Mount Everest, or Sagarmatha, stands 29,000 feet above sea level, and its summit is the highest point on Earth. It was created 50 to 60 million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. The forces that pushed the rocks together all those years ago are still going strong, and every year, Everest's summit rises by a quarter of an inch.
On May 29th 1953, New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people ever to reach the summit. At the time, that was a huge deal!
However, today over 5,000 people have successfully climbed Mount Everest, some multiple times. Nevertheless, it should always be remembered that ascending Mount Everest is an extremely challenging feat, even for the most experienced mountaineers. One of the most significant dangers is the high altitude. At 26,000ft, you enter what is known as the “death zone.” the final stretch just before the summit where the oxygen levels become too low to support human life. Spending too much time in the death zone can cause altitude sickness and brain swelling and this is where the mountain claims most of its victims.
In 1996, Everest had one of its most disastrous and catastrophic events…
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