Friday, December 10, 2010

SKY TOUCHING MOUNTAINS

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth. It reaches 29,035 feet above sea level. It was formed the same way as the rest of the Himalayas. The climate in Mt. Everest is extreme; so extreme that yourbody starts to shut down if you start to reach the top. There are many people who have attempted to climb to the peak of Everest, and some who have made it all the way.

Everest, like the rest of the Himalayas, ascended from the floor of the ancient Tethys Sea. The whole mountain range originated when the Eurasian continental plate clashed with the Indian subcontinental plate around 30 to 50 million years ago. The mountain is covered with glaciers that fall from the main peak and its nearby smaller peaks. It is pyramid shaped and has three massive faces and three major ridges, which rise to the summit from the north, south, and west and separate the glaciers. The main glaciers are the Kangshung glacier, the Rongbuk glacier, West Rongbuk glacier, theEast Rongbuk glacier, and the Khumbu glacier.

There have been 10 expeditions that have reached the top of Mt. Everest. The first party to reach the peak of Everest was Mallory and Irvine in 1924. After 36 years, a Chinese party reached the top in 1960. Twenty years later in 1980, Reinhold Messner, who went solo, and a Japanese party reached Everest’s peak.






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