Climbing Mount Everest is considered one of the most challenging feats a person can do on Earth. There are so many factors that can challenge the climbers. Listed below are just some of the most difficult and lesser known Mount Everest facts that climbers need to know if they ever try to ascend the great and mighty Mount Everest.

1 It costs about $65,000 to climb Mt. Everest

If you want to climb the tallest mountain in the world, you can’t just show up and start climbing. Instead, you have to shell out anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 for the privilege to climb the mountain.

On average, most expeditions cost about $65,000. That covers the permits which is $70,000 for a group of seven, or $25,000 for a single pass. Other costs include paying Sherpa helpers and facilities for things like waste disposal.(source)

2 On Mt. Everest there is an area called the “Rainbow Valley”; its name comes from the multi-colored jackets and climbing gear on the corpses that litter the hillside.

For climbers taking the Northeast Ridge Route to reach the summit they have to travel past something called the “Rainbow Valley.” While it may sound cheery, it’s not; it’s full of dead bodies in brightly dressed jackets and snowsuits.

The area is full of adventurers who didn’t make it to the summit and died along the way. Over the years, people have cut down mummified corpses off of ropes or pushed the bodies over the hillside, but they can still be seen by people passing by the Rainbow Valley. (source)

3 The Summit of Mt. Everest is so High that Water Boils at Only 71 °C (160 °F). 

At it’s highest peak, Mount Everest is 8,848 m (29,029 ft), which may be a height that is hard to wrap your head around. The above picture should hopefully give it’s amazing height some perspective on how truly massive the mountain is. Another amazing fact about how high the summit is that water only has a boiling point of water is 71 °C (160 °F). The boiling point of water goes down when altitude goes up and pressure goes down.(source)

4 Mount Everest is Getting Bigger Every Year

About 50 million years ago, what is now India collided with Eurasia, which caused the land to buckle upwards, creating the Himalayan mountains, which is the home of Mount Everest. The interesting thing is that the subcontinent of India penetrated more than 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) beneath Eurasia. So as India pushes, Mount Everest gets bigger; but it only grows about four millimeters per year.

In 1994 researchers placed a global positioning satellite (GPS) device on the South Col, a plateau below the summit. Readings suggest that Everest grows 0.1576 inches (about four millimeters) each year.

5 Even Getting to the Base of Mount Everest is Dangerous

If you want to climb Mt. Everest you have to fly to Nepal, which is a small country at the base of the mountains. Tenzing-Hillary Airport is the place where most people start the climb to Mount Everest Base Camp and that airport has one of the most dangerous landing strips in the world. At an elevation of about 9000 feet, the landing strip is only 1500 feet long, which makes it  difficult to land a plane there; especially in bad weather. As a result, there have been seven crashes there in the past 10 years.(source)

6 Hundreds of Dead Bodies Are Used As Guide Marks

One danger of scaling Mt. Everest is getting lost. The good news is there are markers for the climbers. The bad news is that those markers are some of the 248 people who have died trying to climb Everest. When climbing Everest, there is a whole host of problems that climbers face including falling off the mountain and into crevices and they can asphyxiate from the low oxygen levels. Then there are avalanches, falling rocks and unpredictable weather that can change in a matter of minutes.(source)

Images taken from: www.altereddimensions.net

Also see: Mount Everest, The Grave To Over 200 Dead Bodies