Everyone is familiar with the tallest peak in the world, Mount Everest. And the mountaineer from all around the world has set their eyes on this mightiest peak. The Everest expedition is a dream for many climbers. However, climbing Mount Everest at an elevation of 8848.86m is not an easy adventure. There is the various difficulty with the Mount Everest Expedition.

With an elevation of 8848.86m, Mount Everest is regarded as the earth’s tallest mountain peak. So Climbing Mount Everest is the dream of every adventurer. The world’s famous peak Everest is located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas.

The word “Himalaya” is derived from the Sanskrit word that means home of snow. It is situated on the borderline that runs across the peak of the mountain with its half territory in Nepal and half in Tibet, an autonomous region of China. The Nepalese or Sanskrit name for Everest is Sagarmatha whereas its Tibetian name is Chomolungma. Mount Everest is the holy place for the Tibetian as the Tibetan name” Chomolungma” symbolizes “Peak of Heaven ”. On the other hand, the Sanskrit name for the Everest Sagarmatha means “Goddess Mother of the world”. It is located in the Mahalangur range of the Tibetian Plateau and In Nepal, it lies in the Sagarmatha National Park in the Solukhumbu district.

Everest is at the highest elevation from sea level but its summit is not far from the earth’s center. There are 17 routes for the Mount Everest Expedition but the climber usually prefers two routes from Nepal and Tibet. Nepal side is the southern ridge and the Tibet side is the northern ridge. The very first line of the Mount Everest Expedition was created by Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from Nepal in 1953. On the other hand, George Mallory created the line from the Tibetan side but disappeared while climbing Mount Everest in 1924.

Later, the Chinese team 1960 reached the summit. Many experienced mountaineers and climbers state that expedition is difficult from both routes. This also clears the difficulty of the Mount Everest Expedition. From the Nepal side, one must trek through the perilous Khumbu Icefall. However, one can drive a jeep up to the basecamp from the Tibetan side.

Climbing Mount Everest

The summit to the highest peak has been a lifelong dream for many mountaineers. They want to have that once-a-lifetime experience of Climbing Mount Everest. There were nearly 4000 attempts to the summit but the success rate was only 660. However, 142 even sacrificed their lives while climbing Mount Everest. Every year, numbers of people make their attempts to the Mount Everest Expedition but less than a half can reach the top. Just to get to the top, to feel nature, and to thrive in a thrilling adventure, mountaineers from all over the world have set their eyes on Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa were the very first people to reach Everest, hence many mountaineers get inspired by them. The extreme difficulty of the Mount Everest Expedition adds another sort of adventure to the mountaineers.

Setting an eye to the peak that is at the highest elevation on the Earth’s surface is an extreme Adventure. The Mount Everest Expedition is not easy. There are various difficulties of the Mount Everest Expedition such as the Khumbu icefall on the Nepal side, which is also popular as a “suicide passage”. Even extreme mountaineers and climbers need to be careful in this region. Besides, the climbers may face problems regarding altitude sickness, and steep inclines. As the air becomes thinner with the rise in altitude. People may have difficulties in breathing because of the thin air.

To overcome such difficulty of the Mount Everest Expedition you need to spend more time adapting to the environment of the Himalayas. Proper acclimatization ensures your level of adapting to the weather and extreme climatic condition in the Himalayan region. The climate of Everest or any other Himalayan region is extreme. Worst weather can hit anytime on Everest.

The difficulty of the Mount Everest Expedition starts at Death Zone at 8000m above sea level. The body loses its energy because of extreme temperature and thin air. Even the highly experienced climbers may face impaired judgments, heart attacks, or any other difficulties So, one needs to be more careful regarding the weather and climate in the Everest region. To challenge the extreme level of difficulty, one must train with mountaineering types of equipment such as fixed ropes, crampons, carabiners, ascenders, jumar, etc. Also, they must train to get used to low temperatures, and low oxygen.

People choose the attempts from two major routes for climbing Mount Everest, either Nepal or from Tibet.

The successful climbers who have experienced the rough trails of Everest claimed that both sides have comparable difficulties, as well as extreme Challenges. No matter which routes you take, the journey is likely to be difficult at some point where there is a life threat to the mountaineers. Either because of the extreme snowfall, the harsh weather, or the very thin layer of Air many people descend downwards without reaching the top.

The Difficulty Of Mount Everest Expedition

Mount Everest expedition is one of the thrilling yet most exciting journeys in the Himalayas for those who are seeking some extreme adventure. Since 1953 when humans set their foot on the highest peak, many climbers have attempted to achieve the same goal. Some of them succeed in doing so whereas others could not cope with the harsh weather and their physical ability. Besides, there are other various difficulties of the Mount Everest Expedition and they are:

Low Level Of Oxygen

At an elevation of 8848.86m high, Everest is the world’s highest peak. The higher the altitude, the lower the oxygen is. So, at Everest which is at the highest elevation, the level of oxygen is extremely low. A normal human being finds it difficult to live at that level of oxygen. Similarly, the elevation above 8000m is considered the Death Zone, where the air is thin. Because of the Thin layer of oxygen one may feel weak despite carrying the artificial oxygen. Therefore the oxygen level at Everest makes it harder while Climb Mount Everest.

Acclimatization

The process of becoming adapted to a new climate or new condition is acclimatization. As the climate in the Himalayan region is extremely cold so before the expedition to Everest, one must learn to acclimatize. Walking slowly and not rushing for the expedition is beneficial to tackling altitude sickness. Lack of acclimatization can create difficulties in your journey. Besides, drinking water during the trek will overcome dehydration. However, this may seem like a small case but it helps you with the expedition. Various acclimatization techniques can overcome altitude sickness.

Altitude Sickness

One of the major difficulties of the Mount Everest Expedition is the high altitude sickness is altitude sickness. And at the highest elevation like Everest, it is one of the major difficulties that climbers are facing.  The low air pressure and the decrease in the amount of oxygen with the increase in height cause altitude sickness.

Avalanche

Masses of snow, ice, and rocks can fall rapidly on Everest anytime. Falling any of these articles in a larger quantity can be a risk for the climbers. They have to descend downwards as soon as possible in case of such an Avalanche. So, it is one of the major difficulties in the Everest Expeditions. There is some particular area on Everest where the occurrence of Avalanche is high. The places such as North Col, South Col, and Khumbu Icefall have higher chances of an avalanche. You cannot completely control the flow but you can be cautious and try to cross these areas early in the morning before the sun melts the snow.

Falls

The number of deaths that occur on Everest is because of falls. Falls are highly dangerous when climbing the high ridges in higher camps. One must be very careful about stepping on covered ice on the dark grounds. You can be extra careful by double-checking the knots, and carabiners, and maintaining footwork.

Crevasses

The cracks that appear in glacial ice and can even swallow climbers are crevasses. Khumbu icefalls and western Cwm are the areas with high crevasses. Therefore, a slight carelessness in this highly sensitive area may take the life of the climbers. So, the expedition team ties the ropes through which they can drag anyone in case of a fall to cross these crevasses. So crevasses also act as a difficult factor while climbing Mount Everest.