INTRODUCTION:
In the years since human beings first reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, climbing the world's highest mountain has changed dramatically. Today, hundreds of mountaineers manage the feat each year thanks to improvements in knowledge, technology, and the significant infrastructure provided by commercially guided expeditions that provide a highway up the mountain for those willing to accept both the risk and a hefty price tag.

ABOUT MOUNT EVEREST:
Mount Everest straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet at the crest of the Himalayan mountain chain. Reaching the top of the world is an arduous and potentially deadly undertaking due to the extreme altitude, avalanches, icefalls, and other hazards. Earth scientists estimate that Everest is 50 to 60 million years old, a youngster by geological standards. The mountain was formed by the upward force generated when the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided, pushing up the rocks that formed the highest mountain on Earth. That force is still at work today, pushing Everest's summit about a quarter of an inch higher each year.

THE HAZARDS - ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE:
At 8849 metres, Everest’s summit has approximately one-third the atmospheric pressure that exists at sea level, which significantly reduces a climber's ability to breathe in enough oxygen. Because of this, scientists have determined that the human body is not capable of remaining indefinitely above 5791 metres. The air around you has weight, and it presses against everything it touches. That pressure is called atmospheric pressure, or air pressure. It is the force exerted on a surface by the air above it as gravity pulls it to Earth.

Atmospheric pressure is commonly measured with a barometer. In a barometer, a column of mercury in a glass tube rises or falls as the weight of the atmosphere changes. Meteorologists describe the atmospheric pressure by how high the mercury rises. An atmosphere (atm) is a unit of measurement equal to the average air pressure at sea level at a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius in 760 millimetres of mercury.

Atmospheric pressure drops as altitude increases. As the pressure decreases, the amount of oxygen available to breathe also decreases. At very high altitudes, atmospheric pressure and available oxygen get so low that people can become sick and even die. Mountain climbers use bottled oxygen when they ascend very high peaks. They also take time to get used to the altitude because quickly moving from higher pressure to lower pressure can cause decompression sickness.

CASUALITIES:
More than 300 people are known to have died climbing Everest. The overall death rate is approximately 1.2%, meaning that, if you try to climb Everest, you have about a one in a hundred chance of dying along the way.

“Statistically, Everest is becoming safer primarily due to better gear, weather forecasting, and more people climbing with commercial operations,” says respected Everest chronicler Alan Arnette. “From 1923 to 1999: 170 people died on Everest with 1,169 summits or 14.5 percent. But the deaths drastically declined from 2000 to 2018 with 7,990 summits and 123 deaths, or 1.5 percent.”