The Rongbuk Glacier () is located in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

of southern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. Two large tributary glaciers, the East Rongbuk Glacier and the West Rongbuk Glacier, flow into the main Rongbuk Glacier. It flows north and forms the Rongbuk Valley north of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow hei ...

. The famous

Rongbuk Monastery ''Rongbuk Monastery'' (; other spellings include ''Rongpu'', ''Rongphu'', ''Rongphuk'' and ''Rong sbug'' ()), also known as Dzarongpu or Dzarong, is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Nyingma sect in Basum Township, Dingri County, in Shigatse P ...

is located at the northern end of the Rongbuk valley. Mount Everest is the source of the Rongbuk Glacier and East Rongbuk Glacier.

Discovery

The English climber

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. Born in Cheshire, Mallory became a student at Winche ...

first explored the main Rongbuk Valley and its glacier while searching for possible routes to the summit of

, during the first British Everest reconnaissance expedition of 1921. On the same expedition, Oliver Wheeler first explored the East Rongbuk Glacier. His exploration below the Lhakpa La pass led him on 3 August 1921 to realise that the East Rongbuk Valley provided the key to a viable route to the summit of Everest. A few weeks later, a party consisting of

, Guy Bullock, and Oliver Wheeler explored the head of the valley via the Lhakpa La pass to become the first people to reach the North Col of Everest and set foot on the slopes of that mountain. See 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition.

Location(s)

Route to Everest

Climbing expeditions attempting the normal route from Tibet use this glacier to reach the Advanced Base Camp of

at the upper end of the East Rongbuk Glacier. From there, climbing expeditions try to summit Everest by the

North Col __NOTOC__ The North Col (; ) refers to the sharp-edged pass carved by glaciers in the ridge connecting Mount Everest and Changtse in Tibet. It forms the head of the East Rongbuk Glacier. When climbers attempt to climb Everest via the North ridge ...

and the northeast ridge.

Environmental

Since 2007, American mountaineer and film-maker David Breashears has been chronicling the rapid disappearance of the Rongbuk glacier due to global climate change. Breashears has retraced the steps of Mallory's 1921 expedition, revealing a significant loss of ice mass across the West, Main and East Rongbuk Glaciers. In partnership with

Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Ma ...

and MediaStorm, Breashears' GlacierWorks has made the photos available online. In 80 years, the Rongbuk has shrunk by more than 300 vertical feet across the entire glacier, approximately the height of the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

Image gallery

Image:Rongbuk Glacier animation.gif, Recent glacial animation, Mount Everest at the top right. Image:Mount Everest from Rongbuk may 2005.JPG, View of Mount Everest from Rongbuk Valley, near foot/terminus of Rongbuk Glacier. Image:Mount_Everest from Rombok Gompa, Tibet.jpg, View of Mount Everest and

References

External links

*
NOAA.gov: East Rongbuk Glacier, Mount QomolangmaGreenpeace.org: "Expedition documents melting Himalayan glaciers"Asia Society.org: "On Thinner Ice" Project"
— ''with photos of the Rongbuk Glacier''. {{Glaciers of China Glaciers of China Glaciers of Tibet Mount Everest Glaciers of the Himalayas