Nepalese Sagarmatha `head of the earth' the
world's highest mountain, in the Himalayas,
on the China-Nepal frontier; height 8,872
m/29,118 ft. It was first climbed by Edmund
Hillary and Tenzing Norgay 1953. Many
expeditions have since scaled the peak. The
English name comes from George Everest
(1790-1866), surveyor-general of India. In
1987 a US expedition obtained measurements of
K2 that disputed Everest's claim to be the
highest mountain, but recent satellite
measurements have established Everest as
taller.