it was decided to stop the assault.

In the same 1933, the British organized an expedition over Everest by plane; before that, not a single airplane had tried to do this. Two Westland biplanes took part. The first P.V.3 (G-ACAZ) was flown by Marcus Douglas, with Lieutenant Colonel Steward Blaker flying as an observer. The second - Westland P.V.6 Wallace (G-ACBR) - was piloted by David McIntyre, with photographer Sidney Bonnet flying in the rear cockpit. The planes had aerial cameras for mapping. The crews had oxygen machines. Warm clothes protected them from the cold. During the second flight, aerial photographs were taken.

In 1934, an attempt to climb Mount Everest was made by 34-year-old Englishman Maurice Wilson, whom many considered not quite normal. He imagined that it was possible to climb Everest only after a three-week fast, during which a person would be cleansed of earthly filth and strengthen his body and spirit. At first, he wanted to fly to Everest by plane, sit on its slope, and then climb to the top on foot. But in India, the British authorities detained his plane.

Then he, with three Sherpa guides, dressed in Tibetan clothes, reached Everest on foot. He managed to climb to the third base camp of the early expeditions, from where he made several attempts to climb. But since he didn't have any mountaineering experience at all, his mind couldn't do it. Seeing this, the Sherpas left. Left alone and eating the remnants of food from the previous expedition, he continued his attempts, which were in vain. As a result, he is in this third base camp and froze. His remains and diary were found by members of the next expedition in 1935.

Such attempts to penetrate Tibet and climb Everest without the permission of the authorities were made twice after that. So in 1947, the Canadian Denman with porters reached the third camp, but he could not even climb the North Col. The same fate befell the Dane Larsen in 1951. By the way, Denman's guide was Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who then in 1953 participated in the victorious ascent and was the first to climb the peak.

In 1935, another British expedition was organized under the command of Shipton. The purpose of this expedition was not the ascent to the summit itself, but to find out the conditions on the slopes during the monsoon, is the snow compacted on the slopes? In July, they climbed the North Col, but seeing that part of the slope had been blown away by an avalanche, they abandoned further attempts. But they did not waste time in vain and in two months they successfully climbed 26 peaks located around Everest, including five of which exceeded 7000 m.

In 1936, Ruttledge and Shipton and the team again tried to climb Everest from the north. The ascent took place in the spring. They safely climbed along their previous route to the North Col, but unusually early, on April 22, the monsoon blew, and when trying to climb the Col, Shipton miraculously escaped from an avalanche. The ascent had to be stopped.

1938, a new British expedition led by Tilman again goes to storm Everest. The preparations were carried out with particular care. Six camps were organized along the route. Sherpa porters lifted the entire load to the upper sixth camp at an altitude of 8290 m. However, heavy snow began to fall and a deep loose snow cover formed, which filled all the ice crevices and depressions, besides, a severe frost hit, so the climb to the top had to be canceled.

Then the second began World War and there was no ups and downs. And after the war, the government of Tibet did not give permission for the expedition for a long time. And only in 1950, under pressure from the British government, Nepal allowed expeditions to be carried out on their territory. Beginning in 1950, the British and French equipped expeditions to explore eastern Nepal. And in the same year, the Frenchmen Moriso Herzog and Louis Lachenal conquered the first eight-thousand-meter Annapurna with a height of 8075 meters.

In 1950, the Americans joined the research. In the autumn of 1950, an American expedition, in which the Englishman Tilman participated, approached Everest from the south and carefully examined its southern slopes. The approach from the south to the base of Everest was much more difficult than the northern one, but the section above 7000 meters, on the contrary, is easier and, according to the expedition, the assault on the peak from the south side could be successful.

The following year, 1951, the Everest Committee equipped an expedition under the command of Shipton to study the possibility of climbing Everest from the south. As a result of long and difficult searches, a route was chosen through the left branch of the Khumbu glacier, to the South Col and then to the summit along the South-East Ridge. However, this expedition itself did not make the ascent due to the fact that the search convenient location the ascent had taken too long and winter was approaching.

In 1952, a Swiss expedition led by Wyss-Dunant went along this route. In addition to the climbers, the expedition included a geologist, a botanist and an ethnographer. They safely climbed the South Col and went along the Southeast Ridge. At 8405 meters, an upper camp was set up, in which the Swiss Lambert and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay rested and went up the next day. However, they could only climb to a height of 8600 m, because their oxygen apparatus failed and they had to stop climbing. In the autumn of the same year, the Swiss attempted to climb again, but the frost over 40°C and strong wind on the South-East Ridge made it impossible to continue the ascent. In addition, one Sherpa was killed during the descent.

The first conquerors of Everest

At that time, there was a concept according to which climbing the highest mountains of the world was proof of the advantage and priority of a particular nation. Therefore, each country individually equipped its expeditions to the highest peak. But given that the government of Nepal allowed foreigners to conduct only one expedition per year, and the teams from different countries had their own climbing experience, it was decided to create an international expedition. The British Everest Committee invited the most famous climbers of other countries at that time to take part in the expedition, including the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who last year climbed with Lambert to a height of 8600 m.

John Hunt was appointed head of the expedition. In total, the expedition included about 400 people, including 20 Sherpa guides and 362 porters, because the weight of the property that had to be delivered to the climbing site was more than 10,000 pounds. Tenzing was in charge of the porters, and was himself both a porter and a member of the climbing group.

The ascent began in the spring. Already in March, the base camp was established, a little later, at an altitude of 7890 meters, the final camp. John Hunt appointed two groups of main climbers: the first group was Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, the second group was Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Edmund Hillary did not want to go with Tenzing, but in a pair with his friend George Low, and only after lengthy persuasion agreed.

On May 26, Bourdillon and Evans were the first to storm, but on the way, Evans' oxygen apparatus failed, besides, a gale blew and it began to snow, they were forced to return. For two days the weather did not allow us to start a new attempt. And only on May 28, Hillary and Tenzing, with three escorts, set off. A tent was set up at 8500 meters. It was the eighth assault camp. The escorts returned downstairs, while Hillary and Tenzing stayed overnight in the tent.

In the morning it turned out that Hillary, who took off his shoes at night and put them under his head, had completely iced over them and it took them two hours to defrost them over the primus flame and knead them. When Hillary was able to put on his shoes it was already six thirty minutes in the morning, it was time to start on the road. Here is how Tenzing described it in his memoirs: “It was on May 29, half past seven in the morning. The air is clear, silence all around. We pulled on our hands three pairs of gloves: first silk, then woolen, and over them canvas. Crampons were put on their feet, and oxygen devices weighing sixteen kilograms were put on their backs. I wound four flags tightly around the ice ax: Nepal, India, the United Nations and Great Britain. In the pocket of my jacket was a small, gnawed piece of my daughter's colored pencil.

Along the route they walked alternately, in front of them was one, then the other. The ascent to the South Peak was a continuous snow wall of loose snow, which was constantly crumbling. The legs slipped every now and then, every minute it was possible to slide down, this was the most difficult section of the path. By nine o'clock we climbed to the South Peak. It remained only 300 feet to go along a narrow ridge, to the left and right of which there were abysses more than 8,000 feet deep, and between them a narrow ridge. Slowly, protecting each other, we went along the ridge. The last obstacle was a huge rock on the ridge. With difficulty we climbed the rock and rested a little. After that, having overcome several snow blows, we ended up on the last snowdrift behind which there was nothing but the blue sky. It was the top. The clock showed 11 hours 30 minutes.

At the top they stayed only 15 minutes. During this time they set up flags, Hillary photographed Tenzing. There is no photo of Hillary at the top. Whether Tenzing could not use the camera, or Hillary himself did not want to be photographed is not clear. Well, Tenzing also put Nima's daughter's pencil and a bag of sweets in the snow as an offering to the gods. Having already gone downstairs, Hillary and Tenzing took a picture together. Here is a photo that went around the world

The heroes of this expedition received worldwide recognition. Queen Elizabeth II, having received this news on the day of her coronation, granted Edmund Hillary and John Hunt a knighthood. Tenzing Norgay was awarded the St. George Medal. It was said that Elizabeth II also wanted to make him a knight, but since he belonged to the lower Sherpa caste, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was then Prime Minister of India, forbade Tenzing to receive a knighthood.

But the King of Nepal, Gribuban, awarded Tenzing with the highest order of Nepal - the Nepalese Star and put at his disposal his personal plane, on which Tenzing and his family flew to New Delhi. And then Tenzing and his wife were in London at the reception of the Queen. After that, a school of high-altitude mountaineering was founded in Darjeeling, and Tenzing Norgay became the head of it.

The fate of the characters is different. Tenzing Norgay no longer took part in the ascents. The mountaineering school was transformed into the Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering and Tenzing until 1976 was its director. In 1976 he retired. He also visited the Soviet Union.

Sir Edmund Hillary, after conquering the third pole of the Earth, took up polar exploration. He led the New Zealand expedition to Antarctica. In 1958 he led the first expedition to the South Pole. In 1960, he organized the creation of the New Zealand Scott Base in Antarctica. Returning to Nepal in 1960, he dealt with the social welfare of the people of Nepal. Helped build schools and hospitals. He organized the construction of two airfields, which served to develop the tourism business in Nepal. Using great authority from the Nepalese government, he organized the creation in the foothills of Everest national park, for which he was later awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Nepal". Until the end of his life, Edmund Hillary dealt with the problems of environmental protection and the organization of humanitarian assistance to the people of Nepal.

The team of Soviet climbers first climbed Everest in 1982, it became the 25th expedition in a row, which managed to climb to the top. 17 best athletes were selected for the USSR national team, which was to climb Everest.

Climbers for the ascent were divided into four teams:

1. Eduard Myslovsky, Nikolai Cherny, Vladimir Balyberdin, Vladimir Shopin;
2. Valentin Ivanov, Sergei Efimov, Mikhail Turkevich, Sergei Bershov;
3. Yervand Ilyinsky, Sergey Chepchev, Kazbek Valiev, Valery Khrishchaty;
4. Vyacheslav Onishchenko, Valery Khomutov, Vladimir Puchkov, Alexey Moskaltsov, Yuri Golodov.

The ascent was carried out along a more difficult route from the south-western side, previously on which no one had tried to climb. The preparation time was almost a month and a half. On March 21, at an altitude of 5340 m, the main base camp was equipped, from which the processing of routes and the preparation of high-altitude camps began. Only by May 3, routes were processed and six camps were equipped: on March 21, an intermediate camp at an altitude of 6100m; March 22 1 camp at an altitude of 6500m; March 31 Camp 2 at an altitude of 7350m; April 12 Camp 3 at an altitude of 7850m; On March 18, camp 4 at an altitude of 8250m and on May 3 an assault camp at an altitude of 8500m. When everything was carefully prepared, the teams went to storm the peak.

We went with a gap in time, so two groups climbed the peak at night. Several climbers were injured. In total, 11 people climbed the peak.

On the very high mountain the Soviet flag was installed in the world, and the government of the USSR was informed that the ascent of a group of Soviet climbers to Everest was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the USSR.

All members of the expedition received the title of Honored Masters of Sports. No other expedition has traveled this route.

Russian climbers have repeatedly visited the highest peak in the world. So in 1990, as part of the "Expedition of Peace" organized by the American Jim Whittaker, Russian woman Ekaterina Ivanova climbed Mount Everest. In 1992, a team of Lada-Everest climbers from Tolyatti, consisting of 32 people, climbed to the top and hoisted the flag of Russia and AvtoVAZ there.

In 1995, the Russian team in honor of the 50th victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-45 devoted her ascent to Everest. They were the first to climb the North Col. The flag of the USSR was raised to the peak, which, upon returning home, was presented to veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

In the spring of 2004, a group of Russian climbers in the amount of 20 people from several cities: Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Tolyatti, Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk, Kirov, Podolsk climbed to the top along the center of the Northern Wall - this is the most difficult route among all ascents .

Since the first ascent of Everest, more than four thousand climbers have climbed. And although they say that now the ascent to the peak of Everest is on stream, every year more than 500 people participate in the ascent, there is no guarantee that it will be successful. More than two hundred climbers died on its slopes, in gorges and in snowy abysses. But, despite these sacrifices, people who want to visit the third pole not only do not decrease, but increase every year. They face enormous difficulties, fraught with risk to their lives, but they strive to this peak in order to look at the planet from the roof of the world for a few minutes.

More than 60 years have passed since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first successful conquerors of Mount Everest in history, but the desire to climb it has not diminished over time. We hear countless stories of triumphant, and more recently tragic, attempts to reach the top of the mountain. However, many interesting facts about grief remain unknown to many.

10 Mountain Spiders

Photograph: Gavin Maxwell

Even high in the sky, where the rarefied air is very difficult to breathe, we cannot hide from spiders. Euophrys omnisuperstes (“overhead”), better known as Himalayan jumping spiders, hide in the crevices and nooks and crannies of Mount Everest, making them one of the highest living creatures on Earth. Climbers noticed them on maximum height at 6700 meters.

The little spiders feed on any stray insects that the winds blow to the top of the mountain. They are in fact the only animals permanently residing at such a high altitude, apart from several species of birds. In addition, several previously unnamed grasshopper species were collected during the famously unsuccessful British Everest expedition of 1924 and are now in the British Natural History Museum.

Source 9The two men who scaled the mountain 21 times


Photograph: Mogens Engelund

Two Sherpas, Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi, hold the joint record for the largest number climbing Everest. The couple together managed to reach the top of the mountain an impressive 21 times. Phurba reached the top of the world three times in 2007 alone, while Apa successfully summited the mountain almost every year from 1990 to 2011.

Apa says that over the years he has noticed the obvious changes to Everest caused by global warming. He talked about his concern about the melting snow and glaciers exposing the rock, making it harder to get to the top. He is also concerned about the future of the Sherpa people after they lost their home in a flood caused by melting glaciers. Apa has dedicated several Everest ascents to raising awareness of climate change.

8. The tallest brawl in the world


Photo: Jon Griffith

Climbing Everest is not always the harmonious triumph you might imagine. In 2013, climbers Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith found themselves at the center of a Sherpa scandal after allegedly ignoring an order to stop their climb.

The Sherpas accused the climbers of interfering with them and causing an avalanche that injured other Sherpas laying ropes down the slope. The climbers denied the accusations, and the quarrel turned violent. Sherpas beat the men with their feet, hands and stones, and Moreau said that one of the representatives of the nationality even threatened him with death.

The fight could have ended much worse, but American climber Melissa Arnot advised the trio to flee to their base before the rest of the Sherpas formed a mob and stoned them to death. After the incident, with the assistance of a Nepal Army officer, both sides signed a peace agreement that ended the quarrel.

7. A history of 450 million years


Photo: Tibet Travel

Despite the fact that the Himalayas formed 60 million years ago, the history of Everest is actually much longer. The limestone and sandstone at the top of the mountain were once part of a layer of sedimentary rock below sea level 450 million years ago.

Over time, rocks seabed formed a cluster that was pushed up at a rate of 11 centimeters per year, eventually forming a modern mountain. The upper parts of Everest now contain marine creature fossils and shell rock that was once at the bottom of the ancient ocean.

Explorer Noel Odell first discovered fossils in the rocks of Everest in 1924, proving that the mountain was once below sea level. The first Everest fossils were mined by Swiss climbers in 1956 and by an American climbing team in 1963.

6 Height Controversy


Photograph: Tom Simcock

What is the actual height of Mount Everest? It depends on which side of the border you are on. China has stated that the height of the summit of Everest is 8844 meters, while according to Nepal, the height is 8848 meters.

The difference is due to the fact that, according to China, the mountain should be measured only by the height of the rocks, excluding meters of snow at the very top. Whether this is a more accurate measurement or not, the international community often includes snow when estimating the height of mountains around the world.

The two countries came to an agreement in 2010, setting an official height of 8,848 meters.

5. The mountain is still growing


Photo: Pavel Novak

Judging by recent measurements, both Chinese and Nepalese may be wrong in their assessment of the height of the mountain.

A team of researchers discovered in 1994 that Everest continues to grow by about 4 millimeters each year. The Indian subcontinent was originally an independent land mass that collided with Asia to form the Himalayas. The lithospheric plates keep moving, making mountains keep growing.

Researchers from the American Millennium Expedition in 1999 placed a global positioning system device near the summit to measure height. Their more accurate measurements due to modern technology have led to the fact that the official height of Everest will soon be changed to 8850 meters. Meanwhile, other tectonic activity is actually causing the height of the mountain to decrease, but the changes combined this moment give rise to mountains.

4. Lots of titles


Photograph: Ilker Ender

Even though most of us know the mountain called "Everest", the people of Tibet continue to call the mountain by its ancient name "Chomolungma" (or "Chomolungma"). The Tibetan name means "Mother Goddess of all mountains". But this is not the only alternative name for the mountain. In Nepal, the mountain is known as Sagarmatha, which means "Forehead in the sky", and accordingly the mountain is part of the Nepalese "Sagarmatha National Park" (Sagarmatha national park).

The mountain was named Everest only as a result of the fact that British surveyor Andrew Waugh could not find a common local name. After studying maps of the surrounding area and never finding a suitable solution, he named the mountain after the geographer who worked in India, George Everest (George Everest), leader of the British team that first explored the Himalayas. Colonel Everest refused the honor, but the British representatives officially changed the name of the mountain they used to Everest in 1865. They used to call the mountain the 15th Peak.

3. Cork from people


Photo: Ralf Dujmovits

Despite the fact that climbing Mount Everest costs several thousand dollars, the number of people wishing to conquer the mountain is growing every year. In 2012, German climber Ralf Dujmovits took a shocking photo of hundreds of climbers queuing up to reach the summit. Ralph decided to turn back at the South Col of the mountain, due to bad weather conditions and the kind of long queue.

On May 19, 2012, climbers who wanted to visit one of the attractions near the summit had to stand in line for two hours. In just half a day, 234 people climbed to the top of Everest. However, at the same time, 4 people died, which caused great concern about the ascent process. Specialists from Nepal installed new railings that year to eliminate the "human blockage" and are currently discussing the installation at the top of the stairs.

2. The most polluted mountain in the world


Photo: Himalaya Expeditions

Countless photographs document climbers' journey to the summit of Everest, yet we rarely see photographs of what they leave behind. Everest is polluted not only with the corpses of climbers, but also, by some estimates, 50 tons of waste, and every season this number grows. On the slopes you can see a lot of discarded oxygen tanks, climbing equipment and human excrement.

The Eco Everest Expedition has been climbing the mountain every year since 2008 in an attempt to combat the problem, and so far they have collected more than 13 tons of waste. The government of Nepal introduced a new rule in 2014 that requires each climber to bring 8 kilograms of waste when descending the mountain or they will lose their $4,000 deposit.

Artists working on the Everest 8848 Art Project turned 8 tons of waste, including broken tents and beer cans, into 75 works of art. 65 porters worked on two spring expeditions to clear the rubbish, and the artists turned it into sculptures to draw attention to the dirtiness of the mountain.

1. It's not the highest mountain


Despite the fact that Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth from sea level, Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano in Hawaii, holds the record for the highest mountain in the world.

Everest's peak is at a higher altitude, but this does not mean that the mountain is actually higher. Mauna Kea reaches a height of only 4205 meters above sea level, but the volcano stretches under the surface of the water for 6000 meters. Measured from its base at the bottom of the ocean, its height is 10,200 meters, exceeding the height of Everest by more than a kilometer.

In fact, depending on how you measure, Everest is not the most high mountain and not the highest point on Earth. Chimborazo (Chimborazo) in Ecuador reaches only 6267 meters above sea level, but it is the most high point from the center of the earth. This is due to the fact that Chimborazo is only one degree south of the equator. The earth in the center is slightly thickened, so the sea level of Ecuador is located further from the center of the planet than in Nepal.

The highest peaks in the Chomolungma region

Chomolungma is located in the Himalayas, namely in the Mahalangur-Himal range, which is located on the border of the Republic of Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

The height of its northern peak, located in China and considered the main one, is 8848 meters. This is an absolute record among the highest mountains of the Earth, of which there are 117 (all of them are concentrated in the region of Central and South Asia). The southern peak is slightly lower, 8760 meters, and it can be called "international": it is located on the border of two countries.

The mountain looks like a three-sided pyramid. The slope and ribs from the south are so steep that snow and glaciers do not hold on to them. Has no snow cover and rocky wall. The rest of the ribs, starting from about 5 km height, are covered with glaciers.

Part of Everest, located on the Nepalese side, is part of the Sagarmatha National Park. That is exactly what - Sagarmatha - is called the highest peak of the world in the Nepalese language (in translation - "Heavenly peak"). From this side, it is screened by the Nuptse (7879 m) and Lhotse (8516 m) mountains. Beautiful views it is opened from the surrounding mountains of Kala Pathar and Gokyo Ri.

Chomolungma - this name is translated from Tibetan as "Lady of the Winds" - one of ten mountain peaks, the so-called eight-thousanders located in the Himalayas (there are only 14 of them in the world). Undoubtedly, it remains the most attractive destination for climbers around the world.

Everest panorama

How Everest's Height Was Calculated

It is noteworthy that until 1852 the highest point of the planet was considered to be the multi-peak mountain range Dhaulagiri, also located in the Himalayas. The first topographic surveys, carried out from 1823 to 1843, by no means refuted this assertion.

After some time, however, doubts began to arise, and the Indian mathematician Radhanat Sikdar became their first carrier. In 1852, being at a distance of 240 km from the mountain, he, using trigonometric calculations, made the assumption that Chomolungma or, as it was then called, Peak XV, was the highest peak in the world. Only four years later, more accurate practical calculations confirmed this.

Data on the height of the Chomolungma often changed: according to common assumptions of that time, it was approximately 8872 meters. However, the English aristocrat and geodetic scientist George Everest, who headed the British India Survey from 1830 to 1843, was the first to determine not only the exact location of the Himalayan peak, but also its height. In 1856, Chomolungma was given a new name in honor of Sir Everest. But China and Nepal did not agree with this renaming, although the merits of the outstanding surveyor were beyond doubt.

Today, according to officially confirmed data, Everest is located at an altitude of 8 km 848 m above sea level, of which the last four meters are solid glaciers.

Who are they, courageous pioneers?

Climbing Everest

The organization of ascents to the "roof of the world" and the conduct of scientific research there were difficult not only because of the high cost of such events. Nepal and then still independent Tibet remained closed to foreigners for a long time. Only in 1921, the Tibetan authorities gave the go-ahead and the first expedition began reconnaissance of possible routes to climb Everest along the northern slope. In 1922, monsoons and snowfalls prevented explorers from reaching the summit, climbers used oxygen tanks for the first time, and reached the mark of 8320 meters.

On the way to the top, Buddhist shrines and memorials come across every now and then.

Englishman George Herbert Lee Mallory, a 38-year-old assistant professor from Cambridge and a famous mountaineer with extensive experience, was obsessed with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bconquering Everest. In 1921, a group under his leadership reached a height of 8170 meters and set up camp, and he himself went down in history as the person who first set out to conquer this proud and impregnable height. Subsequently, he made two more attempts to climb, in 1922 and 1924. The third of them was the last and ... fatal. On June 8, they, along with their teammate, 22-year-old student Andrew Irwin, went missing. From the ground, they were last seen through binoculars at an altitude of about 8500 meters. And then - everything: the fearless explorers suddenly disappeared from sight ...

The fate of Mallory became clear only after 75 years. On May 1, 1999, an American search expedition discovered the remains of a brave climber at an altitude of 8230 meters. There was no doubt that it was him: he was identified by the patch on his clothes “J. Mallory," as well as a letter from his wife found in her breast pocket. The corpse itself lay face down with outstretched arms, as if trying to embrace the mountain. When he was turned over, his eyes were closed, which meant only one thing: death did not come suddenly. Further examination of the remains of the first victim of Chomolungma showed that the legendary explorer received fractures of the tibia and fibula.

Thus, two versions were refuted at once: about death from a fall from a great height, and about death during the descent. As for Irwin, his body has not yet been found, although it is obvious to everyone that he also died then. And, most likely, then it was blown away by a strong wind into the nearest abyss, the depth of which is at least 2 km.

Another famous conqueror of the Chomolungma was the British officer and climber Edward Felix Norton, who in 1924 reached 8565 meters, which was an absolute record that held for the next thirty years.

In the period from 1921 to 1952, about 11 unsuccessful attempts were made to climb. In 1952, an expedition from Switzerland made two attempts to reach the summit. But the climbers returned with nothing.

Edmund Hillary in 1953

In 1953, New Zealand climbers joined the British expedition. On May 29, 1953, 34-year-old New Zealander Edmund Hillary and 39-year-old Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people on Earth to climb the "roof of the world." They spent only 15 minutes there: due to insufficient oxygen, they simply could not do it anymore. Norgay symbolically buried cookies and sweets in the snow as an offering to the gods. It's funny that he could not photograph the New Zealander, at the top he managed to capture only the Nepalese.

Mount Everest (Chomolungma)

Tenzing Norgay tried seven times with other expeditions to climb the top of Chomolungma. Each time he did it with a special philosophy of the representative of the mountain people. As the Sherpa later recalled in his book Tiger of the Snows, there was no bitterness in him. He felt like a child climbing into his mother's lap.

What did they feel, a citizen of a distant island nation V pacific ocean and a native of the mountainous Himalayan kingdom, who became the first conquerors of the top of the world? They hugged and patted each other on the back. Probably, the whole gamut of these emotions cannot be expressed in words.

Everest at sunset

The world learned about the conquest of Everest only three days later. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this event. The restless Hillary, together with the expedition, crossed Antarctica a few years later. The British Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the monarch of New Zealand, made him a knight. Also, the New Zealand climber became an honorary citizen of Nepal. In 1990, Hillary's son Peter climbed to the top.

After 1953, expeditions from the United States, India, Italy, and Japan went to the "roof of the world". The first American to set foot on the top of the Chomolungma was Jim Whittaker. This happened on May 1, 1963. After some three weeks, the world was waiting for a sensation akin to its first conquest - American climbers crossed the Western Ridge, where no human foot had ever set foot before.

Since 1975 on the assault highest peak the planets moved the representatives of the weaker sex. The first woman to conquer Everest was a climber from the Country rising sun Junko Tabei, and Polish citizen Wanda Rutkevich - the first European in this capacity. In 1990, the first Russian woman reached the summit, it was Ekaterina Ivanova.

Desperate climbers

More than 4 thousand people have already visited the top of the Chomolungma. Many more than once. For example, the Nepalese climber Apa Sherpa conquered it 21 times. Scientists say that the inhabitants of the mountains are easier to stay at such a height. And yet, the record set by a local resident of Chkhurim, who climbed to the top twice in a week, is surprising.

Everest exploration is, first of all, a test of the limit of human capabilities. The Italian R. Messner and the German P. Habeler climbed the mountain in May 1978 without oxygen masks. Messner subsequently climbed alone more than once and set a series of records. He was the first to overcome the summit during the monsoon period, passed without the help of porters, in record time mastered new route. When you study the biographies of such desperate daredevils, you understand that the desire to conquer the peaks is like passion or illness.

In 1982, the Soviet expedition climbed Chomolungma for the first time along a difficult route from the southwestern wall. The choice of athletes was similar to the selection of astronauts. 11 people made the ascent, one climber was without an oxygen mask, one conquered the summit at night. The photographs show that beauty with such a natural observation deck opens extraordinary. Words cannot express what a beautiful sight it is at night, under the light of the stars.

How the blind American Erich Weihenmeier (2001) and Mark Inglis with amputated legs (2006) managed to get to the top is known only to them. The goal of the daredevils was to show people around the world that achieving the goal is a reality. And they did it!

extreme cases

In the history of conquering Everest, human courage often borders on insanity. A person is tireless in striving to set new records and achievements, especially of this kind, with the prospect of going down in history.

The first attempt to descend from it to skiing undertaken by the Japanese Miura, who only miraculously did not fall into the abyss. Less fortunate was the French snowboarder Marco Siffredi. For the first time, the descent from the summit along the Norton couloir ended successfully. In 2001, the brave athlete wished to take a different route, along the Hornbein couloir, and disappeared without a trace.

The speed of skiers can be judged by the descent of the Frenchman Pierre Tardevel. From a height of 8571 meters, he traveled 3 km in 3 hours. In 1998, Frenchman Kiril Desremo was the first to descend from the summit on a snowboard. Back in 1933, the Marquis of Clydesdale and David McIntyre flew over the top of the mountain in a biplane (an airplane with two wings located one above the other).

Pilot Didier Delsalle first landed a helicopter on top of the mountain in 2005. They flew over Everest on hang gliders and paragliders, jumped off the plane on parachutes.

Climbing today

About 500 people a year decide to conquer Everest (Chomolungma). This is a very expensive pleasure. It is possible to rise from both Nepal and China. Departure from the first one will cost more, while from Chinese territory it will be cheaper, but technically more difficult. Commercial firms that specialize in escorting to the top of the highest mountain in the world ask from 40 to 80 thousand dollars. The amount includes the cost of modern equipment, payment for the services of porters. Only the permission of the government of Nepal can cost from 10 to 25 thousand dollars. The ascent itself lasts up to two months.

Namche Bazaar is a village on the way to Everest, which has an expanded tourist infrastructure where travelers can gain strength and prepare for the ascent

It would be naive to think that without heroic health and proper physical fitness one can aim at such a difficult and serious event. Climbers expect the most difficult ascent, inhuman loads, cutting steps in the ice, building bridges through cracks in the most severe natural conditions. About 10,000 kilocalories per day a person spends when climbing Everest (instead of the usual 3 thousand). During the ascent, climbers lose up to 15 kg of weight. And not everything depends on them, on the level of their training. A sudden hurricane or a collapse can knock you down and carry you into the abyss, and an avalanche will crush you like a small insect. Nevertheless, more and more daredevils decide to climb.

The capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, is reached by plane. The road to the base camp takes about two weeks. It is located at an altitude of 5364 meters. The path here is not very difficult, the difficulties begin further. During adaptation to the extreme conditions of Everest, ascents alternate with descents to the camp. The body gets used to the rarefied air, cold. In preparation for the ascent, every detail is carefully checked. When a person is over an abyss, his life often depends on the strength of the cable and the steel carabiner hammered into the rock.

Above 7500 meters, the so-called "death zone" begins. Oxygen in the air is 30% less than under normal conditions. Blinding sun, knocking down wind (up to 200 km per hour). Not everyone can withstand such realities, which one of the researchers compared with Martian ones.

A mild cold can result in swelling of the lungs or brain. The cardiovascular system is at its limit. Frostbite, fractures and dislocations during climbing are not uncommon. And you also need to go down, which is no less difficult.

“The longest mile on earth” is what climbers call the last 300 meters, the most difficult section. It is a steep, very smooth slope, powdered with snow. And here it is - the "roof of the world" ...

Climatic conditions, flora and fauna

In summer, the temperature on Everest during the day does not rise above -19 degrees, and at night it drops to minus 50. The coldest month is January. Often the temperature drops to 60 degrees below zero.

Of course, in such extreme conditions animal and vegetable world cannot be rich and varied. On the contrary, it is very poor. However, it is here that the highest living representative of the terrestrial fauna lives - the Himalayan jumping spider. Its individuals were found at an altitude of 6700 meters, which seems simply unthinkable for the existence of life.

A little lower, at a level of 5500 meters, a perennial herbaceous plant grows - yellow gentian. Even higher, at an altitude of 8100 meters, the researchers observed the mountain jackdaw or chough, a representative of the corvidae family, a close relative of the alpine jackdaw.

Ecological situation

Recently, scientists have been sounding the alarm and calling for closing access to the highest peak in the world. The reason is the catastrophic level of pollution of Everest and its environs.

Everyone who comes here leaves behind about 3 kg of garbage. According to preliminary estimates, more than 50 tons of waste have accumulated on the mountain. Teams of volunteers have been organized to clean the slopes from traces of human activity.

However, modern equipment and paved routes only increase the number of visitors here, traffic jams even occur on the routes. And the flow of tourists to the foot of the Chomolungma is growing every year ...

Everest is the European name for the mountain, which has long been called local residents, Tibetans, Chomolungma. This name translates as "Divine Mother of Life". The Nepalese, who observed the mountain from the south, called it the "Mother of the Gods", which sounds like "Sagarmatha". The name "Everest" was given to the mountain by the name of the English surveyor George Everest.

Until the middle of the 19th century, there was no exact data on the height of the mountain, so its title the highest peak was unofficial. In 1852, an Indian mathematician made a series of calculations and determined that Everest is the highest mountain on Earth.

Everest was formed by the collision of two plates - Hindustan and Eurasia. The Indian plate went under the crust in Tibet, and the mantle was lifted up, resulting in a large mountain range, which still continues to grow due to the slow movement of tectonic plates.

Everest location

The Himalayan mountains cover a vast territory in the Tibetan and Indo-Ghana plains, separating the desert and mountain regions of Central Asia and the tropical regions of South Asia. The mountains stretch for almost 3 thousand kilometers in length, and are 350 kilometers wide. The area of ​​the Himalayas is about 650 thousand kilometers, and average height peaks - about 6 thousand meters above sea level.

Everest is the highest Himalayan mountains. The mountain in the form of a trihedral pyramid has two peaks: the northern one with a height of 8848 meters is located on the territory of China, or rather, the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the southern one with a height of 8760 runs right along the border of China with Nepal.

On all sides, the peak is surrounded by mountains and smaller ridges: in the south, Chomolungma connects with the eight-thousander Lhotse, between them lies the South Col Pass; from the north is the North Col, which leads to Mount Changze. On the east side of Everest is a steep impenetrable wall called Kangashung.

Not far from the mountain are the peaks of Nuptse, Makalu, Chomo Lonzo. The mountain is also surrounded by glaciers located at an altitude of five thousand meters: Ronbuk, East Rongbuk. From the north of Everest stretches the gorge of the Rong River.

Partially, the mountain is located on the territory of the Nepalese Sagarmatha National Park, which consists of gorges, mountain ranges and rugged areas in the Upper Himalayas.

The nearest major cities to Everest are -