Discovering Shey Phoksundo: The Jewel of Dolp...
13 October, 2024
Read More
Who doesn’t dream of being on top of the highest mountain in the world? Everyone refers to their successful achievement as being on top of the world, imagine what people feel like after actually being on top of the world, Everest.
If you look back at history, summiting Mount Everest was an unattainable endeavor for people worldwide. Until the first-ever mountaineers, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made it to the top. Since then, many mountaineers, and mountain climbing aspirants have tried climbing Everest, and many have succeeded too.
However, this glorious hasn’t always been a proud moment for everyone who dared this expedition. For many, the attempts to climb the highest cliff have resulted in demise, a lifetime disability, and many other unfortunate accidents.
The best time to climb Mount Everest is from late April to early June and from mid-September to mid-November. These periods offer the best weather conditions for climbing the mountain, which can be extremely challenging due to the high altitude, harsh weather, and rugged terrain.
Climbing Mount Everest requires a high level of physical fitness and technical climbing skills, and it is not recommended for inexperienced climbers. The ascent to the summit involves navigating through the dangerous Khumbu Icefall, climbing steep and exposed ridges, and enduring high altitude sickness, low oxygen levels, and freezing temperatures. The climb is physically and mentally demanding and can be life-threatening.
Climbing Mount Everest is an extremely challenging and physically demanding task, requiring significant physical fitness, technical climbing skills, and experience. The high altitude and harsh weather conditions on the mountain pose significant risks, and many climbers have lost their lives attempting the ascent. It is important to carefully consider the risks and be well prepared before attempting to climb Mount Everest.
As fascinating as the expedition to Everest sounds, it is an equally dangerous and difficult adventure. There are multiple factors that make climbing Mount Everest a challenge. One such factor is the topography of the mountain, which makes it grueling to ascend.
In addition, several other factors such as the climate, atmosphere, weather, and natural disasters prone to mountains make the climb even more difficult. Some of these have been listed below:
It’s obvious that the route to the peak of the highest peak in the world isn’t going to be a piece of cake. However, it isn’t just difficult but dangerous to step too. The mountain is made of multiple layers of backfolded rocks which gives it the share of a triangular pyramid, with three faces
Besides, this rocky mountain is covered with thick layers of ice and snow. The snow itself is rock hard with a thickness that can go up to 6 meters in extreme cold and fluctuate back to a fluffy layer in summer.
The steepness of the face of this mountain makes it difficult to ascend. Among the three faces, the biggest face, the east face is considered the most difficult, and hence people rarely attempt to climb it.
The deep icy crevasses between the frozen icy cliffs en route to the summit of Mount Everest is also a cause of the deaths of many people. These crevasses can be deep up to 45 meters deep and 20 meters wide. There are several such crevasses on the route, and climbers use ladders to cross them.
One such difficult crevasse is the one near Khumbu Icefall, on the way to the summit. This ice fall is located between the Everest Base Camp and the higher camps at a height of 5846 meters.
Unpredictable avalanches are the major risk factors of climb mountains, typically those with higher altitudes. Similar is the situation on the way to Mount Everest. The steep ice falls, melting glacial lakes, and earthquakes cause massive avalanches on the terrains of Mount Everest.
Such avalanches are even frequent during summer when the snow is feeble and glacial lakes start to melt. Thus, climbing Everest during this weather can be very risky to adventure seekers. Avalanches are also a cause of death for many in the base camps as well.
One such massive avalanche during and after the earthquake in 2015 in Nepal, killed several climbers and the ones resting in the Everest Base Camp.
Since the mountain has an altitude of 8848 meters from the sea level, it lacks vegetation and subsequently sufficient amount of oxygen for people to breathe. Besides, climbing such a steep mountain trail causes rapid breathing and increases pulse rate causing more demand for oxygen.
The limited amount of oxygen in sich altitude can result in hypoxia in the body tissues followed by other health difficulties. Hence, mountaineers often carry bottled oxygen tanks to survive in severe conditions of the decline of oxygen in the blood.
The higher altitude of Mount Everest is another major issue for climbers for summiting Mount Everest. There are many problems with climbing such as higher altitudes, the atmosphere being colder, deficiency of oxygen, indigestion, and so on.
People suffer from several health problems such as high-altitude cerebral edema and high-altitude pulmonary edema.
Besides, frost bites, weakness, and muscle cramps are other health issues that climber face while expending Mount Everest.
Since there are three faces of Mount Everest, there are different routes to summit it as well. The Southern route through Khumbu Ice Fall, the northern route through
