On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary, who died on Friday, January 11 2008, became the first person, along with sherpa Tenzing Norgay, to climb Mount Everest. At 8,848m (29,029ft), it is the highest mountain in the world.

Although not perhaps the most exciting shot out there, Google Earth’s terrain feature lets you see how high it really is.

Ascending the southeast ridge from the base camp at 5,380m (17,600ft), Hillary and his sherpa finally arrived at 11:30am, and stayed at the summit for just fifteen minutes. News of his success reached the soon-to-be Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation, and New Zealander Hillary was knighted in July of that year.

Everest is fraught with danger, and 120 bodies are thought to still remain on the mountain. Even so, more than 2060 individuals have ascended it from the surprisingly busy base camp, where you can even get internet access for $1 per minute!

Read about Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and Mount Everest at Wikipedia.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in; there were over 55 of you, so it would probably require a page of its own!

When the American Eisenhower interstate system was constructed it was a specific requirement that one in every five of the 46,837 miles of road had to be kept perfectly straight. The idea was that during times of war the roads could be used as emergency runways, negating the need for more airports.

Sadly, urban legend website Snopes debunks this as totally unsubstantiated codswallop.

A similar story is told in the UK, and many believe that straight sections of the M1 Motorway near London were also planned as potential runways. These claims are also easily debunked by the presence of over-bridges and large concrete central reservations, neither of which are very helpful when attempting to land on the road.

The UK version of the myth also extends to most other motorways, some of which have more truth than others. A couple of the motorways were in fact built across and on top of former runways, such as the M8 and the M62, which replaced RAF Burtonwood. Today you can still see one of the former runways intersecting the motorway at 45 degrees¹.

But still, being a former runway doesn’t qualify these roads as being of any use as a runway today!

In China, we can see a runway-to-road conversion happening, as the original Baiyun International Airport is transformed from airport in the southern (older) imagery to highway in the northern (more up to date) images.

However, it seems China have no plans to use these roads as an emergency runway.

But all is not lost – Singapore’s East Coast Parkway is finally what we’re looking for: a road that was actually designed to operate as an emergency runway!

1.25 miles of the road near to Changi Airport was constructed in a nice straight line, with no camber and a central reservation made from easily-removable pot plants.

Thanks to Cookie monster, yym_c & others.

Legend tells us that near the city of Xi’an, China, there lies a gigantic white pyramid – far larger than any Egyptian pyramid – that has remained undiscovered for millennia. The story goes that this pyramid is encased in “pure shimmering stone” and “capped with an enormous jewel”…

Despite decades of denial by archaeologists and bureaucrats, the surprising truth of the matter is that whilst no white pyramid has so far been found here – there are pyramids in China!

Believed to be the burial places of various emperors and generals, there are loads¹ of these tombs scattered all over this plain. They range in size from relatively tiny to rivaling the Great pyramid of Giza in terms of footprint (although even the largest is only around one third the height of Giza’s largest).

Surprisingly, it took until 1994 before these monuments were widely publicised, when German author Hartwig Hausdorf published his book Die Weisse Pyramide, in which he told the story of trying to find the mysterious White Pyramid for himself.

There is a short Wikipedia page on the Chinese Pyramids, but for a really thorough examination of the myth surrounding these monuments, read the report at unexplainedearth.com which includes some ground level shots.

Thanks to Christoph Hoflack and Simon Brennan.

I’m sorry to report that I don’t mean any old structure either… nope, this is honestly claimed by the Chinese to be The World’s Largest Phallus. At least I think this is it – as you can see the satellite shot isn’t vey clear. To make up however, here’s a gratuitous ground-level photo!

The 9 metre erection (30 feet), is named Sky Pillar, and has been built at the Longwan Shaman Amusement Park in Changchun city, and apparently symbolizes the “pursuit of happiness and prosperity”.

Which is pretty fitting really huh?

Thanks to kjfitz, read the full story at Ananova.

While on holiday we missed the news of a new Chinese nuclear submarine being spotted on Google Earth.

Not much is known about the new class of Ballistic Missile Submarine, which is called the Jin-class or Type 094, but the US government estimated last year that China might build 5 of them to act as a permanent sea-based deterrent.

While we’re on the subject of elusive submarines, this brown looking mini-submarine is in fact a real-life Yellow Submarine!

It was built by an enterprising chap from Brooklyn who intended to recover the treasures of the sunken Andrea Doria, which wrecked on its way to New York city in 1956. With investment from the locals he designed and built the mini-sub himself, painting it yellow because it was the cheapest paint to hand.

Unfortunately, during its launch in 1970, the submarine sank (unintentionally) and the locals weren’t prepared to continue to invest in the builder’s madcap idea. The sub was eventually scavenged itself, and its rotting shell remains abandoned in the small ship graveyard of Coney Island Creek.

The full history and pictures from the past and present of the submarine are available on Forgotten NY

Thanks: Thomas Paul