Mt. Everest: 6 Amazing Facts About The Highest Mountain In The World

By visiting the Mt. Everest, you’ll probably be amazed at the highest peak on earth. This mountain sits on the Chinese-Nepalese border in the Mahalangur area of the Himalayas. It divides the south-central Tibet of China and northeast Nepal. The lists below are some of the very shocking facts about Mt. Everest.

Mt. Everest Has More Than 300 Dead Bodies

This one is the creepiest wtf facts in the history of this mountain. Since 1922 at least one person has died on Mt. Everest each year except for 1997. The main cause of death includes suffocation, fatigue, and starvation. The trail leading to the summit is lined with dead bodies and there are believed to be over 300 people who call Mt. Everest their final resting place.

Many bodies are left because of poor accessibility and severe weather often making it very dangerous and expensive to bring them down from the mountain. With over 300 deaths to a mere 3,000 successful climbers, Mt. Everest will claim nearly 10% of the people who try to feat of making the peak.

Without Supplemental Oxygen

On August 20th, 1980 Reinhold Messner became the first to climb the mountain alone and without supplemental oxygen. This was a remarkable feat not only for Messner but for much of the world, up until his return most people argued that it was impossible to climb the mountain with such little provisions.

He also is the first climber to ascend all 14 of the world’s eight-thousanders, which are mountain peaks that reach 8,000 meters or 26,000 feet above sea level.

Man-made Against Mother Nature

The world’s tallest man-made structure of any kind is the Burk Khalifa, it stands 829 meters or 2,719 feet this immense skyscraper is a hard one to beat but Mt. Everest is nearly ten times it size at 29,029 feet. The mountains also grow 4 millimeters per year or 1 foot every 76 years as a result of upward thrust by two opposing tectonic.

Mt. Everest Has A Signal

Believe it or not, there is a weak cellphone signal on the summit of the mountain. This allowed for the first tweet to be sent by a hiker named Kenton Cool in 2011, it read “Everest summit number 9 1st tweet from the top of the world.”  2 years later the first phone call was placed from its peak. Upon hearing about the feat Nepalese officials deemed it to be illegal.

Mount Junkyard

As early as 1963 a former climber of Mt. Everest wrote in National Geographic that parts of Mt. Everest had become the highest landfill on the face of the earth. Empty oxygen bottles, human feces, food packaging, broken climbing gear, and torn tents litter its paths.

A single cleanup in 2011 removed over 8 tons of waste from Mt. Everest and many more tons remain. In order to counteract the problem, Nepal’s government now requires climbers to bring back their equipment or they will be subject to heavy fines.

The Youngest And The Oldest

The youngest person to successfully climb the mountain is 13 years old Jordan Romero of the United States of America. In 2010 he broke the record set by 15 years old Ming Kiba from Nepal, most who climb Mt. Everest are somewhat young or middle-aged but there are some exceptions to this though. The oldest person to reach the summit was an 80 years old man named Yukio Mira from Japan.

Conclusion

Mt. Everest climbing is an epic task to achieve. However, it also means risking your life in momentous danger. But there are some plenty of places to climb in the Himalayas without putting your precious life in tragedy. For those who have a courageous heart, make it sure that before you take the risk to climb you know all you need to do.