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Mount Everest - whose summit is crossed by the border between Nepal and Tibet, China - is the world's tallest mountain.
No one realized that this Chinese and Nepalese wonder was the tallest until 1856.
The official height of Mount Everest is 8848 meters or 29,029 feet, which is based on a 1954 ground-based measurement. However, in 1999, a National Geographic Society satellite-based measurement indicated that Mount Everest was about 2 meters (6 feet) taller.
Mount Everest is not standing still. Due to massive geological forces, it is rising at the rate of almost 1 centimeter (1/3 inch) per year - and moving northeast at about 6 centimeters (2 inches) per year.
In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to scale Mount Everest. Some say two climbers accomplished this feat in 1924, but the evidence is weak.
More than 2,200 people have reached the summit, but over 200 climbers died.
Climbers face many deadly dangers, including:
Then why do people want to climb Mount Everest? Certainly, challenge and prestige are two answers. Another is "Because it is there", as mountaineer George Mallory stated.
A blind person, a one-legged person, a 15 year old, and a 70 year old have successfully made it to the top. And other adventurers have skied, snowboarded and hang glided down the mountain.
Climbing Mount Everest is not cheap. Commercial expeditions can cost climbers $60,000 to $75,00 each.
The southern ridge is the most popular (and easiest) route to the summit.
The annual window for ascending Mount Everest is short. Normally, conditions in this part of the Himalayan Mountains are the most favorable in April and May. Before then, the freezing winds are too strong. After May, the stormy monsoon season arrives.
In the last decade, Mount Everest has been attracting too many climbers for its own good, say environmentalists. During the April to May window, base camps are unbearably crowded with hopefuls.
Sadly, mountaineer litter bugs discard plastic packaging and non-biodegradable climbing gear (including empty oxygen tanks) on the formerly pristine slopes.
Mount Everest is seen up close annually by tens of thousands of hardy hikers who trek to breathtaking vantage points.
They can see Mount Everest, too (though from greater distances). China and Nepal have sites for them. Darjeeling in India also has a special viewing spot.
Alternatively, you can take a flight-seeing tour. Some fly within a couple of miles of Mount Everest.
Don't call the mountain "Mount Everest" in Tibet or Nepal. That's British coinage. Tibetans refer to it as Chomolungma and Nepalese call it Sagarmatha.

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