Mount Everest - geography.

« over the steep rock underneath.

The movement breaks the ice into sérac (large, pointed masses of ice) cliffs and columns separated by huge crevasses, and causes repeated icefalls across the route between Base Camp and Camp I.

Many people have died in this area.

Exposed crevasses may be easy to avoid, but those buried undersnow can form treacherous snow bridges through which unwary climbers can fall. The standard climb of Mount Everest from the south side ascends the Khumbu glacier to Base Camp at 5,400 m (17,600 ft).

Typical expeditions use four camps above BaseCamp; these camps give the climbers an opportunity to rest and acclimate (adapt) to the high altitude.

The route from Base Camp through the great Khumbu icefall up to Camp I at 5,900 m (19,500 ft) is difficult and dangerous; it usually takes one to three weeks to establish because supplies must be carried up the mountain in severalseparate trips.

Once Camp II, at 6,500 m (21,300 ft), has been supplied in the same manner using both Base Camp and Camp I as bases, climbers typically break downBase Camp and make the trek from there to Camp II in one continuous effort.

Once acclimatized, the climbers can make the move to Camp II in five to six hours.

Camp IIIis then established near the cirque of the Khumbu glacier at 7,300 m (24,000 ft).

The route up the cirque headwall from Camp III to the South Col and Camp IV at 7,900 m(26,000 ft) is highly strenuous and takes about four to eight hours.

The South Col is a cold, windy, and desolate place of rocks, snow slabs, littered empty oxygen bottles,and other trash. From the South Col to the summit is a climb of only 900 vertical m (3,000 vertical ft), although its fierce exposure to adverse weather and steep drop-offs poses manychallenges.

The section between 8,530 m (28,000 ft) and the South Summit at 8,750 m (28,700 ft) is particularly treacherous because of the steepness and unstable snow.From the South Summit there remains another 90 vertical m (300 vertical ft) along a terrifying knife-edged ridge.

The exposure is extreme, with the possibility of hugevertical drops into Tibet on the right and down the southwest face on the left.

A little more than 30 vertical m (100 vertical ft) from the summit is a 12-m (40-ft) chimneyacross a rock cliff known as the Hillary Step; this is one of the greatest technical challenges of the climb. As the popularity of climbing Everest has increased in recent years, so have safety problems.

To pay the high climbing permit fee charged by the Nepalese government,many experienced climbers have recruited wealthy, amateur climbers as teammates.

The combination of inexperience, crowded summit conditions (more than 30 havebeen known to summit the peak on the same day), and extreme weather conditions has led to a number of tragedies in which clients and competent guides alike have diedattempting the climb. V ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES The large number of trekkers and climbers who visit Nepal and the Everest region contribute to the local economy but also cause serious environmental impact.

Such impactincludes the burning of wood for fuel, pollution in the form of human waste and trash, and abandoned climbing gear.

Although some climbing gear is recycled by localresidents either for their own use or for resale, it is estimated that more than 50 tons of plastic, glass, and metal were dumped between 1953 and the mid-1990s in whathas been called “the world’s highest junkyard.” Up on the ice, where few local people go, the norm is to throw trash into the many crevasses, where it is ground up andconsumed by the action of the ice.

A few bits and pieces show up on the lower part of the glacier many years later as they are churned back to the surface, although organicmatter is generally consumed or scavenged by local wildlife.

At the high-elevation camps, used oxygen bottles are strewn everywhere. Efforts have been made to reduce the negative environmental impact on Mount Everest.

The Nepalese government has been using a portion of climbing fees to clean up thearea.

In 1976, with aid from Sir Edmund Hillary’s Himalayan Trust and the Nepalese government, the Sagarmatha National Park was established to preserve the remainingsoil and forest around Mount Everest.

By the mid-1990s the park comprised 1,240 sq km (480 sq mi).

Trekking and climbing groups must bring their own fuel to the park(usually butane and kerosene), and the cutting of wood is now prohibited.

Because the freedoms of Sherpas have been restricted by the park rules, they have not beensympathetic to the existence of the park.

Additionally, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control, funded by the World Wildlife Fund and the Himalayan Trust, was established in1991 to help preserve Everest’s environment.

Climbing activity continues to increase, however, and the environmental future of the Mount Everest area remains uncertain. Contributed By:John Ford ShroderMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

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