Working at an outdoor equipment retailer (E.M.S.), I remember how much U.S. mountaineers would get excited by ‘bagging’ (climbing) the 89 “Fourteeners” (mountains higher than 14,000 ft) found in the US. It was a very big deal. Colorado has 53 of these mountains, and a lot of our business was outfitting folks for these expeditions.

This morning I was surprised to learn that Nepal has more than 240 peaks higher than 20,000 ft.

I knew the Himalayas were tall, but that’s a lot of high peaks! It’s even more amazing that Nepal is roughly the size of Tennessee. Within the short 124 miles of its North and South borders, Nepal climbs from 1,600 ft. to 29,029 ft. above sea level. That’s a difference of 27,429 ft!

We aren’t going to be anywhere near those high altitudes during our service, and I wouldn’t want to be, either. For an interesting read about altitude effects, and the process of climbing Everest, try Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air”.  It is a great read.

Enjoy!