Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth, when measuring the height of its summit above sea level. Everest's summit ridge marks the border between Nepal and China. The summit of Mount Everest is thought to be rising at a rate of around 4 millimeters per year.

In Nepal, the mountain is called Sagarmatha in Sanskrit that means "Forehead of the Sky". In Tibetan it is Chomolungma or Qomolangma meaning "Mother of the Universe". The mountain was given its English name by Andrew Waugh, the British surveyor-general of India. With both Nepal and Tibet closed to foreign travel, he wrote:

...I was taught by my respected chief and predecessor, Colonel Sir Geo Everest to assign to every geographical object its true local or native appellation. … But here is a mountain, most probably the highest in the world, without any local name that we can discover, whose native appellation, if it has any, will not very likely be ascertained before we are allowed to penetrate into Nepal... In the meantime the privilege as well as the duty devolves on me to assign … a name whereby it may be known among citizens and geographers and become a household word among civilized nations.

Hence Waugh chose to name the mountain after George Everest, first using the spelling Mont Everest, and then Mount Everest.

Mt. Everest has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the northeast ridge from Tibet, as well as thirteen other less frequently climbed routes. Of the two main routes, the southeast ridge is technically easier and is the more frequently-used route. It was the route used by Hillary and Tenzing in 1953. This was, however, a route decision dictated more by politics than by design as the Tibetan border was closed to foreigners in 1949.

Most attempts are made during April and May before the summer monsoon season. A change in the jet stream at this time of year also reduces the average wind speeds high on the mountain. While attempts are sometimes made after the monsoons in September and October, the additional snow deposited by the monsoons makes climbing even more difficult.