How tall is Mount Everest?

8,848.86 metres, usually rounded to 8,849 metres, according to the height announced jointly by Nepal and China in 2020.

How did the Himalaya form?

The Indian plate collided with Asia roughly 50 million years ago. The crust crumpled and stacked up into mountains, and the collision continues today.

Where are the Gokyo lakes?

In the Khumbu region of north-eastern Nepal, west of Everest, beside the Ngozumpa Glacier at roughly 4,700 to 5,000 metres. They are part of Sagarmatha National Park.

Do snow leopards live near Everest?

Yes. Camera traps have recorded snow leopards in Sagarmatha National Park, but they are very shy and rarely seen.

Can I explore the Himalaya in the app?

Yes. You can explore a landscape modelled on the Gokyo valley near Everest, with its glacier, lakes, prayer flags and high peaks, in interactive 3D.

The roof of the world, still rising where India drives into Asia, with Everest above the Gokyo lakes

Himalaya

3D landscape · Gokyo, Khumbu, Nepal

Land here and explore →

The Himalaya arcs for roughly 2,400 kilometres across Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Tibetan region of China, separating the plains of South Asia from the Tibetan Plateau. In north-eastern Nepal, the Khumbu region holds Mount Everest and a cluster of other giants. In this app you can explore a landscape modelled on the Gokyo valley, near Everest, in interactive 3D: the grey, rubble-covered Ngozumpa Glacier, turquoise lakes, prayer flags, stone walls and a skyline of snow-covered peaks above 8,000 metres.

The region is also home to the Sherpa people, whose Buddhist culture shapes the landscape with monasteries, stupas, prayer flags and carved mani stones. Much of the area lies within Sagarmatha National Park, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Today it faces the effects of climate change, as glaciers shrink and glacial lakes grow.

Key facts

Highest peak: Mount Everest, 8,849 m8,848.86 m, announced jointly by Nepal and China in 2020
Range length: About 2,400 kmFrom the Indus in the west to the Brahmaputra in the east
Origin: India–Asia collisionBegan roughly 50 million years ago; estimates vary
Model setting: Gokyo valley, NepalBeside the Ngozumpa Glacier, west of Everest
Glacier: NgozumpaOften described as the longest glacier in Nepal
Gokyo lakes: About 4,700–5,000 mAmong the highest freshwater lake systems in the world; a Ramsar wetland
Local names for Everest: Sagarmatha, ChomolungmaNepali and Tibetan names
National park: Sagarmatha, 1976Inscribed by UNESCO in 1979
National bird of Nepal: Himalayan monalA brilliantly coloured pheasant, known as danphe

Where India meets Asia

Around 200 million years ago, India was part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana. After it broke away, the Indian plate moved north across the ocean unusually quickly, and roughly 50 million years ago it began to collide with Asia. Because both continents are made of light rock that does not sink easily, neither could slide beneath the other. Instead the crust crumpled, thickened and was stacked up in great slices along thrust faults, building the Himalaya and the high Tibetan Plateau behind it.

The collision has not stopped. India is still moving north-eastwards by a few centimetres a year, and parts of the Himalaya are still rising, although erosion by rivers, glaciers and landslides wears them down at the same time. The stresses also make the region prone to large earthquakes, such as the Gorkha earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015.

Sea fossils on the summit

The rock at the top of Everest is limestone that formed on the floor of an ancient sea, more than 400 million years ago. It contains fossils of marine creatures, carried to the roof of the world by the collision.

Everest

Mount Everest, called Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan, stands on the border between Nepal and China. In December 2020 the two countries jointly announced a new height of 8,848.86 metres, based on surveys carried out by teams from both sides, including satellite positioning and measurements of the snow on the summit. It is usually rounded to 8,849 metres.

Everest was first climbed in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa, and Edmund Hillary, from New Zealand. From Gokyo Ri, a hill of about 5,350 metres above the Gokyo lakes, trekkers can see Everest alongside Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu, four of the world's six highest mountains.

The Ngozumpa Glacier and the Gokyo lakes

The Ngozumpa Glacier flows south from the slopes of Cho Oyu and is often described as the longest glacier in Nepal, at several tens of kilometres. Much of its lower part is covered in a thick layer of rock debris, so it looks like a grey, rumpled valley of stones rather than white ice. Pools of meltwater form and drain on its surface, and scientists study it to understand how debris-covered glaciers respond to warming.

Along the glacier's western edge, held in by its lateral moraine, lies a chain of lakes at roughly 4,700 to 5,000 metres, of which the largest is Gokyo Cho, beside the small summer settlement of Gokyo. Fed by snow and glacier melt, the lakes are a vivid turquoise and are sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The Gokyo lakes and surrounding wetlands were designated a Ramsar site, a wetland of international importance, in 2007.

Altitude and thin air

At the height of the Gokyo lakes, air pressure is only a little more than half that at sea level, so each breath brings in much less oxygen. On the summit of Everest it is roughly a third. The body adapts gradually, by breathing faster and, over days and weeks, producing more red blood cells, but going up too quickly can cause altitude sickness, with headaches, nausea and exhaustion, and in serious cases dangerous swelling of the lungs or brain.

Trekkers are advised to ascend slowly, often increasing their sleeping altitude by only a few hundred metres a day once above about 3,000 metres, to take rest days and to descend if symptoms worsen. Sherpas and other highland peoples have genetic adaptations that help them cope with low oxygen, which scientists are still studying.

Sherpa culture

The Sherpa people migrated from eastern Tibet into the Khumbu several centuries ago. They farm potatoes and barley, herd yaks and, since the 20th century, have become famous as mountain guides and climbers. Their Tibetan Buddhist faith is visible everywhere: Tengboche Monastery, with its view of Everest and Ama Dablam, is the spiritual centre of the region.

Strings of prayer flags in five colours flutter on passes and bridges, and it is believed that the wind carries their printed prayers across the land. Mani stones, carved with the mantra Om mani padme hum, are piled into long walls beside the trails, and stupas, or chortens, mark villages and passes. Travellers traditionally pass these to their right, walking clockwise around them.

Wildlife, forests and a changing climate

Yaks, with their long shaggy coats, carry loads and provide milk, wool and dung for fuel; at lower altitudes yak–cattle hybrids called dzo or zopkyo are common. Himalayan tahr, wild goat-like animals, graze on steep slopes, and snow leopards, very rarely seen, hunt them in the high valleys; camera traps have confirmed that snow leopards live in Sagarmatha National Park. The Himalayan monal, Nepal's national bird, has iridescent green, blue and copper feathers. Lower down, below about 4,000 metres, forests of rhododendron, birch, fir and juniper cover the valley sides and burst into red, pink and white flowers in spring; the red rhododendron is Nepal's national flower.

Glaciers across the Himalaya are losing ice as the climate warms. As they retreat, meltwater collects in new and growing glacial lakes behind loose moraine dams. If a dam fails, a sudden flood called a glacial lake outburst flood can rush down the valley. In the Khumbu, engineers lowered the level of Imja Tsho in 2016 to reduce the risk, and in 2024 a flood from glacial lakes above the village of Thame damaged homes and buildings. Scientists warn that these hazards, along with changes in water supply for people downstream, are likely to grow.

Surprising facts about Himalaya

The summit of Everest is made of limestone containing fossils of sea creatures.
The Himalaya is still rising as India continues to push into Asia.
Much of the Ngozumpa Glacier is hidden under a thick layer of rocks and looks like a valley of stones.
At the Gokyo lakes, each breath contains only a little over half the oxygen it would at sea level.
Everest's official height of 8,848.86 metres was announced jointly by Nepal and China in 2020.
Sherpas and other highland peoples have genetic adaptations that help them live with low oxygen.

Frequently asked questions

How tall is Mount Everest?: 8,848.86 metres, usually rounded to 8,849 metres, according to the height announced jointly by Nepal and China in 2020.
How did the Himalaya form?: The Indian plate collided with Asia roughly 50 million years ago. The crust crumpled and stacked up into mountains, and the collision continues today.
Where are the Gokyo lakes?: In the Khumbu region of north-eastern Nepal, west of Everest, beside the Ngozumpa Glacier at roughly 4,700 to 5,000 metres. They are part of Sagarmatha National Park.
Do snow leopards live near Everest?: Yes. Camera traps have recorded snow leopards in Sagarmatha National Park, but they are very shy and rarely seen.
Can I explore the Himalaya in the app?: Yes. You can explore a landscape modelled on the Gokyo valley near Everest, with its glacier, lakes, prayer flags and high peaks, in interactive 3D.

Keep exploring

The landscapes in Ember’s Universe are procedural 3D scenes modelled on real places. The landforms, plants and light follow the real thing, but the details are generated, not mapped.

Sources