Check out 8 curiosities about Mount Everest

Mount Everest is located in the Himalayan mountain range between Tibet and Nepal. Taken as the highest mountain on earth, some say no, as you will see later in this article.

Everest is 8, 844 meters high and was named after Sir Andrew Scott Waugh, the governor-general of British colonial India, named after his predecessor, Sir George Everest. In 1852, the site was identified as the highest mountain in the world by Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician and surveyor from Bengal.

But it was not until 1953 that she was first climbed. The holders of this feat were Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who made history as the first successful climbers of Mount Everest. However, the desire to climb the mountain has not diminished over the decades.

According to statistics, by the end of 2006, 8, 030 people tried to reach the top of the mountain, of which 212 did not return and 56% died after reaching the summit. Everest is like that, triumphs and tragedies, and other interesting facts. Check out some below.

1 - Mountain Spiders

Even with the thin air of altitude, climbers have even more reason to worry than climb to the top: the spiders. The species Euophrys omnisuperstes, better known as the Himalayan jumping spider (felt the drama?), Hides in nooks and crannies on the slopes of Everest.

Climbers have observed their appearance at altitudes up to 6, 700 meters from the mountain. The small spiders feed on any insects carried by high winds to the rocks. They are practically the only animals permanently inhabiting such a high altitude, besides some bird species.

2 - Two men climbed the mountain 21 times

Sherpas (or Sherpas) form the ethnic group of the Himalayan region of Everest. Many of them have already climbed the mountain, but only two of them have accomplished the feat of doing so 21 times. Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi hold the joint record for most Everest climbs.

Phurba reached the top of the world three times in 2007 alone, and Apa successfully reached the summit almost every year between 1990 and 2011. Apa says he has observed clear mountain changes caused by global warming over the years. He spoke of his concerns about melting snow and glaciers, which expose the rock and make it increasingly difficult to climb.

He also worries about the welfare of his people after losing his own home in a flood caused by melting glaciers. To draw the world's attention to these problems, Apa has dedicated several climbs to Everest to raise awareness of climate change.

3 - The fight on top of the world

Everest climbs are not always the harmonious and glorious triumphs you can imagine. In 2013, the climbers, Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith, faced a violent fight with the Sherpas after allegedly ignoring orders to stop the climb.

The Sherpas accused the climbers of getting in their way, causing an avalanche that hit other Sherpas who were climbing further down the mountain. The climbers denied the accusations and the confrontation turned violent. The Sherpas then attacked with kicks, punches and stones, and Moro said one of them even threatened to kill her.

The fight could have ended much worse, but American climber Melissa Arnot warned the trio to flee to camp before they attacked them to death. After the incident, a Nepalese army officer intervened and both sides signed a peace agreement to resolve the situation.

4 - A 450 Million Year Story

Although the Himalayan Mountains were formed 60 million years ago, the history of Everest actually dates back much longer. Limestone and rock sandstone on the mountaintop were once part of sedimentary layers below sea level 450 million years ago. Amazing, isn't it?

Over time, the rocks of the seabed were forced and pushed upward at a speed of up to 11 centimeters per year, reaching the current position. Most surprisingly, Everest's upper formations contain fossils of sea creatures and shells that once occupied the ocean.

Explorer Noel Odell was the first to discover fossils embedded within Everest rocks in 1924, proving that the mountain was already under the sea.

5 - Heights dispute

The exact Everest height number is a bit relative. For example, there are sources that say the height is 8, 844 meters, as we said at the beginning of the article. With snow, it rises to 8, 848 meters. However, the height may also vary depending on which side of the border you are on. As well?

Just as the numbers above say, the Chinese say the peak is 8, 844 meters, while the people of Nepal say 8, 848 meters. This is because China argues that the mountain should be measured purely by the height of the rocks, excluding the meters of snow at the top.

6 - It's growing

Although the two heights mentioned above are considered, both may be wrong, according to more recent measures. In 1994, a research team found that Everest continues to grow about 4 millimeters each year. According to the study, the Indian subcontinent was originally an independent landmass that collided with Asia, forming the Himalayas, and the continental plates are still moving, pushing the mountains higher and higher.

In 1999, some US researchers placed a global satellite positioning device below the summit to measure growth. Its most accurate results led to Everest's official height being changed to 8, 850 meters. However, not all official sources disclose this number.

7 - The dirtiest mountain in the world

Uneducated people have around the world, don't they? So much so that even Everest suffers from the trash left by visitors and climbers. The mountain is not only littered with the bodies of climbers, but it also has about 50 tons of waste, with more left behind each season.

The tracks are scattered with used oxygen drums, climbing equipment and many human feces. Eco Everest Expedition has been going to the mountain every year since 2008 to try to solve the problem and they have already collected over 13 tons of trash so far.

The Nepalese government wants to impose a new rule from this year, in which climbers must collect at least eight kilograms of waste on their way down, otherwise lose the $ 4, 000 deposit of aid.

Artists who worked on the "Everest 8848" art project have managed to turn tons of trash, including broken tents and beer cans, into 75 pieces of art to draw attention to the environmental problem.

8 - Maybe Not the Highest Point in the World

Although Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth from sea level, Mauna Kea, an inactive Hawaiian volcano, holds the record as the highest mountain in the world. According to List Verse, Everest peak has the highest altitude, but that does not mean that it is the highest.

Mauna Kea reaches a height of 4, 205 meters above sea level, but the volcano extends to an incredible 6, 000 meters below the water's surface. Measured from its ocean floor base, its total height is 10, 200 meters.

In fact, depending on how you measure it, Everest is neither the highest mountain nor the highest peak. Chimborazo in Ecuador only reaches 6, 267 meters above sea level, but is the highest point in the exact center of the earth. This is because Chimborazo resides only one degree south of the equator.