Mount Everest Qomolangma Zhumulangma Feng

Mount Everest, at 8848m/29,039ft the highest mountain in the world, has attracted many international climbers over the years. This imposing and majestic summit lies 220km/137mi southeast of Xigaze on the Sino-Nepalese border. Its Tibetan name of Qomolangma means ''Third Goddess''. The Indians gave it the name of Everest in 1858 in memory of Sir S. G. Everest, head of the Indian State Institute of Geodetics. Mount Everest was discovered by the British mountaineer George Mallory in 1921.

The first attempts to scale the mountain were in 1921, from the Rongbuk glacier on the north (Tibetan) face, followed by more after 1950 which elected to tackle the southwest face from the Khumbu glacier in Nepal. By 1952 a total of fifteen expeditions had been attempted. The first successful climb was by a British expedition in 1953, which chose to go via the West Basin, the South Saddle (7986m/26,200ft) and the Southeast Ridge. The New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit on May 19th 1953. Since then it has been conquered several times, including the first attempt without oxygen apparatus by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler in 1978.