But the story of Everest is much older than that. In fact, you have to go back to the 18th century to find the first traces. And more exactly to 1749, the year in which the first observations were made of the mountain by monks from the Indian jungle; what they saw was a very high mountain, and they gave it the reference of Peak XV. A century later, when the Kingdom of Nepal was being mapped from 1803 onwards, the British began on a series of topographical triangulations which produced a figure of 29 002 feet, or 8 839 metres. This height, attributed to Peak XV from 1852 (and from this date forward, Everest was considered as the highest mountain in the world) by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, remained official until 1955.

Once the altitude of Peak XV had been determined, it needed to be given a name. The controversy surrounding the naming lasted for 13 years. The British pretended to ignore the fact that Peak XV already had at least two local names, Chomolungma, which in Tibetan means Mother Goddess of the World, and Sagarmatha, which in Nepalese, Sanscrit and Hindu means "The One whose head touches the sky". Other of Her Gracious Majesty's subjects urged to the contrary that these foreign names should be retained at all costs. Finally, on the proposal of Andrew Waugh, who was then Chief Surveyor of India, the Royal Geographical Society in London agreed in 1865 that the highest summit in the world should be called after the man, who 13 years earlier, had been responsible for the great triangulations of 1852, Sir George Everest.

In the twentieth century, the history of Everest can be divided into three parts. Interminable and fruitless negotiations aimed at obtaining permission to penetrate into the forbidden kingdoms so that the Everest region could be explored, which lasted until 1920, the year in which Tibet finally opened its borders to foreigners. From 1921 to 1949 (the year in which Nepal also opened its borders). This is the era of the many attempts, mainly British: out of the nine expeditions that took place between 1921 and 1947, eight were entirely British. There were two important milestones during this period: 21st May 1922, when the barrier of 8 000 metres was breached for the first time on Everest by the British climbers Norton Mallory and Somervell (without oxygen). Two years later, during the third British exploration expedition on Everest, the same G.H. Leigh Mallory, accompanied by the man he was roped together with, A.C. Irvine, were seen for the last time at 8 450 m on the route for the summit. The burning question is still asked today: were they, yes or no, the first climbers to reach the summit of Everest?

The middle of the century was to be the major turning point in the history of Sagarmatha. In 1949, Nepal did indeed open its borders a few months before Mao and his troops invaded Tibet. All eyes then turned towards the approach via the South and West slopes. In 1952, a team of Swiss mountaineers, sponsored by the Swiss Foundation for Mountaineering Exploration, reached a spot 250 metres from the summit (via the South Col). This was the same year that the new measurements carried out by the Survey of India came to the conclusion that the definitive altitude of Everest would now be 29 028 feet or 8 848 m. Then came the historic moment: 29th May 1953, the mountain coveted by so many had finally fallen to the New Zealander, Edmund Hillary, and the sherpa Tenzing Norgay who was on his seventh expedition to the Himalayas (for more details of this historic event, see the section "29th May 1953").

Things then started to come in a rush. For twenty years, every possibility for making an ascent was to be recognised by some, then achieved by others (see "the major expeditions to Everest"). No fewer than 43 nations were to launch themselves, with varying degrees of success, at conquering the roof of the world. After the various routes leading to the summit had been opened up (the route via the Khumbu glacier being by far the most frequently used), it was time for the craziest of challenges. From the 1980s onwards, there was to be a succession of solo ascents, 'express' ascents, ascents without oxygen, descents on skis, winter ascents, etc. Everest became the setting for all sorts of unusual events and most extreme record attempts (spending a night at the summit), and all kinds of stunts via the media. The Frenchman, Marc Boivin, even succeeded in paragliding from the roof of the world. This adventure took place on 26th September 1988; his flight down to camp II, located at around 6 300 m, lasted for 11 minutes...

While Everest is the dream of all Himalayan climbers, over the years, it has also become a considerable source of foreign currency for the Nepalese government. In fact, it has taken full advantage of the general rush for its high peaks (Nepal has more than 1 350 summits over six thousand metres) to place strict regulations on the access to adventure by imposing heavy taxes on expeditions to reserve their summits - 50 000 dollars for a team of a maximum of 7 people; each additional climber (with a maximum of 12, not counting the sherpas), has to pay an additional 10 000 dollars each. When the expedition opts to take the South Col, there is an additional fee to pay of 20 000 dollars.

The result of this policy is that Everest today is a very busy mountain (especially via its usual South Col route). In a good season, it is not unusual to see twenty or so expeditions and several hundred people fighting for a spot on the ladders set out on the Khumbu glacier to climb over the crevasses (these crevasses sometimes fetch a high price) or to find a real bottleneck going up the famous Hillary Steps, a delicate part that climbers have to negotiate before reaching the summit.