[1]A glimpse of the Himalayan range featuring Ama Dablam. Image from Flickr by Franck Zecchin. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Mount Everest, the highest mountain [2] in the world in the Himalayan range, is a must-climb summit for mountaineers across the globe, and the wider Everest region a destination revered by many adventure and nature lovers. With its tough terrain and high altitude, the trek to the region remains inaccessible if you are not a fit and fine adrenaline junkie.
But no more.
Google's launch of a virtual tour of the Khumbu region, as it is also known, lets you walk [3] the treacherous trail and takes you close to the stunning landscape surrounded by the world’s highest peaks.
Everest Region Trekking is awesome with varied landscape,deep gorge,valley,Mt.Everest,etc pic.twitter.com/Qbrid4poDu [4]” #DiscoverNepal [5]
— ◀♀Food-Fashion-Fun♂▶ (@EarneyHarisson) February 22, 2015 [6]
#Google [7] launches virtual tour of #Nepal [8]‘s Everest region http://t.co/i3fzf6Axi1 [9] pic.twitter.com/oDVO2aUocF [10]
— ST Foreign Desk (@STForeignDesk) March 12, 2015 [11]
Two of the people behind the project are Apa Sherpa, aka the 21-time Everest summiteer Super Sherpa [12], and Saurav Dhakal, a former journalist and social entrepreneur. The pair met during their 99-day trek [13] to the Great Himalaya Trail [14], a 1,700 km hike along the foothills of the Himalayas spreading from Kanchenjunga in east to Hilsa in west.
Apa, who dreamt of being a doctor, scaled Everest as a porter for the first time and then climbed the peak 20 more times — not because he loved climbing. On his blog Growing up in the shadow of Everest [15], he says that did this to provide a better future for his children.
Though he could not become a doctor, he is hopeful that children of his hometown will become doctors in future. The Apa Sherpa Foundation funds a lower secondary school at his place. In March 2014, the foundation [16] and Story Cycle [17], founded by Dhakal, partnered with Google Earth Outreach to support the locals in the Khumbu region to digitally represent their communities on Google Maps.
During a 10-day trek led by Apa, the team captured indoor and outdoor snapshots to create the Street View images [18].
Google Maps have shared an engaging video of the region in YouTube.
Ammu Kannampilly, bureau chief for Agence France-Presse in Nepal, tweeted:
You can check out #Google [7]‘s tour of the stunning #Everest [19] region here https://t.co/ew2epfGb3t [20] #Nepal [8] pic.twitter.com/LdoPFVpj2I [21]
— Ammu Kannampilly (@akannampilly) March 12, 2015 [22]
Interested? Take the tour [23]. The Everest region [24], feared for its tough terrain and harshness, is within reach now.