Timeline of Mount Everest expeditions Timeline of Mount Everest expeditions Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level. It is situated in the Himalayan range. The first British expedition—organized and financed by the newly formed Mount Everest Committee—came under the leadership of Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, with Harold Raeburn as mountaineering leader, and included George Mallory, Guy Bullock, and Edward Oliver Wheeler. It was primarily for mapping and reconnaissance to discover whether a route to the summit could be found from the north side. As the health of Raeburn broke down, Mallory assumed responsibility for most
Mount Everest the local Tibetan name. The article argued that British colonialists did not "first discover" the mountain, as it had been known to the Tibetans and mapped by the Chinese as "Qomolangma" since at least 1719. In the early 1960s, the Nepalese government coined a Nepali name for Mount Everest, "Sagarmāthā" or "Sagar-Matha" (सागर-मथ्था, "goddess of the sky"). The height given is officially recognised by Nepal and China, although Nepal plans a new survey. In 1856, Andrew Waugh announced Everest (then known as Peak XV) as high, after several years of calculations based on observations made by the Great Trigonometric Survey.