Mount Everest Location

DAVE AND MOUNT EVEREST

The current cool temperatures in Fiji are cold for most Fijians, with many of the locals rugging up at night with long pants and jumpers. Australia and New Zealand are also experiencing some of the coldest winter temperatures on record, with many tourists escaping the cold snap to visit the tropical climate of Fiji. Its cold for Fijians, but perfect for our tourist industry.

But at the top of the world's highest mountain, the temperature can drop to minus 75 degrees celcius - that's 75 degrees below zero!

Ice cream freezes at minus 20 degrees, so you can imagine how freezing cold that would be for a Fijian.

A regular Australian visitor to Fiji, David Gordon, has just returned from climbing Mount Everest and he shared his story with me recently while enjoying our warmer weather with his family.

So where is Mount Everest? It is part of the Himalaya mountain range along the border of Nepal and Tibet, near China. The official altitude of the world's highest peak is 29,029 feet (8,848m).

To understand how high this is, Fiji's highest peak is Mount Tomanivi (formerly Mt Victoria) at 4,344 feet (1,324 metres), only half the height of Everest.

So stack two Tomanivi's on top of each other and that's how high it is.

In 1841, Sir George Everest, the Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, first recorded the location of Everest and named it "Peak XV".

In 1865, it was renamed Mt. Everest to honor Sir George and today it is known by locals as Chomolungma in Tibet and Sagarmatha in Nepal.

The mountain is both a majestic and sacred place for the locals, with its blue ice walls dwarfing the climber's tents and base camp.

This is unlike any place on the Earth and has been attracting mankind since its discovery over 200 years ago.

But freezing cold temperatures is not the only thing that make these mountains a dangerous place. Jet streams blast the icy summit all year long, at hurricane speeds of up to 190 km/hr and the higher you climb, the thinner the air gets.

At the peak summit of Everest, there is only 1/3 of the oxygen in the air, so climbers must practice and acclimatize their bodies to get used to the lack of oxygen, wwith many having to use special breathing equipment to survive at the top. Many people have died attempting to climb the world's highest mountain, and David told me that in many cases, their bodies are left where they fell as it is too dangerous to retrieve them.

Being Pro-Nepal is not being against India « Nepal – the country of ...

On March 3-6, 2011 Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs of India arranged a meeting supposedly to discuss and exchange views on bilateral issues on Indo-Nepal relations. The meeting was attended by members of the legislative body, political analysts, bureaucrats, journalists, retired army generals, and others. All the costs including travel and hotel of the Nepalese participants were paid by the Government of India. One of the objectives for the meeting was for India to find out as to why there is so much anti-India feeling in the minds of average Nepalese people. 3. India\’s building of dams close to the Nepalese border without Nepal\’s permission and in clear violation of international norms and regulations is unbearable to Nepalese people no matter where they live especially keeping in mind the fact that the farmers living in Nepal lose their crops due to flooding caused by the dam. It shows India\’s insensitivity and arrogance towards Nepal and her people no matter whether they come from Terai, mountains or the valleys. 4. The treatment poor Nepalese people receive in India especially right in border crossings is very inhuman. Every year many of our people are looted off their meager savings which they earned after working hard as a laborer. They are ripped off at the border just when they are about to reach their home to see the loved ones after more than a year of absence. Just imagine how it feels if you were one of those who have been cheated of a year’s savings. One cannot even think about the immense pain both mentally and physically it causes to the victims. 5. By far the most disturbing part in Nepal India relations is the Indian encroachment of Nepalese territory in numerous areas including Susta and Kalapani. According to the reports prepared by Buddhi Narayan Shrestha an well-known border expert and former Surveyor General of Nepal, India has encroached about 59,970 hectares of Nepali territory at 54 points in 21 districts adjoining India in the East, West and South. As stated above, India has encroached Nepalese territory in numerous areas. However, the encroachment by India in the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura area with 372 sq km (37,800 hectares) is the largest chunk of Nepalese territory. All these cases are well documented, but India has not shown any sign of taking responsibility of its excesses in a foreign land.

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