(Mount Everest), the highest mountain massif on earth, in the Himalayas, on the border of Nepal and China. Its altitude is 8,848 m. At the base it is composed of Precambrian gneiss and granite; above 7,000 m, of Mesozoic crystalline limestone and schist. Chomolungma is shaped like a pyramid, of which the southern slope is steepest. Glaciers flow from all sides of the massif, ending at an altitude of about 5,000 m. Snow and névé are not retained on the southern slope and the edges of the pyramid, which are bare as a result. On May 29, 1953, the peak of Chomolungma was reached by members of the English expedition of J. Hunt—the mountaineers Tenzing (a Sherpa, one of the native peoples of Nepal) and E. Hillary (a New Zealander).