What Is a Mountain?Have you ever climbed a really steep hill? A mountain is a very large, high and steep hill.

As they are cold at the top, lots of mountains are covered in snow. The top of a mountain is called a ‘summit’ or a ‘peak’. There are mountains all around the world.

Some well-known mountains are Ben Nevis in Scotland, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Fuji in Japan. Today, we are going to find out about a famous mountain called Mount Everest.

Where Is Mount Everest?

Mount Everest is in Asia.

The HimalayasMount Everest is part of a group of mountains called the Himalayas.

The Himalayas run through many countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Bhutan and Nepal.

The three highest mountains in the world are all in the Himalayas. These mountains are called Mount Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga.

WildlifeThere are lots of animals that live in the Himalayas although most of them live low down because it gets colder high up in the mountains. Some animals that can be found there are the snow leopard, the Bengal tiger and the one-horned rhino.

Plants called lichen and moss grow higher up the mountains.

Snow Leopard Yak Bengal Tiger

Mount Everest

Mount Everest is 8848 metres high.

That's as high as 643 double-decker buses standing on top of each other!

It is the highest mountain in the world.

The Climate on Mount EverestMountains are colder at their summits.

The temperature on the summit of Mount Everest never goes above 0°C (32F).

0°C (32F) is so cold that water turns to ice at this temperature!

Have you ever been somewhere really cold?

What did you wear to try to keep warm?

Climbing Mount EverestAs the summit of Mount Everest is so high, it is difficult to breathe.

This and the cold and snow make it a dangerous mountain to climb. However, every year many people still try to reach the top of the mountain.

The first people to climb Mount Everest did so nearly 70 years ago. They were Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay from Nepal.

Why do you think so many people want to climb Mount Everest when it is so dangerous?

Climbing Records

• Junko Tabei from Japan was the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest.

• The youngest person to climb Mount Everest was Jordan Romero from the USA. He was 13 years old at the time.

• In 2004, Moni Mulepati and Pem Dorjeee Sherpa from Nepal got married on Mount Everest.

Talk About It

The Impact of Tourism

Hundreds of people climb Mount Everest every year. Some of them leave rubbish like food wrappers, empty oxygen tanks and other climbing gear.

Rubbish from many years ago is still on the mountain. One person called it ‘the world’s highest garbage dump’.

There is a new law which says that each climber has to bring back at least 8kg of rubbish with them. It is weighed when the climber gets back down the mountain to make sure they have obeyed the law.

Did You Know...?

• People in Nepal call Mount Everest ‘Sagarmatha’, which means ‘goddess of the sky’.

• Due to different sections of the Earth moving, scientists believe that Mount Everest is growing up to 6 centimetres each year!

• It takes at least 40 days to climb Mount Everest.

• It is difficult to breathe at the top of Mount Everest so climbers use oxygen tanks.