Named Mount Everest after Sir George Everest
the former
Surveyor-General of India.
The Nepali name is
Sagarmatha ( " Head of the Sky
" ),
Sherpas call it Chomolungma ( " Goddess Mother of the
World " )
and the Chinese call it Qomolangma
Feng.
The first ascent was in 1953 by ( Sir )
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
who reached the summit via the Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm,
the
Geneva Spur to the South Col and the SE
Ridge.
Reinhold Messner
has climbed Everest twice without oxygen
and also
made the first solo ascent.
At the end of 2003 the
record stood at 449 expeditions,
900 different people
had reached the summit
( including over 30 people
climbing more than 5 times,
40 people climbing more
than twice, a total of 1000 ascents ),
- 160
climbers having died in their attempts.
From 1983 both China and
Nepal have allowed several expeditions on the
mountain
at the same time resulting in queues for the
fixed ropes, confusion, squabbles,
crowded base camps and considerable rubbish littering the mountain.