set gDates = [[], [], [0, 0, 0, "The Times, June 8, 1953"]]
set gName = getat(["Hillary"],1)
@[]@[]###FIRST ACCOUNT OF ASCENT OF EVEREST
Everest is named after Sir George Everest, a former Surveyor-General. The name was given in his honour by the Victorian surveyors who first computed the peak's height in 1852#The height of Everest was first calculated as 29,002ft, but the mountain's height is now given as 29,028ft (8,847m) since the range is still rising#Before they renamed Everest, surveyors referred to the mountain simply as 'Peak XV'#In 1924 Mallory and Irvine attempted an assault on Everest. They were last seen at 28,000ft, but never returned. It is just possible they reached the summit, but there is no evidence to prove it#In 1952 - just a year before Colonel Hunt's successful expedition - a Swiss team had established a camp above the South Col at about 28,000ft; but they were beaten back by poor weather just 800ft from the summit#There had been at least ten unsuccessful attempts to conquer Everest before Hillary's expedition, and a recorded total of 16 climbers had died on the mountain#Preparation and training for Himalayan expeditions is essential: an unacclimatised person would be rendered unconscious in a few minutes trying to breathe at 28,000ft#The south-west face of Everest, more dangerous still than the 1953 South Col route, was not conquered until the 1975 expedition led by Chris Bonington#Everest is known to Tibetans as Chomolungma, meaning 'Goddess Mother of the World'#When asked why he had wanted to climb Everest, Hillary replied "Because it was there."#Hillary had taken part in an earlier trip to Everest in 1951. It was this expedition which established the route taken to the peak two years later#Hillary and Tensing have never revealed which of them actually set foot on the summit first. They have kept it secret so that the honour of the achievement remain equally shared between them
