Mount
Everest was named 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.
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