Natural Environment Blog

Today is the anniversary of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain.

At 11:30 a.m. local time on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay from Nepal reached the summit of Mount Everest. The pair were part of a two pair expedition aiming to conquer the peak.

The first pair, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, came to within 100 meters of the summit when they had to turn back due to exhaustion. Their work wasn’t in vain though, as their route finding and trail breaking paved the way for the following pair. They also had extra caches of oxygen that came in handy.

Although the team had always maintained that it was a team effort, Tenzig later revealed that Hillary was the first to actually put his foot on the summit.

Here’s a list of the 10 tallest mountains in the world, when measured from sea level. All mountains are in Asia. As you can see, most of them are in Nepal.

1. Mount Everest in China, Nepal. It’s peak is 8,850 meters above sea level (29,035 feet)
2. K2 in China, Pakistan. It’s peak is 8,611 meters above sea level (28,251 feet)
3. Kangchenjunga in India, Nepal. It’s peak is 8,586 meters above sea level (28,169)
4. Lhotse in China, Nepal. It’s peak is 8,516 meters above sea level (27,940 feet)
5. Makalu in China, Nepal. It’s peak is 8,485 meters above sea level (27,838 feet)
6. Kangchenjunga South in India, Nepal. It’s peak is 8,476 above sea level (27,808 feet)
7. Lhotse Middle in Nepal. It’s peak is 8,430 meters above sea level (27,657 feet)
8. Kangchenjunga West in Nepal. It’s peak is 8,420 meters above sea level (27,625 feet)
9. Lhotse Shar in Nepal. It’s peak is 8,400 meters above sea level (27,559 feet)
10. Cho Oyu in China, Nepal. It’s peak is 8,201 meters above sea level (26,906 feet)

As mentioned, these are the tallest mountains in the world as measured from sea level.

If you count all the mountains in the world - even the ones that rise up out of the ocean, these are not even close to being the tallest!

If you measure the mountain from it’s base to it’s summit, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world. Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. In total, Mauna Kea is 10,005 meters tall. More than half of it’s height is under water though. Only 4,205 meters (13,796 feet) is above sea level. The rest, 5,800 meters (19,000 feet), is under the ocean.

Mitre Peak in Milford Sound, New Zealand is often referred to as the tallest peak to rise directly from the sea. Basically, Mitre Peak comes straight up out of the sea, and continues until it’s summit. Mitre Peak is 1,692 metres tall (5,551 feet).

I just heard that Sir Edmund Hillary, first person to climb Mount Everest, has died, aged 88.

Sir Edmund died of a heart attack this morning at Auckland City Hospital.

Sir Edmund Hillary became famous back in 1953 for being the first person (along with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay) to reach the summit of Mount Everest - the world’s highest mountain. Since then, he has used his fame to help the people of Nepal. He founded the Himalayan Trust, to which he gave much of his time and energy. He was also responsible for building many schools and hospitals across remote regions of the Himalayas. He was also named as the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation.

Having been born in New Zealand myself, I’ve always known that Sir Edmund Hillary was a bit of a legend. I remember a few years back hiking to Mueller Hut, then onward to Mount Oliver.  I heard at the time that Mount Oliver was Sir Edmund Hillary’s first major climb.

So, my first major climb was also Sir Edmund Hillary’s major climb! (although, I suspect he took a more direct different route!)