Xu Zhen on his project Himalaya

The Himalayas are a mountain range in Asia, on the border of China and Nepal. The Himalayan mountain system is the planet’s highest and home to all 14 of the world’s highest peaks, the Eight-thousanders, including Mount Everest. In Tibetan, the mountain is called Chomolangma or Qomolangma ("Mother of the Universe"). Chomo means “Goddess,” while Langma means “Female elephant.” The legend says that the Chomolangma is the palace where five divinities live.

Xu Zhen

Xu Zhen, 8848-1.86, 2005.

The Himalayas are a mountain range in Asia, on the border of China and Nepal. The Himalayan mountain system is the planet’s highest and home to all 14 of the world’s highest peaks, the Eight-thousanders, including Mount Everest.

In Tibetan, the mountain is called Chomolangma or Qomolangma ("Mother of the Universe"). Chomo means “Goddess,” while Langma means “Female elephant.” The legend says that the Chomolangma is the palace where five divinities live.

The mountain was given its English name by Sir Andrew Waugh, the British surveyor-general of India, who named it after his predecessor, Sir George Everest.

The 1999 American Everest Expedition installed a GPS unit on the highest bedrock, computing the elevation of the summit as 8,850 meters. The PRC considers the official height of Everest to be 8,848.13 meters.

珠穆朗玛峰(Jo-mo glang-ma)，简称珠峰，又意译作圣母峰，位于中国和尼泊尔交界的喜马拉雅山脉之上，终年积雪。是亚洲和世界第一高峰。

藏语“珠穆朗玛jo-mo glang-ma ri”就是“大地之母”的意思。藏语Jo-mo“珠穆”是女神的之意，glang-ma“朗玛”应该理解成母象（在藏语里，glang-ma有两中意思：高山柳和母象）。神话说珠穆朗玛峰是长寿五天女（tshe-ring mched lnga）所居住的宫室。

西方普遍称这山峰作额菲尔士峰或艾佛勒斯峰(Mount Everest)，是纪念英国人占领尼泊尔之时，负责测量喜马拉雅山脉的印度测量局局长乔治·Ã©Â¢ÂÃ¨ÂÂ²Ã¥Â°â€Ã¥Â£Â«(George Everest)。

珠穆朗玛峰最近的一次测量在1999年，是由美国国家地理学会使用全球卫星定位系统测定的，他们认为珠峰的海拔高度应该为8850米。现在中国公认的珠穆朗玛峰的海拔高度由中国登山队于1975年测定，是8848.13米。但外界也有8848米、8840米、8850米、8882米等多种说法。最近，2005年5月22日中国重测珠峰高度测量登山队成功登上珠穆朗玛峰峰顶，再次精确测量珠峰高度，珠峰新高度预计今年8月公布。

珠穆朗玛峰高大巍峨的形象一直在当地甚至全世界的范围内产生着影响。第四版人民币十元的背面图案就是珠穆朗玛峰。

1921 The first British expedition explores the access over the Rongbuk glacier.
1922 Seven Sherpa climbers are killed in an avalanche, becoming the first reported deaths on Everest. The second British expedition reaches 8,321 meters.
1924 The third British expedition reaches 8,500 meters. On June 6, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine ascend in an attempt to reach the summit, but are lost after a cloud closes in. An eyewitness claims seeing them near the summit.
1933 Lady Houston funds a formation of aeroplanes flying over the summit to deploy the British Union Jack flag.
1934 British citizen Maurice Wilson dies during his attempt to climb alone.
1938 Mountaineering British explorer Bill Tilman leads an expedition via the northwest ridge, reaching over 8,229 meters without oxygen before being forced down by foul weather.
1950 Nepal opens its borders to foreigners. Bill Tilman and Charles Houston undertake a reconnaissance expedition to Everest.
1952 A Swiss expedition, including Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, gives up from exhaustion 200 meters short of the summit.
1953 On May 29 at 11:30am, Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenqing Norgay of Nepal reach the summit via the South Col Route for the first time.
1956 A Swiss expedition climbs Everest for the second time in history.
1960 On May 25 a Chinese team consisting of Wang Fuzhou, Gongbu, and Qu Yinhua makes it to the first summit via the North Ridge.
1963 First crossing by a United States expedition, starting from the west and descending over the southwest.
1965 On May 20 Nawang Gombu Sherpa becomes the first person to reach the summit of Everest twice.
1975 On May 16 Junko Tabei of Japan is the first woman on the crest. Chris Bonnington leads the British on an expedition, and two teams consisting of Doug Scott, Dougal Haston, Pete Boardman, and Sirdar Pertemba reach the summit. BBC cameraman Michael Burke failed to return from a solo summit bid.
1978 Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria reach the summit without oxygen tanks.
1980 First winter expedition by a team from Poland. Reinhold Messner is the first man to climb Everest alone and without oxygen tanks.
1982 On October 5, Laurie Skreslet becomes the first Canadian to reach the summit.
1984 First Australian expedition scales Everest. The expedition is comprised of Tim Macartney-Snape , Greg Mortimer, Andy Henderson, and Lincoln Hall, two of whom (Macartney Snape and Mortimer) make it to the summit. It is theorized that had Hall attempted the summit, all members would have perished.
1988 Jean-Marc Boivin of France starts with a paraglider from the mountaintop. A team with members from China, Japan, and Nepal climb for the first time through the North and South Cols.
1990 Bertrand “Zebulon” Roche of France becomes the youngest Westerner to climb Everest at 17 years old.
1993 Ninety alpinists in the autumn alone, the commercial "Everest-climbing" starts.
1993 Ramon Blanco of Spain becomes the oldest person to reach the summit in 160 days at the age of 60.
1996 Hans Kammerlander of Italy climbs the mountain from the north side in 16 hours and 45 minutes, and returns on skis. Goran Kropp becomes first person to ride his bicycle all the way from his home in Sweden to the mountain, scale it alone without the use of oxygen tanks, and bicycle all the way back. Fifteen alpinists perish on the top of the mountain: one of the largest losses in the history of ascents of Everest.
1998 Tom Whittaker is the first disabled climber to make it to the summit. Bear Grylls becomes the youngest Briton to climb Everest and return alive.
1999 Sherpa Babu Chiri Sherpa of Nepal stays for 21 hours on the mountaintop.
2000 On October 7, Davo Karnicar of Slovenia accomplishes an uninterrupted ski descent from the top to the base camp in five hours. A famous Nepalese alpinist climbs the mountain in 16 hours and 56 minutes, the world’s fastest ascent.
2001 On May 24, Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb Everest at age 15. On May 25, Erik Weihenmayer of Boulder, Colorado becomes the first blind person to reach the summit at age 32, and on the same day, Sherman Bull of New Canaan, Connecticut becomes the oldest person to reach the summit at age 64. Also on May 25, 19 people make it to the summit, surpassing the previous record of 10 people. Everyone survived.
2003 On May 21, Jess Roskelley of Spokane, Washington becomes the youngest American to summit Everest, via the South Col route, at age 21. On May 22 Ben Clark of Clarksville, Tennessee becomes the second-youngest American to summit Everest, via the North-Northeast Ridge route, at age 23. The same day, Yuichiro Miura becomes the oldest person to reach the summit of Everest. He was 70 years and 222 days old. On May 23, 25-year-old Sherpa Pemba Dorjie of Nepal makes the world’s fastest ascent, in 12 hours and 45 minutes. Only three days later ,Sherpa Lakpa Gelu breaks this record with a time of 10 hours and 56 minutes. After a short dispute with Dorije, the tourism ministry confirms Gelu’s record in July.
2004 On May 21, Pemba Dorjie breaks his own record, ascending the mountain in 8 hours and 10 minutes.
2005 On May 22, a Chinese government–sponsored survey team with 24 members reaches the peak to anchor surveying equipment for the re-measurement of summit height. GPS, ground radar equipment, and traditional surveying methods are used to assess snow and ice thickness for the new measurement, and to compare it with historical data. On May 14, a Eurocopter helicopter flew to the peak for the first time. It was reported to have landed but this was later disputed, with the pilot telling Nepalese authorities that the landing was actually 1,000 meters below the summit. In August, Chinese citizen Xu Zhen and his team climbed Mount Everest and cut off its top, reducing its height by 1.86 meters.