Mount Everest towers over Nepal and although many people dream of scaling its summit, there are beautifully remote villages, farms and monasteries nestled within its huge shadow that are also worth a visit. Last year Google took its Street View cameras on a 10-day trek around the Khumbu region - also known as the Everest region - to explore these quaint landmarks and locations. During the trek the cameras captured the small Sherpa village of Thame, the Phortse Thakiri Chholing Gomba monastery and Khumjung inside the Sagarmatha National Park. Scroll down for video . Google recently took its Street View cameras on a 10-day trek around the Khumbu region - also known as the Everest region - (pictured) to explore the remote villages and landmarks of Nepal. During the trek the cameras captured the small Sherpa village of Thame, the Phortse Thakiri Chholing Gomba monastery and Khumjung inside the Sagarmatha National Park . The trek was led by Apa Sherpa, a 55-year-old Sherpa mountaineer  who holds the world record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest 21 times - more than any other person. He scaled the summit for the first time at the age of 30. In 2009, Apa founded the non-profit Apa Sherpa Foundation to help the local community of young people in the Khumbu region. The Street View images were captured in March 2014 when Apa took members of Google Earth Outreach, and the Nepalese nonprofit Story Cycle through the region. Mount Everest is the Earth's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,848 metres above sea level. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. Mr Waugh named the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest. It has become a mecca for climbers, and has two main climbing routes, the southeast ridge from Nepal and the north ridge from Tibet. The southeast ridge was the route used by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they reached the summit for the first time in 1953. 'Our region is famous for being home to Everest, but it’s also the home of the Sherpa community and has been for centuries,' Apa said. 'The region has much more to offer than just the mountain. So last year, I guided the Google Maps team through my home region to collect Street View imagery that improves the map of our community. 'Now you can find Thame on the map and explore other communities nestled at the base of Everest, like Khumjung and Phortse.' Thame, and neighbouring upper Thame are small Sherpa villages in the Solukhumbu District of Nepal. Tenzing Norgay, one of the first people to climb Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary grew up in the region and the Thame monastery is one of the oldest in Khumbu. Another village captured by the Street View trekkers was Khumjung. It sits 13,000ft (3,970 metres) above sea level near Mount Khumbila. It is located inside the word heritage site Sagarmatha National Park. 'When people ask what it feels like to reach the top of Mount Everest, I say "heaven,"' added Apa. 'My hope is that my children and future generations have many choices for employment outside of mountaineering.' But the images don't just feature peaks and landscapes. Google also captured parts of the Phortse farming village in the Khumbu Valley including the Thakiri Chholing Gomba, or small monastery. Paintings inside the monastery began in 2008 by Buddhist artists and were completed by the end of 2009 using funding from the Greater Himalayas Foundation. The trek was led by Apa Sherpa (pictured), a 55-year-old Sherpa mountaineer who holds the world record for reaching the summit of Mount Everest 21 times - more than any other person. He scaled the summit for the first time at the age of 30.In 2009, Apa founded the non-profit Apa Sherpa Foundation to help the local community of young people in the Khumbu region . The Street View images were captured in March 2014 when Apa took members of Google Earth Outreach, and the Nepalese nonprofit Story Cycle through the region. They include Thame, and neighbouring upper Thame - small Sherpa villages in the Solukhumbu District of Nepal. Tenzing Norgay, one of the first people to climb Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, grew up in the region . Google also captured parts of Phortse in the Khumbu Valley, including the Thakiri Chholing Gomba, or small monastery (pictured). The paintings on the monastery walls were started in 2008 by Buddhist artists using funding from the Greater Himalayas Foundation . 'Partnering with Google Maps allowed us to get important local landmarks on the map and share a richer view of Khumbu with the world, including local monasteries, lodges, schools and more, with some yaks along the way!,' continued Apa. Mount Everest: 29,035ft (8,850m) K2: 28,253ft (8,612m) Kangchenjunga: 28,169ft (8,586m) Lhotse:  27,890ft (8,501m) Makalu:  27,765ft (8,462 m) Cho Oyu: 26,906ft (8,201 m) Dhaulagiri: 26,794ft (8,167m) Manaslu: 26,758ft (8,156m) Nanga Parbat: 26,658ft (8,125m) Annapurna: 26,545ft (8,091m) Gasherbrum I: 26,470ft (8,068m) Broad Peak: 26,400ft (8,047m) Gasherbrum II: 26,360ft (8,035m) Shishapangma: 26,289ft (8,013m) 'My hope is that when people see this imagery online, they’ll have a deeper understanding of the region and the Sherpa people that live there. 'Your online trip to my home awaits you on Google Maps. And if you ever get the chance to visit the Khumbu region in person, come stay at the Everest Summiteer Lodge that I built with my own hands. We’ll be ready to welcome you.' Everest is one of 14 mountain peaks on Earth that stand taller than 26,000ft (8,000m) and the local Nepalese name for it is Sagarmatha, which means 'mother of the universe.' Mount Everest is the tallest of these so-called ‘eight-thousanders’ and is the standard to which all other mountains are compared. All 14 of them are found in China, Pakistan or Nepal. Everest’s geological story began 40 million years ago when the Indian subcontinent began a slow-motion collision with Asia. The edges of the two continents were forced together and formed the tall ridges that make up the Himalayas today. Glaciers have chiselled Mount Everest’s summit into a huge, triangular pyramid, defined by three faces and three ridges that extend to the northeast, southeast, and northwest. The southeastern ridge is the most widely used climbing route. It is the one Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay followed in May 1953 when they became the first climbers to reach the summit and return safely. Despite its reputation as an extremely dangerous mountain, commercial guiding has done much to improve the safety of the Everest ascent. As of March 2012, there had been 5,656 successful ascents of Everest, although 223 people had died at fatality rate of 4 per cent. The satellite image was taken in December, just weeks after Nasa captured the rivers of black lava snaking over the snow-covered slopes of the stratovolcano Mount Etna in Sicily. In 2012, mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears took 477 individual images to create gigapixel image of the Khumbu glacier from the Pumori viewpoint near Mount Everest. Everest (pictured) is one of 14 mountain peaks on Earth that stand taller than 26,000ft (8,000m) and the local Nepalese name for it is Sagarmatha, which means 'mother of the universe. 'Mount Everest is the tallest of these so-called ‘eight-thousanders’ and is the standard to which all other mountains are compared. All 14 of them are found in China, Pakistan or Nepal . In 2012, mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears took 477 photos to create this gigapixel image of Khumbu glacier from the Pumori viewpoint near Mount Everest .
Everest Street View images were captured last year when Google took a 10-day trek through Khumbu . The region is also known as the Everest Region and is on the Nepalese side of the world's highest mountain . Trek was led by world record-holding mountaineer Apa Sherpa who has scaled the summit 21 times . Images include Thame and upper Thame - small Sherpa villages in the Solukhumbu District of Nepal . Another village captured by the Street View trekkers was Khumjung sitting 13,000ft (3,970 metres) above sea level . Google also captured parts of the Phortse farming village  including Thakiri Chholing Gomba, or small monastery . Paintings inside the monastery began in 2008 by Buddhist artists and were completed by the end of 2009 .