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The summit of Mount Everest lies in the death zone. In mountaineering, the death zone refers to altitudes above which the pressure of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span. This point is generally agreed as 8,000 m (26,000 ft), where atmospheric pressure is less than 356 millibars (10.5 inHg; 5.16 psi). [1]
The atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is about a third of sea level pressure or 0.333 standard atmospheres (337 mbar), resulting in the availability of only about a third as much oxygen to breathe.
The temperature of the atmosphere decreases by a lapse rate, mostly caused by convection and the adiabatic expansion of air with decreasing pressure. [44] At the peak of Mount Everest, the average summer temperature is −19 °C (−2 °F) and the average winter temperature is −36 °C (−33 °F). [45]
On 8 May 1978, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler made the first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. [40] Messner had ascended all 14 "eight-thousanders" without supplemental oxygen by 1986. Running out of bottled oxygen was noted as a factor in the 1979 deaths of Ray Genet and Hannelore Schmatz on Mount Everest. [41]
Mount Everest is Earth's tallest mountain - towering 5.5 miles (8.85 km) above sea level - and is actually still growing. While it and the rest of the Himalayas are continuing an inexorable uplift ...
If you measure altitude above mean sea level, then the 29,032-foot (8,849-meter) Mount Everest, which straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal, is clearly the world’s highest. Yet, if you ...
Climbers on Mount Everest often experience altitude sickness. Altitude sickness can first occur at 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), with the effects becoming severe at extreme altitudes (greater than 5,500 metres (18,000 ft)). Only brief trips above 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) are possible and supplemental oxygen is needed to avert sickness.
North face of Mount Everest. Over 340 people have died attempting to reach—or return from—the summit of Mount Everest which, at 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in), is Earth's highest mountain and a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. This makes it the mountain with the most deaths, although it does not have the highest death rate.