Photo: North Side of Mount Everest As Seen From Space

“Because it is there.” George Mallory aptly summed up the reason mountaineers worldwide respond to the irresistible pull of Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal were the first to complete the hazardous trek to the summit of the world’s highest mountain, rising 29,035 feet above sea level.
Scaling Everest is more than a climb: it is the ultimate destination for mountaineers. GeoEye-1 .50-meter resolution collected 21 November 2009. Stunning larger imagery at GeoEye. Note: This image was taken 6 months after astronaut Scott Parazynski reached the summit.