Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
It's elevation of 29,035 feet was determined using
Gps satellite equipment on May 5, 1999.
More than 600 climbers from 20 countries have
climbed to the summit by various routes from both
north and south. Climbers' ages have reanged from
nineteen years to sixty. At least 100 people have perished, mostly by avalances, falls in crevasses, cold, or the effects of then air.
Climbing on Everest is vry strictly regulated by both the Nepalese and Chinese governments. Permits cost thousands of U.S.dollars ($50,000 for a seven member party in 1996), and are difficult to obtain, and waiting lists extend for years.Treks to Everest base camp, minus the summit attempt, are becoming increasingly popular on both the north and south sides of the mountain. On the north side, a Buddhist monastery stands at the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier, beneath Everest's spectacular north face. The monastery is one of two whose locations were selected specifically to allow religious contemplation of the great peak. The other is the Thyangboche Monastery in Napal. The once active Rongbuk monastery in Tibet has required much rejuvenation from the destruction it experienced following China's invasion of Tibet.
Mount Everest is also know by the Tibetan name Chomolangma (Goddess Mother of the Snows), and by the Nepali name Sagarmatha (Mother of the Universe).
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