All news: 27 December 2012

Explore a huge photograph showing Everest in extreme detail. What looks like litter might in fact be base camp, and what you think is a speck of dust could be a climber. Click the green boxes to zoom to a panoramic photo.

Ed Douglas. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 December 2012

Filmmaker and climate-change campaigner David Breashears spent this spring taking around 400 images of Everest and its near neighbours from a vantage point above base camp through a 300mm lens. Now he's released them digitally stitched together to form one image.

The result is a stunning panoramic photograph of the Everest region – with a twist. You can zoom in on specific areas and see the roof of the world in extraordinary detail. From a distance small colourful dots mark the location of base camp. Zooming in, you can pick out each tent clearly – and a man bending down as he washes his face.

The high definition also allows viewers to examine the mountain's icefall – and even pick out climbers descending between terrifying ice cliffs and crevasses. Think of it as an extreme, alpine version of Where's Wally.

Everest itself is the highest summit in the picture (just to the left of centre), a black pyramid towering above its paler western shoulder. Zooming in, you can see in detail the peak's famous yellow band - a section of interlayered marble, quartz and semi-schist. To the right of Everest, at the head of the western cwm, isLhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world, that rises up from the south col. Right again is Nuptse, the third peak in the Everest horseshoe. Like the western shoulder of Everest, the rock here is granite.

Curling from between Everest and Nuptse is the Khumbu glacier, a chaotic river of ice flowing downhill splitting into crevasses and ice cliffs. The route up Everest climbs up the left-hand side of this, and several climbers are visible on the thin trail that snakes up this dangerous section. To the left of the Khumbu glacier's lower section, the small colourful dots become the tents of base camp, giving an indication of just how popular climbing Everest is these days.

Source >>>>>>>

Glacierworks Project

http://www.glacierworks.org/the-glaciers/pumori-spring-2012/

This fullscreen panorama was published in connection with the 50 year anniversary in May 2003, for the first who reached the top of Everest.

50 years ago May 29 1953 The top ofMount Everestwas reached for the first time by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Since then 1.200-1.500 has climbed the top. Nobody knows the exact number. More than 140 climbers died on the way.

On May 24, 1989 the Australian photographer and mountaineer Roderick Mackenzie reached the summit. He was no 271 since 1953

He made which as far as I know is the only 360 degree panorama From the top.

Roderick Mackenzie made the image at the top ofMount EverestMay 24 1989. Below is in his own words his feelings of the event.

During the descent from the summit of Vinson, the weather turned bad. Severe storm accompanied climbers to the High camp. It was very cold. The next morning, there was not any possibility of going down. Only by noon the wind calmed down and the group went down to the base camp. It was Christmas. The next morning, December 26, the Rangers suddenly gave the command to gather. And soon the plane landed, it took the group to the camp Union Glacier, where the festival continued.