An Everest fact-sheet

Japanese skier Yichiro Mirua, the first person to ski down the South Col of the Everest in 1970. - DEVENDRA M. SINGH/ AFP

Geological age: 600 million years.

Elevation: 8,850 metres; record at 8,852 metres in 1999. The mountain rises by a few millimetres each year due to tectonic action.

Named after: Sir George Everest, the Surveyor-General of India, in 1865.

Other names: Sagarmatha (Nepal); Chomolungma (Tibet)

First ascent: May 29, 1953, by Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay, India/Nepal.

First person to reach the summit twice: Nawang Gombu, Nepal, in 1963 and 1965.

First ascent by a woman: Junko Tabei of Japan, on May 16, 1975.

First ascent without supplemental oxygen: Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria, on May 8, 1978.

First winter ascent: February 17, 1980, by L. Cichy and K. Wielicki, Poland.

First solo ascent: Reinhold Messner, on August 20, 1983.

Fastest descent: Eleven minutes, by paragliding, by Mark Boivin of France, on May 3, 1988.

First person to hike from sea-level to summit: Australian Tim Macartney-Snape, on May 11, 1990.

Fastest ascent from the north: Sixteen hours and 45 minutes from base camp by Italian Hans Kammerlander, on May 24, 1996.

Fastest ascent from the south: Sixteen hours and 56 minutes from base camp by Babu Chhiri Sherpa of Nepal, on May 21, 2000.

Most ascents: Appa Sherpa - 11 times, the last one on May 24, 2000, and all without oxygen.

First ski descent of the Everest: Davo Karnicar of Slovenia, on October 7, 2000.

Only mountaineer to climb all four sides of Everest: Kushang Sherpa of Nepal.

Youngest person on the summit: Temba Tseheri of Nepal, aged 15, on May 22, 2001. Nepal subsequently imposed a 16-year age qualification for climbers.

Oldest person on the summit: Sherman Bull, 64, of the U.S., on May 25, 2001.

First legally blind person on the summit: Erik Weihenmeyer of the U.S., on May 25, 2001.