Ice scours; rock still rises. Although frost wedging, avalanches, wind, and glaciers strip material from Everest's upper flanks, the mountain is fed from below as the Indian Plate continues to converge with Eurasia, thickening crust and driving Himalayan orogeny. The arithmetic favors ascent. At the summit, erosion can be savage and visible; beneath it, compression works through a far greater thic...More