View of mountain ranges in the Eastern Region of Nepal. Jochen Schlenker/Westend61 GmbH/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: westendrm011111
Growing up and living in Salt Lake City I’ve always been surrounded by mountains except when traveling. Whenever I go to places that are flat it never takes long before I feel lost and begin to miss the mountains. So when I was thinking of cool places to travel I started to think of mountains. What better mountains are there to see then the tallest in the world? The Himalaya Mountain Range is home to the 109 tallest mountains in the world all of which reach over 7,200 meters (23,622 feet) into the sky.
The mountain range was formed when the Indian and Eurasian plates collided and forced the land up. It was 70 million years ago that the plats first collided and the mountains started to grow and continue to climb slowly into the sky today.
The 14 highest peaks in the Himalayas are all above 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) including the highest peak in the world Mount Everest which tops out at 8,848 Meters (29,029 feet). At nearly 5.5 miles above sea level the top of Everest touches the jet stream which blows snow off of the mountain’s top.
Mount Everest or Sagarmatha (top), highest peak in the world at an altitude of 8,848 metres (29,029 feet) is seen in this aerial view next to 6,812 metres (22,349 feet) high Mount Ama Dablam. DESMOND BOYLAN/Reuters/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: rtrltwo659848
Given the extreme conditions it is no wonder that it wasn’t till 1953 (just more than a hundred years after it was identified as the highest mountain) that the first man reached the top of Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to reach the summit with the help of Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay. Since the first summit, more than 3,000 climbers have made it to the top of the world.
Sir Edmund Hillary (L) and Tenzing Norgay Sherpay in Kathmandu following their conquest of Mount Everest in 1953. Nepal plans to name an airport in the remote Everest region after pioneering climbers Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, a minister said on Wednesday. RTR/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: rtrukonworld043348
In this handout photo released by the Samsung Olympic Games Pledge on May 24, 2012, British climber Kenton Cool crosses a precipice at the ice fall about halfway up the south side of Mount Everest as he was acclimatising for his summit attempt. A near-record number of climbers reached the summit of Everest as the season ended on May 26, 2012, without a repeat of last week’s deadly accidents, which had raised fears of overcrowding on the world’s highest peak. Around 150 people reached the top of the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) mountain at the end of the spring weather window — a week after four deaths led to calls for better safety measures to end “traffic jams” near the summit. SAMSUNG OLYMPIC GAMES PLEDGE/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: afplivefour468362
In this handout photograph released by Neal Beidleman on May 24, 2011, US climber Neal Beidleman (L) gestures as he pauses at the Hillary Step while pushing for the summit of Everest on May 20, 2011. A US survivor of the Mount Everest disaster chronicled in the best-selling book “Into Thin Air” conquered the peak for a second time to lay the ghosts of the 1996 tragedy to rest. Professional climber Neal Beidleman, 51, had guided a group to the summit of the world’s highest mountain and was on his way down when a huge storm blew in on May 10, 1996, catching two teams climbing high on the mountain. NEAL BEIDLEMAN/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: afplivethree908000
I’m not going to add my name to that list any time soon but the views would be worth the trip to Nepal. The Wasatch Mountains top out at 3,636 meters (11, 928 feet) and I’ve found myself staring at them as I drive around the city more than I care to admit. I don’t know what I would do being surrounded by mountains more than twice that height.
To see more pictures of the Himalaya Mountains and Mount Everest check out Newscom.
A trekker pauses for a break on the edge of a glacial stream on the way to Mera Peak, a popular trekking peak in the Khumbu Region, near Mount Everest in Nepal. David Pickford/Robert Harding/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: rhphotos103562
Machapuchare (Machhapuchhre) (Fish Tail) mountain, in the Annapurna Himal of north central Nepal. Mark Chivers/Robert Harding/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: rhphotos163961
A starry-eyed photographer has captured the beauty of the Milky Way above the Himalayan night sky. Dedicated snapper, Anton Jankovoy, trekked up an adjacent mountainside to capture the perfect picture and even started meditating to overcome the freezing temperatures. Now the 23-year-old has caught a series of stunning shots, stopping in time the movement of the universe around the earth. One image shows the sprawling collection of stars, planets and solar systems hovering above the highest mountain range in the world. Anton Jankovoy/ZUMA Press/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: zumawirewestphotosfive639645
Sunset on Mount Everest. Christian Kober/Robert Harding/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: rhphotos142951
High altitude flowers with Ama Dablam in background. Christian Kober/Robert Harding/Newscom. Find it on Newscom.com: rhphotos142934
You may also be interested in these other posts on FocalPoint:
Around the World: the “Northward Route”
Around the World: Costa Rican Volcanoes
Tags: around the world, asia, Everest, Himalaya, Himalayas, india, mountains, Nepal