Editing Mount Everest (section)

====North Ridge route====
{{see also|Three Steps}}
[[File:Mount Everest North Face.jpg|thumb|Mount Everest North Face from [[Rongbuk Monastery|Rongbuk]] in Tibet]]
The North Ridge route begins from the north side of Everest, in [[Tibet]]. Expeditions trek to the [[Rongbuk Glacier]], setting up base camp at {{convert|5180|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} on a gravel plain just below the glacier. To reach Camp II, climbers ascend the medial moraine of the east Rongbuk Glacier up to the base of [[Changtse]], at around {{convert|6100|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}. Camp III (ABC{{snd}}Advanced Base Camp) is situated below the [[North Col]] at {{convert|6500|m|ft|abbr=on}}. To reach Camp IV on the North Col, climbers ascend the glacier to the foot of the col where fixed ropes are used to reach the North Col at {{convert|7010|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}. From the North Col, climbers ascend the rocky North Ridge to set up Camp V at around {{convert|7775|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}. The route crosses the North Face in a diagonal climb to the base of the Yellow Band, reaching the site of Camp VI at {{convert|8230|m|ft|-2|abbr=on}}. From Camp VI, climbers make their final summit push.

Climbers face a treacherous traverse from the base of the First Step: ascending from {{convert|8501|to|8534|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}, to the crux of the climb, the Second Step, ascending from {{convert|8577|to|8626|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}. (The Second Step includes a climbing aid called the "Chinese ladder", a metal ladder placed semi-permanently in 1975 by a party of Chinese climbers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.affimer.org/hemmleb7.html|publisher=Affirmer.org |title=Chinese ladder|access-date=16 January 2014|archive-date=16 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116101043/http://www.affimer.org/hemmleb7.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has been almost continuously in place since, and ladders have been used by virtually all climbers on the route.) Once above the Second Step the inconsequential Third Step is clambered over, ascending from {{convert|8690|to|8800|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}. Once above these steps, the summit pyramid is climbed by a snow slope of 50 degrees, to the final summit ridge along which the top is reached.<ref name=NOVA_wtsn>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/climb/waytosummitnor.html|title=The Way to the Summit (North)|publisher=Public Broadcasting Corporation|website=NOVA Online|year=2000|access-date=28 March 2008|archive-date=20 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920124802/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/climb/waytosummitnor.html|url-status=live}}</ref>