13 Amazing Mount Everest Fact for Kids [Must Read] 2024
As UNESCO’s first natural world heritage site of Nepal in 1979, with the highest altitude of 29,028 feet, Mount Everest stands out as the tallest mountain above sea level today.
This mountain is an attraction to many visitors and mountaineers, whether they have experienced climbing mountains or not. The two common routes followed by the mountaineers on Everest are the Standard Route, i.e., the route that approaches from the southeast of Nepal, and the other from Northern Tibet.
Many fascinating Mount Everest facts for kids will enlighten your knowledge of this mountain peak and its summits.
13 Interesting Mount Everest facts for kids:
Who climbed Mount Everest first?
This is one of the most challenging mountains to climb and reach the peak. With the major part of Mount Everest being in the regions of Nepal, the Nepalese government initially prevented people from other countries climbing it. But, the Britishers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were the first mountaineers to climb and never returned. This instance led to confusion if they had reached their peak or not. After this, Tenzing Norgay, a Nepali – Indian mountaineer, and Edmund Hillary, from New Zealand were the ones documented to be the first ever mountaineers to climb Mount Everest in 1953.
Everest is not the tallest mountain on earth:
While it might seem surprising, Mount Everest is not the tallest in the world. Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii is the tallest in the world. This is because the mountain of Mauna Kea is only 13,796 feet above sea level, and the remaining 19,700 feet are below the Pacific Ocean. Due to this fact, Mauna Kea, a dormant volcanic mountain, was declared the tallest in 1983.
Mount Everest increases in height every year:
Mount Everest is ever-growing even after its existence for about 50 – 60 million years. This rise in height is due to the Indian collision force and the Eurasian tectonic plates; the pressure from both these ends is the sole reason for its increasing yearly height. Researchers have proven that the height of Mount Everest grows by 4 mm or around 40 cm every ten years.
There is a “2 o’clock rule” on the summit of Mount Everest:
On climbing Mount Everest, if the mountaineers do not reach the summit by 2 p.m., then it’s recommended to return to the safety camps. Past climbing experiences have proven that due to the unpredictable cold weather, the chances of risking one’s life is very high when mountaineering beyond 2 o’clock.
Missing oxygen in oxygen bottles:
According to records, the average mountaineer requires around 7-8 bottles of oxygen. If they don’t have enough oxygen to replenish the bottles, they return to the camps. Most of the time, researchers have observed that the oxygen is empty within the time the climbers ascend the summit.
Mount Everest is home to Jumping Spiders, the highest permanent resident on the earth:
Jumping spiders are the only creatures permanently based on the mountains of Everest at an altitude of 6700 meters. This does not mean that no other animals live on the mountain top of Mt. Everest. Animals like Himalayan yaks, Himalayan tahr, snow leopard, etc., stay on the mountain top but at a lower altitude when compared to the jumping spiders.
There is an absence of Oxygen:
8000 mt and above is commonly known as the dead zone on Mt. Everest. In this zone, breathing becomes difficult due to the absence of oxygen. The summit’s temperature drops to -50 degrees celsius and is considered around one-third of the oxygen at sea level. The highest known temperature here is -19 degrees celsius during summer. An accomplished mountaineer from Nepal, Babu Chiri Sherpa is the only person known to date to survive on the summit without oxygen for about 21 hours.
Helicopters can land on Mount Everest.
Didier Delsalle was the first man to land a helicopter on Mount Everest at a summit of 8848 meters. He was a French pilot who flew a helicopter called Eurocopter. He set this record on May 14, 2005.
The summit of this mountain is not the farthest from the center of the earth:
Although Mt. Everest is considered the highest and the tallest mountain above sea level, it is not the farthest from the earth’s center. The earth is not exactly spherical but somewhat oval because the tallest mountain is not the farthest point to the earth’s center. Mount Chimborazo is located in Ecuador, South America, and is the farthest mountain summit to the earth’s center.
Francys Arsentiev is called the “sleeping beauty of Mount Everest.”
Francys Arsentiev from America was the first American woman who summited Mount Everest without an oxygen supply. Unfortunately, she died on her way back due to hypothermia and a cerebral edema. Since then, this 40-year-old bold and brave mother of a son has been known to be sleeping there, and therefore, the name “The sleeping beauty on Mount Everest” was titled.
Planes can fly over the summit of Mount Everest.
Planes can fly up to the altitude of 8000 – 10000 meters. Nowadays, flying an airplane over the summits of Mt. Everest is not considered a big deal except for the unpredictable weather conditions that can cause turbulence. Tenzing-Hillary Airport is the closest airport near this mountain’s summits, at 2860 meters. It is known to be one of the most dangerous airports in the world.
Mount Everest has recorded hundred of summits over the years.
Although Mount Everest is considered to be one of the toughest mountains to climb in the world, records have proven that there have been over 9000 summits by mountaineers apart from the record of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Among the 9000 mountaineers, Babu Chiri Sherpa is the only person on earth to have climbed and summited Everest more than once. In 2013, there was a record of 667 people summiting Everest, while 2018 recorded the highest number of summits by 800 people.
There is a 1% death rate at Mount Everest:
Records have proven that there were several deaths between 1970 and 1990. This number had then eventually started decreasing over the years, with a large number of mountaineers summiting Mount Everest. Mount Everest, a treasure in Nepal, is even today considered to be one the most challenging and adventurous places on the planet Earth for trekking and mountaineering. Apart from this, Mt. Everest, having the highest mountain summit, is also important to geological scientists to study the facts on climate change.
Conclusion
In this article, we took you through a list of interesting and fascinating Mount Everest facts that you might not have known about before. Climbing this mountain is not something that people can do easily, but it definitely isn’t impossible! If you ever wanted to know more about Mount Everest, we hope that the information in this article gave you a head start on learning.