Maggie’s
Activity Pack!
Name __________________________________
Date ___________________________________
The View From the Top of the World
Mount Everest is the mountain of dreams for many mountain
climbers. It sits in the Himalayan Mountain Range between the land of
Tibet and the country of Nepal. These math problems will help you learn
more about this mountain. You will also learn about the range where it is
located. Read each problem. Show your thinking in the box. Then write
your answer on the line. Sometimes you must use information from one
problem to help you solve another problem…so look carefully!
1. There are mountains on every continent. Small mountains are found in
Europe. You will find mountains that are 3,300 feet high in Wales. On the
border of Tibet and Nepal stands the world’s tallest mountain. Mount Everest is
about 29,035 feet tall. It is a very famous mountain. The summit of Mount
Everest reaches high above the clouds. What is the difference in height
between the mountains in Wales and Mount Everest?
______________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
2. If you rank all the mountains in the world in order of height, the first 67
mountains would be found in Asia! Most of these really tall mountains are in the
Himalayas. When you reach number 68, you finally leave Asia. This mountain
is found in South America. It is called Aconcagua and is found in the Andes
Mountains. This mountain is 22,835 feet tall. How much taller is Mount Everest
than Aconcagua?
___________
3. It can be cold and windy on a mountain. Temperatures have been
-94°F on the summit of Mount Everest. That is why climbers try to reach the
summit of Mount Everest between the months of May and October. During
these months, the weather is better. It is between the cold and heavy snow of
winter and the monsoon season. If the temperature during the day is -56°F and
the temperature at night is -94°F, what is the difference in temperature between
the day and night?
____________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
4. Mount Everest is part of the Himalayan mountain range. These mountains
get their name from words that mean snow (hima) and abode (alaya). This
gives you an idea that these mountains are a snow covered land! The
Himalayas stretch for about 1,550 miles. They go through the countries of
India, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, and China (Tibet). If there are 465 miles of the
mountain range in Nepal, how many total miles are in the other 4 countries?
____________
5. The country of Nepal and land of Tibet share Mount Everest. The people of
Nepal call this mountain, Sargarmantha. Tibetans call it Chomolungma. The
name, Mount Everest, comes from Sir George Everest who made maps of the
area in the 19th century. Names can be different in different countries. Ways of
measuring can be different, too. Most countries use the metric system. You
read that Mount Everest is about 29,035 feet tall. That is the same as about
8850 meters. Climbers of Mount Everest know base camp one is at 5364
meters. If a climber is at this base camp, how many more meters is it to the
summit?
___________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
As you go up a mountain, it is harder to breath. There is less oxygen in
the air. This means you must rest and let your body get used to breathing the
air. At the summit of Mount Everest, the amount of oxygen in the air is about
70% less than it is at sea level. Most climbers must use bottled oxygen to help
them breath. A climber must stop for several days at base camps along the
way. This helps a climber get used to the thin air and low oxygen content.
Read this chart that shows the different base camps along the “road” to the
summit. Use this information to answer questions 6, 7, and 8.
Base Camp
Feet Above Sea Level
Meters Above Sea Level
I
17,600 ft
5364 m
II
19,400 ft
5913 m
III
20,200 ft
6157 m
IV
21,200 ft
6462 m
V
22,000 ft
6706 m
VI
23,000 ft
7010 m
VII
24,000 ft
7315 m
VIII
25,900 ft
7894 m
IX
27,900 ft
8504 m
6. If the first woman to climb Everest, Junko Tabei (from Japan), was at base
camp 6, how many more meters must she go to get to base camp 9?
__________________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
7. The youngest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest is Shambu
Tamang. He was 16 years old in 1973 when he reached the top. If he was at
base camp 8, how many meters must he go before he gets down to base camp
2?
_______________
8. Ang Rita Sherpa has reached the summit of Everest more times than anyone
else. If he was at base camp 5, how many more feet must he go to reach base
camp 9?
______________
9. The first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest were Tenzing Norgay
and Sir Edmund Hillary. They accomplished this feat on May 29, 1953 at 11:30
a.m. On May 25, 2002, Sir Edmund Hillary got an exciting phone call. It was
from his son. Peter told his dad that he was standing on the summit of Mount
Everest! Joining him on the climb was the son of Tenzing Norgay, Jamling.
How many years after their famous dads climbed Everest, did Peter place this
call?
______________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
Dear Colleague,
This May is the 50th anniversary of the Hillary and Tenzing’s successful summit of Mount Everest. To
help your students better understand this feat and the geography of this mountain, we have woven fun
facts about the Himalayas and the climbers of Everest into this activity. These types of questions help
children see the value of math in meaningful situations. We have purposely used Roman numerals
(as many charts do) to designate the base camps to give children practice with reading them in
context. We have also chosen to use some metric measurements and some English measures to
give students practice with both systems. I have included a picture of Mount Everest that I took from
an airplane as I traveled between Nepal and Tibet. You and your students may this for classroom
activities.
Kathy
Answers:
1. 25,733 feet
2. 6200 feet
3. -38° F
4. 1085 miles
5. 3486 meters
6. 1494 meters
7. 1981 meters
8. 5900 feet
9. 49 years
Goals:
Students read a chart about the Seven Summits, the tallest mountains on each of the seven
continents. They use this information and mathematical operations to answer questions
about these mountains. Intermediate students use multiplication, division, and multi-step
addition and subtraction operations. Primary students use addition and subtraction
operations. The activity correlates with the Problem Solving Strand and the Data Analysis
and Probability Strand of NCTM’s National Standards.
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2007. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.