🏔️ Mount Everest & the Great Peaks

What you’ll learn

1. How Mountains Are BornUnderstand the plate-tectonic processes that build mountain ranges.Mountains form mainly where Earth's tectonic plates collide, compressing and folding the crust upward over millions of years. Different boundary types produce different ranges, but the planet's greatest peaks owe their height to continental collision.
2. Everest: Geography of a GiantLocate and describe Mount Everest, its measurement, and its names.Mount Everest sits on the Nepal-Tibet border and is the highest point on Earth above sea level at about 8,849 meters. It carries local names in Nepali and Tibetan and an English name from a 19th-century survey.
3. The First Ascent, 1953Recount the history leading to the confirmed first ascent of Everest.On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed ascent of Everest via the South Col route, the culmination of decades of British-led expeditions.
4. The Death ZoneExplain the physiological dangers of extreme altitude.Above about 8,000 meters lies the 'death zone,' where oxygen is so scarce the body deteriorates and cannot acclimatize. Altitude sickness, cold, and exhaustion make this the deadliest part of high mountains.
5. The Sherpa PeopleRecognize the role, skill, and culture of the Sherpa people on Everest.The Sherpa are an ethnic group of the Himalayan region whose mountaineering skill and high-altitude adaptation make them essential to Everest expeditions, though they bear disproportionate risk.
6. Everest TodayExamine the controversies surrounding modern commercial Everest climbing.Commercial expeditions have made Everest accessible to many paying climbers, raising concerns about overcrowding, safety, environmental damage, and the ethics of the climbing industry.
7. The Seven SummitsIdentify the Seven Summits and the world's other great peaks.The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Climbing all of them has become a celebrated mountaineering goal, showcasing peaks of very different character.
8. K2 and the Deadly PeaksCompare K2 and other dangerous peaks with Everest.K2 is the world's second-highest mountain but is far more technically demanding and deadly than Everest. The 8,000-meter peaks of the Himalaya and Karakoram represent the ultimate tier of mountaineering.
9. Highest, Tallest, FarthestDistinguish the different ways of measuring a mountain's size.Everest is the highest point above sea level, but Mauna Kea is taller measured base-to-peak, and Chimborazo's summit is the farthest point from Earth's center. Each is a 'biggest' by a different valid definition.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• National Geographic — Mount Everest coverage
• USGS — Plate tectonics and mountain building
• Royal Geographical Society — Everest expedition archives
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Mount Everest, K2, Himalayas
• National Geographic — 2020 China-Nepal joint Everest survey

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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