Mount Everest is the highest mountain above sea level, rising 8,848.86 metres in the official 2020 Nepal–China measurement.
Everest stands in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and Tibet, an autonomous region of China. Nepalese authorities call it Sagarmatha, while its Tibetan name is Chomolungma. The English name honours George Everest, a nineteenth-century Survey of India official, although he never saw the mountain.
The first confirmed ascent was made by New Zealand climber Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953. Everest is not the tallest mountain when measured from its base: Mauna Kea in Hawaii extends farther from seabed to summit. K2, the second-highest mountain, is often considered more technically difficult to climb.
The summit’s elevation can vary slightly because of measurement methods, snow depth and geological movement. The 2020 figure replaced Nepal’s earlier official height and China’s separate measurement.