Today is the 52nd anniversary of the first ascent of Mt Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world.

• Age of Everest: Everest was formed about 60 million years ago

•Elevation: 29,035 feet (8,850m) found to be six inches higher in 1999. However, most scientists believe that the peak is 8,848 m high

•Name in Nepal: Sagarmatha (means: goddess of the skies)

•In Tibet: Chomolungma (means: mother goddess of the universe)

•Named after: Sir George Everest in 1865, the British surveyor-general of India. Once known as Peak 15

•Location: Latitude 27° 59’ N and Longitude 86° 56’ E. Its summit ridge separates Nepal and Tibet

•First Ascent: May 29,1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, Nepal, via the South Col Route

•First Solo Ascent: Aug 20,1980, Reinhold Messner, via the NE Ridge to North Face

•First Winter Ascent: Feb 17, 1980, L Cichy and K Wielicki, Poland

•Everest Name: Sir George Everest was the first person to record the height and location of Mt Everest. This is where Mt “Everest” got its name from

•First Ascent by a Woman: May 16,1975, Junko Tabei, Japan

•First Oxygenless Ascent: May 8, 1978 - Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler

•Fastest Ascent (from south): Babu Chhiri Sherpa, Nepal in 16 hours and 56 minutes on May 21, 2000

• Fastest Ascent (north side): Hans Kammerlander on May 24,1996 in 16 hours 45 minutes from base camp

•Youngest person: Temba Tsheri (Nepal) at 15 on May 22, 2001

•Oldest Person: Sherman Bull, May 25, 2001 at 64

•First Legally Blind Person: Erik Weihenmeyer, May 25, 2001

•Most Ascents: Appa Sherpa became the first person to climb Everest 11 times on 24 May, 2000; Ang Rita Sherpa Babu Chhiri Sherpa have climbed the peak 10 times each: All ascents were oxygen-less.

•Best and Worst Years on Everest: 1993, 129 summitted and eight died (a ratio of 16:1); in 1996, 98 summitted and 15 died (a ratio of 6½:1)

•Highest cause of death: Avalanches, about a 2:1 ratio over falls

•Country with most deaths on the mountain: Nepal 46

•Most dangerous area on the mountain: Khumbu Ice Fall, 19 deaths

•Last year without ascent: 1977

•Corpses remaining on Everest: about 120

•Longest stay on top: Babu Chiri Sherpa stayed at the summit for a full 21 hours and a half

•Largest team: In 1975, China tackled Everest with a 410-member team.

•Fastest descent: In 1988, Jean-Marc Boivin of France descended from the top in just 11 minutes, paragliding.

•Only climber to climb all four sides of Everest: Kushang Sherpa, now an instructor with Himalayan Mountaineering Institute

•First person to hike from sea level to summit, no oxygen: May 11, 1990,Tim Macartney-Snape, Australian

•Largest number to reach the top in one day: 40, on May 10, 1993

•First person to summit Everest twice: Nawang Gombu-Nepal (once with Whitaker in 1963 and again two years later in 1965). Gombu now works for the Himalayan mountaineering institute

•The oldest woman to summit: Anna Czerwinska, 50, on May 22, 2000

— Agencies