Whether an experienced mountain climber or a novice, climbing the Mount Everest is a dream for many. While some have achieved this challenging feat, others remain to be inspired by their sheer grit and determination. Mount Everest has attracted a number of visitors and has also sadly claimed the lives of many. Nevertheless, the thrill for adventure never ceased and it still remains to be an important goal for many. Interesting Facts ♣ Mount Everest remains to be the highest mountain on Earth as is measured by its height from the sea level (8,848 meters). ♣ Edmund Hillary along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first to reach the summit on 29th May, 1953. They reached at 11:30 a.m., and although they attributed the success to the whole group, Tenzing later admitted it was Edmund Hillary who first set his foot on the summit! ♣ Mount Everest is a part of the Himalayan range and is located between the Sagarmatha Zone, Tibet, Nepal, and China. ♣ Mount Everest is known by several other names as well. In Tibet, Mount Everest is known as Chomolungma or Qomolangma. The Chinese translated this as Shèngmǔ Fēng, a name that is rarely used. Locals in Darjeeling named it as Deodurga, which means Holy Mountain. ♣ Although Mount Everest is known as the highest mountain, records also show other tall mountains on Earth. When measured from the base, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is considered to be the tallest mountain - 10,200 m from base, and 4,205 m above sea level. ♣ There are two important routes to climb Mount Everest. One such route is from the southeast ridge from Nepal and the other is the northeast ridge from Tibet. The former is considered to be the relatively easier route. ♣ The first people who climbed without the use of supplemental oxygen via the southeast ridge were Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. They achieved this feat on 8 May 1978. ♣ Reinhold Messner also reached the summit solo, for the first time on August 20, 1980. He used a rather difficult route this time - the Northwest side. ♣ As per records that belong to the Nepalese government, it was a 15-year-old Sherpa girl who turned out to be the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. Their records also claim, Samantha Larson, an 18 year old foreigner from California, was the youngest ever foreigner to climb in 2007. ♣ Mount Everest is also home to a very minute black jumping spider. These spiders hide in crevices and feed on frozen insects. Their food depends largely upon what is blown by the wind into the specific area. ♣ Reports suggest pilot Didier Delsalle from France set a rotorcraft world record when he landed a Eurocopter AS 350 B3 right at the summit of Mount Everest. This feat was executed on 14 May 2005. ♣ Australian climber Christian Stangl was recorded to have made the fastest ascent in 2007. He used the northeast ridge to reach the summit. ♣ Bahadur Sherchan remains to be the oldest climber at 76 years. He achieved this feat on 25 May 2008. ♣ Mount Everest was also shrouded in controversy in 2006 when a climber claimed to have passed a distressed climber - David Sharp, who needed help at that moment. This incident caused a furor about the ethics displayed by climbers. ♣ Mount Everest has also been the place where many have lost their lives in their goal to reach the summit. A lot of factors affect the ascent such as lack of oxygen, extreme weather, exhaustion, frostbite, situations where in people may have fallen due to the frozen ground, etc. During 1996, around 15 people lost their lives while trying to descend from the summit of Mount Everest. No matter what the consequences, not many are deterred from the task of climbing the very famed Mount Everest. These facts only give a glimpse of the hardships faced by the people who have dared to go beyond the ordinary.