Interesting Facts
Mountains - Mountains are home to 10% of the population of Earth.
Space - In the 18th century, the highest known mountain was Chimborazo in Ecuador (20,702ft), only because of the bulge in the Earth’s shape at the equator, Chimborazo is the mountain that sticks out farthest into space.
Measurement - The traditional method of estimating the height of a mountain while you’re on one is by taking the temperature of a pot of boiling water. Water boils when the pressure of the steam trying to escape from it exceeds the pressure of the air above it. Air pressure decreases with altitude in a rather neat way. For every 1,000ft gained in height, the boiling point of water reduces by 1.8F (1C). So, at 15,000ft (the summit of Mont Blanc) water boils at 184F (84.4C). At the top of Everest it boils at 158F (70C) and at 75,000ft it would boil at room temperature. This form of measurement is called hypsometry (from the Greek hypsos, “height” and metria, “measure”).
Tallest - The highest mountain in the known universe is Olympus Mons, a giant volcano on Mars, almost three times the height of Mount Everest. Olympus Mons is 15 miles high and 388 miles across. It is wide and flat, resembling a vast island in a sea drained of water. The crater on top is 45 miles wide and nearly two miles deep. The mountain is so wide that its base would cover Italy and the caldera at the top would engulf London, though the incline of its sides is so slight (between one and three degrees) that you wouldn’t even break sweat if you climbed it.
Moon - The highest summit on the Moon is Mons Huygens, in the lunar Apennines, which is 15,000ft. It used to be thought that the moon was smooth until Galileo used his telescope and reported that it was “just like the surface of the earth itself, which is varied everywhere by lofty mountains.” He named many of these after mountains on Earth: there are lunar Alps, Caucasus, and Carpathians.
Savage - After Everest, the world’s highest mountain above sea level is K2, at 28,251ft. K2 is not in the Himalayas but the Karakoram Range – the initial K of which provides its rather functional name. Despite its height, it cannot be seen from any of the villages on either the Chinese or Pakistani side. To climbers it is the “savage mountain”: one in four who attempt to get to the summit die, and it is unconquered in winter.
Space - In the 18th century, the highest known mountain was Chimborazo in Ecuador (20,702ft), only because of the bulge in the Earth’s shape at the equator, Chimborazo is the mountain that sticks out farthest into space.
Measurement - The traditional method of estimating the height of a mountain while you’re on one is by taking the temperature of a pot of boiling water. Water boils when the pressure of the steam trying to escape from it exceeds the pressure of the air above it. Air pressure decreases with altitude in a rather neat way. For every 1,000ft gained in height, the boiling point of water reduces by 1.8F (1C). So, at 15,000ft (the summit of Mont Blanc) water boils at 184F (84.4C). At the top of Everest it boils at 158F (70C) and at 75,000ft it would boil at room temperature. This form of measurement is called hypsometry (from the Greek hypsos, “height” and metria, “measure”).
Tallest - The highest mountain in the known universe is Olympus Mons, a giant volcano on Mars, almost three times the height of Mount Everest. Olympus Mons is 15 miles high and 388 miles across. It is wide and flat, resembling a vast island in a sea drained of water. The crater on top is 45 miles wide and nearly two miles deep. The mountain is so wide that its base would cover Italy and the caldera at the top would engulf London, though the incline of its sides is so slight (between one and three degrees) that you wouldn’t even break sweat if you climbed it.
Moon - The highest summit on the Moon is Mons Huygens, in the lunar Apennines, which is 15,000ft. It used to be thought that the moon was smooth until Galileo used his telescope and reported that it was “just like the surface of the earth itself, which is varied everywhere by lofty mountains.” He named many of these after mountains on Earth: there are lunar Alps, Caucasus, and Carpathians.
Savage - After Everest, the world’s highest mountain above sea level is K2, at 28,251ft. K2 is not in the Himalayas but the Karakoram Range – the initial K of which provides its rather functional name. Despite its height, it cannot be seen from any of the villages on either the Chinese or Pakistani side. To climbers it is the “savage mountain”: one in four who attempt to get to the summit die, and it is unconquered in winter.
Quick Interesting Facts
- It was named after a destroyed WWI destroyer battleship involved in the battle of Jutland.
- This peak was a candidate to be the ski hill for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. It lost out to nearby Mount Allen.
- Generally, mountains are higher than 600 metres. Those less than 600 metres are called hills.
- Mountains usually have steep, sloping sides and sharp or slightly rounded ridges and peaks.
- Mountains can be rocky and barren. Some have trees growing on their sides and very high mountains have snow on their peaks.
- Some common features of mountains include the following:
- the summit, or the top of a mountain;
- the slope, or side of the mountain; and
- a very steep valley between young mountains, known as a gorge.
- Mountains exist on every continent and even beneath our great oceans.
- Some of the highest mountains are at the bottom of the sea. Hawaii is at the top of a volcanic mountain in the Pacific Ocean. More than half the mountain is below water.
- The largest range of mountains is in the Alantic Ocean.
- Mountains cover one-fifth of the earth’s land surface, and occur in 75 percent of the world’s countries.
- Mountain ranges are long chains or groups of mountains. Ranges are usually 1,000 or more miles long. The Rocky Mountains and the Himalayan Mountains are examples of mountain ranges.
- A group of mountain ranges is called a mountain system. For example, the mountain systems of the United States include the Rockies and the Appalachians.
- Mountains are home to approximately one-tenth of the world’s people.
- More than half of the world’s fresh water originates in mountains, and all the world's major rivers are fed from mountain sources.
- Heights of mountains are generally given as heights above sea level.
- The world's highest peak on land is Mount Everest in the Himalayas. It is 8,850.1728 m (29,036 ft) tall.
- Ben Nevis is also the highest mountain in Great Britain.
- The tallest known mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons, located on Mars.
- There are mountains under the surface of the sea!
- Mountains occur more often in oceans than on land; some islands are the peaks of mountains coming out of the water.
- About 80 per cent of our planet's fresh water originates in the mountains.
- All mountain ecosystems have one major characteristic in common - rapid changes in altitude, climate, soil, and vegetation over very short distances.
- Plants that may be found on mountains include conifers, oak, chestnut, maple, junipers, stonecrops, campions, mosses, ferns and climbers.
- The highest 14 mountains in the world are all found in the Himalayas.
- In some mountainous areas the rivers are permanently frozen. These are called glaciers.
Fun Facts
- When translated, the Himalayas means the ‘abode of snow’!
- The Himalayas formed approximately 70 million of years ago following a collision between India and Asia via the Indo Austrlian and Eurasian plates. This tremendous collision resulted in the beautiful Himalayan range for which Nepal is now so famous.
- 75% of Nepal is covered by the Himalayas.
- Although the Himalayas is the highest mountain range in the world, it is also the youngest.
- The Himalayas in Nepal contains over 250 beautiful peaks which all exceed 6,000 meters in height.
- 31 of the Himalayan peaks exceed 7,600 meters.
- Mount Everest (8,848 metres), the highest mountain in the world, is part of the Himalayas in Nepal. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb Mount Everest in 1953.
- The Himalayas is formed by three key ‘bands’ all of which are parallel with each other. The highest peak of mountains from within these three bands is the Great Himalayan Range. The Great Himalayan range has an average height of 4,570 meters.
- Although Nepal is famous for the Himalayas, this beautiful range of mountains also reaches into China, India, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Another well known fact is that the Himalayas is the source of the Indus Basin, the Yangtze Basin and the Ganga-Brahmaptura which are three of the worlds primary river systems.
- The Himalayas are geologically alive! The southern front moves approximately 20 mm a year and it is estimated that in 10 million years time, the Himalayas will have moved approximately 1,500 km into Asia.
More Facts
- There are five basic kinds of mountains: fold Mountains (folded mountains), fault-block mountains (block mountains), dome mountains, volcanic mountains, plateau mountains.
- The world’s highest peak on land is Mount Everest in the Himalayas. It is 8,850.1728 m (29,036 ft) tall.
- More than half of the world’s fresh water originates in mountains, and all the world’s major rivers are fed from mountain sources.
- The top 109 highest mountains in the world are all in Asia and 96 of them are in the Himalayas.
- The Alps are the most densely populated mountain area in the world.