By Lucy Johnson

Mountain ranges

Some of the highest areas in the world:

The Himalayas, in Asia

Andes, in South America

Great Dividing Range, in Oceania

Ural Mountains, in Russia

Hida Mountains, in Japan

What is a mountain?

A mountain is a large cone or hill of rock. A mountain can have snow at the top, or not. Some mountains make it hard to breathe when you get near to the top, this is because there is lack of oxygen when you get higher up, because the air is thinner.

When does a hill become a mountain?

In the United Kingdom a mountain has a summit over 610 M, and so a hill would be under 610 m high.

Climbing a mountain

You would need to wear lots of equipment and special clothes to prevent you from getting too cold; if you get to cold, you could lose too much heat from your skin, and your organs, like your heart, liver, lungs and kidney could slow down due to the cold. If you fall, you will have ice pick to hook onto the ice, and always keep it straight when hooked on. Use it to pull yourself up and carry on, without any injuries. At the top of the mountain, or somewhere above you, there will be a rope to hang onto and to guide you to where you need to go.

Base Camp

When you climb a mountain, there will be several different base camps at the bottom and on the side of the mountain to sleep in, eat in, and rest in. In a camp, there will be a supply of food, sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, oxygen masks, climbing equipment and snow suits and boots. Climbing a mountain can take around 2 months, and if you do climb a mountain, that is one of the many reasons you will need base camp.

Reaching the summit

When you reach a summit of a mountain, you can’t stay up there for very long because of the lack of oxygen, and thin air. Sometimes you can only stay at the top of a mountain for under fifteen minutes, or maybe twenty, depending on the hight of the mountain you are climbing. You should bring a camera when you are on your last base camp until you get to the summit of a mountain; there is such a nice view, and it will be really nice showing your friends when you get back down home.

Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain, reaching the height of 8,848 metres. by 2014 around seven thousand people had climbed Mount Everest, and 108 people have climbed Mount Everest in 2019. A total of 307 people has died on Mount Everest. The summit of Mount Everest was first reached in May 29, 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Mount Everest is about 60 million years old and located in the Himalayas in Asia.

Mountain Ranges in Europe

The Pyrenees: between France and Spain

The Alps: from France into Switzerland into Italy and then into Austria.

The Carpathians: Romania and Ukraine and asthenia

The Apennines: in Italy

The Ural: in Russia

The Balkan Mountains: in Bulgaria

Highest peaks within Europe

The highest peaks in Europe are [in height order]:

1. Tetnuldi, Georgia Monte Rosa, Switzerland

2. Monte Blanc, France, Italy

3. Ushba, Georgia

4. Monte Rosa, Switzerland