Everest The Highest

Highest Peak in the world

Maximum number of successfully climbed peak

Only mountain peak named after an explorer (George Everest)

This page is dedicated to the souls

resting on the shoulders of mighty Everest in their exploration endeavour

bhuniazone respectfully salutes

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Himalaya The Great Mountain Range:

Himalaya extends from Hidukush in the west to Brahmaputra in the east. Its length is 1500 miles straight along the air. Explorer Sidney Burad published a map in 1907. He subdivided the whole range into 4 regions:

1. Punjab Himalaya (Shivalik)

2. Kumayun Himalaya

3. Nepal Himalaya

4. Assam Himalaya

Afterwards a portion of the Nepal Himalaya was renamed as a separate zone as:

5. Sikkim Himalaya

Everest is situated in the Nepal Himalaya occupying land portions of Nepal and Tibet. Consequently there are two starting points for its peak. Either Nepal or Tibet. Any one of these two government’s permission is necessary for an expedition.

Vital statistics of Everest:

Height:	8848 Meters. 29,002 feet.
Lattitude:	27* 59’ 16” North
Longitude:	86* 55’ 40” East
Highest peak in the world	2nd is K-2 (Height - 28,250 feet)

Shape is pyramidal with three surfaces those are North, East and Southwest. The southwest face is devoid of any ice at its peak and exposed rock surface is visible.

Everest Nomenclature:

The mountain is situated in Nepal and Tibet. Nepalese call it ‘Sagarmatha’. Tibetans call as ‘Chomolungma’, ‘Chomokankar’ and ‘Chomouri’.

The oldest record of 1733 as noted in a map of French Jesuits printed in Paris the mountain had been drawn as ‘Chomo-Luncma’. The French collected this information from Beijing (China) in the year of 1717. However it was not known as the highest peak at that time.

During November 1849 to January 1850 Surveyor Mr. J. O. Nicholson first officially noted a new peak from nearby six observation centers with the help of a theodolite and marked it as peak ‘h’. In 1845 Michael Hennessy of Survey of India first started identifying the Himalayan peaks by Roman number. The numbering started from the east end of the Himalayan range. Afterwards as a general procedure head quarter marked all the peaks by Roman number and ‘h’ was renamed as ‘Peak XV’. Kanchenjunga was marked as Peak XIII.

Many times had passed in exploring the Himalayan mountains. In the mean time Mr. Radhanath Shikdar (a Bengali) in 1852 first calculated the height of Peak XV exactly as 29.002 feet and that it was the highest in the world. He was the chief computer in the office of the Surveyor General of India at that time.

When the Roman numbering job was over Survey of India started naming the peaks. For naming the peaks they started a common protocol of respecting the local names, culture and beliefs. However the then Surveyor general Col. Andrew Wogh recommended the highest peak as ‘Everest’ in the name of Sir George Everest. He did this as a tribute and recognition to his predecessor as Sir Everest was a genius in the development of the measuring techniques of the mountain heights.

George Everest had stepped in India as a British soldier. Sir Willium Lambton was the chief and founder of the Trigonometrical Survey of India and recognized George Everest as an intelligent worker and absorbed him in his department. After the demise of Sir Lambton in the year 1823 Geoge Everest became the chief. He was also entrusted as the Surveyor General of India. He had worked till 1843 and during these 20 years he had completed the gigantic job of exploration and scaling of the Himalayan peaks and survey of India. He developed the scientific technique of scaling the peaks.

As recognition of his pioneering work Peak XV was officially declared as Mount Everest in 1865.

In this context it can be discussed that the recommendation of renaming K-2 as “Godwin Austin” was rejected by the Govt. of India because the Surveyor General was unwilling to label natural feather with the names of individuals. Everest is an exception in naming the mountains.

Even there was strong protest against Everest and people from Nepal and Tibet suggested many other names with authentication such as Debadhunga, Vairathan, Bairao, Gouri Shankar and Chingodanari. In fact the proposal of “Gourishankar” was so strong that Royal Geographical Society accepted and changed the name to Gourishankar and it remained so for several years. After some time Capt. Wood worked out that Everest and Gourishankar are two separate existing mountains and the name of Everest returned again.