ABSTRACT
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be standing just outside the village of Namche in the crisp and arid air of Nepal, staring up at the mountain that the locals refer to as Sagarmatha, the goddess of the sky. Rising over 29,000 feet (or 8,000 meters), the mountain fascinated the British when they first came to the Indian subcontinent. At first, they designated it as Peak XV, later giving it the name Everest, as it is better known today Today, the fascination with Mt. Everest continues unabated, with hundreds of mountaineers every year attempting to climb its ice and rock to reach the roof of the world, the highest point on Earth.
