Google Street View is an amazing piece of technology that lets you travel the world from the comfort of your own home. Through it, you're able to see amazing street views from all over the world, accessed by panoramic photos. And it's not just the big landmarks in America or Europe. You can even get access to places like the world's largest particle accelerator, abandoned islands, and even Antarctica.
However, if there's one place that people never expected to be able to access through the technology, it’s Mount Everest. Always one step ahead, Google recently teamed up with local mountaineer Apa Sherpa, who's reached the summit of Everest a record 21 times, to document the trails, villages, and monasteries in the shadow of the tallest peak on Earth.
The market town of Namche Bazaar and its parking lot for yaks.
In Apa Sherpa's blog entry, he discussed that his hope for completing this documentation was to give people a "deeper understanding of the region and the Sherpa people that live there." Although most people's perception of Everest is a cold, snowy remote mountain, it's actually home to a thriving community of Sherpa people, who have lived there for centuries. While the street views only get close to the summit, they focus heavily on the region and its community of residents.
A view of a school in Khumjung, which was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first westerner to climb Everest. The statue in this photo was built in his honor.
Not the image that comes to mind when you think of Everest. Here, you see a bustling square near the airstrip in Lukla.
Apa Sherpa built this lodge in Thame.
People who want to view the series of guided tours on Everest can view them here. You can also do it the old-fashioned way and navigate Google Maps by dragging the yellow man around the map. Either way, the images are spectacular.