19,500'
As climbers crest the final steep edge of the Ice Fall, the landscape suddenly smoothes, and they emerge into the expanse of the Westen Cwm (koom). Here they get their first close view of Everest (not visible from Base Camp). The massive Southwest face of Everest is on the left, the South Col dips into Lhotse at the end of the valley, and Nuptse runs along the right. Though it appears flat by comparison to the steep and chaotic Ice Fall, the Cwm is heavily crevassed and has a gradient of almost one in four. Cwm is the Welsh word for "cirque," and the Western Cwm which runs two miles long and about a half mile wide (encircled by Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse) was named in 1921 by George Mallory on the first reconnaissance of the area.
