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Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, with its summit 8,848 meters (29,029 ft) above sea level. The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China.

By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals. Everest has claimed 210 lives.

In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at 29,002 ft (8,840 m). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh the British Surveyor of India at the time. While Waugh was anxious to preserve local names if possible but was unable to find any commonly used. Waugh's search for a local name was hampered by Nepal and Tibet being closed to foreigners at the time. Many local names existed, with perhaps the best known in Tibet for several centuries being Chomolungma (“Saint Mother”), which had appeared on a 1733 map published in Paris by the French. However, Waugh argued that with the plethora of local names, it would be difficult to favor one specific name over all others. So, he decided that Peak XV should be named after George Everest, his predecessor as Surveyor General of India. George Everest opposed the name and told the Royal Geographical Society in 1857 that Everest could not be written in Hindi nor pronounced by the Indians.

Everest is the mountain whose summit attains the greatest distance above sea level. Several other mountains are claimed as alternative “tallest mountains on Earth.” Mauna Kea in Hawaii is tallest when measured from its base on the mid-ocean floor, rising over 10,200 m (6.3 miles), but only attains 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level. By the same measure of base to summit, Mount McKinley in Alaska is also taller than Everest. Despite its height above sea level of only 6,193 m (20,320 ft), Mount McKinley sits atop a sloping plain, yielding a heigh above base of approximately 5,600 meters (18,400 ft). The summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador is 2,168 m (7,113 ft) farther from the Earth’s center than Everest, because the Earth bulges at the Equator.

A minute black jumping spider has been found at elevations as high as 6,700 meters (22,000 ft), possibly making it the highest confirmed non-microscopic permanent resident on Earth. They lurk in crevices and possibly feed on frozen insects that have been blown there by the wind. It should be noted that there is a high likelihood of microscopic life at even higher altitudes. Birds, such as the bar-headed goose, have been seen flying at the higher altitudes of the mountain, while others such as the Chough have been spotted as high as 7,920 m scavenging on food left by prior climbing expeditions.

The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the mountainous region of Nepal. The term Sherpa is also used to refer to local people who are employed as guides for mountaineering expeditions. They are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local terrain.

Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at high altitudes. It has been speculated that a portion of the Sherpas' climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation to living in high altitudes. Some of these adaptations include unique hemoglobin-binding enzymes, doubled nitric oxide production, hearts that can utilize glucose, and lungs with an increased sensitivity to low oxygen.

Everest is growing by about 4 millimeters a year. It became the highest mountain in the world some 200,000 years ago.

The Everest View Hotel is at 12,779 feet the highest hotel in the world. Each room affords a panoramic view of Everest, weather permitting. Guests are flown to an airstrip and are then transported by yak to the hotel. The sudden high altitude is a shock to the unacclimatised guests, and so the hotel pumps a constant fresh supply of oxygen into each room.

A white plume of clouds is often seen blowing off the top of Everest. It is the jet stream, a wind current reaching speeds up to 250 mph.

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