Mount Everest

IN THE NAME OF EVEREST

Once known as Peak 15, Mt. Everest was announced by The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India as the tallest mountain in the world. It was changed later to Everest by surveyor Andrew Waugh in honor of Sir George Everest, surveyor general of India who recorded the location of the mountain.

Mt. Everest’s Tibetan name is Qomolangma “Mother Goddess of the Universe”. Both scholars and Tibetans have been insisting that the Western world should refer to the peak as Qomolangma (pronounced as Chomolangma) since it is the mountain’s proper name.

While in the early 1960s, the Nepalese government proclaimed its Nepalese name as Sagarmatha “The Summit Over the Sky” after realizing that they did not have a name for it yet.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION

Mount Everest and the rest of the Himalayas actually rose from the floor of an ancient tropical ocean, the Tethys Sea. Its formation is due primary to the movement of tectonic plates 30 to 50 million years ago. The Eurasian continental plate collided with the Indian subcontinental plate and caused marine limestone to uplift. This limestone formed the yellow band on top of the mountain. Further geological processes have created the mountain into layers of different rock type. The layer underneath the yellow band is composed of metamorphosed shale which is eroded. This layer is also characterized by rough cliffs and fantastic pinnacles. Finally, the bottom layer which is always covered with ice, consists of highly metamorphosed black gneiss.

The pyramid-shaped mountain is composed of huge glaciers which shape it to have three faces and three major ridges. Its major glaciers are Khumbu which stretches on northeast before turning southwest, West Rongbuk in the northwest, Rongbuk in the north, East Rongbuk in the northeast and Kangshung in the east.

Interestingly, Mount Everest still rises at a rate of approximately one centimeter a year due to continuous collision of continental plates of Asia and India which caused its formation in the first place.

CLIMATE

Due to its high altitude, climate in the Mount Everest is extremely cold. Temperature in the mountain constantly remains below freezing point throughout the year. The coldest month is January which is characterized by a temperature as low as 36° C (-33° F) while during July which is its warmest month, temperature measures -19° C (-2° F).

The best season to climb Everest is during its spring season which is between March to May since weather during this time is most cooperative. On the other hand, climbers are warned to take extra precaution in venturing into the mountain from June to September since wind and precipitation blow the summit due to the Indian monsoon. As a result, dangerous snowstorms and masses of clouds are common during this time of the year. Finally, during its winter which is from November to February, the global southwest-flowing jet stream moves in from the north which brings winds of hurricane moving as fast as 285 km/h (177 mph).