Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth, peaking at 8 848 m above sea level.
Located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas, the international border between China & Nepal runs across the precise summit point. Neighbouring peaks include Lhotse (8 516 m / 27 940 ft), Nuptse (7 855 m / 25 771 ft) & Changtse (7 580 m / 24 870 ft)

There are two main climbing routes: The southeast ridge from Nepal, and the north ridge from Tibet. There are also many other, less frequently climbed routes.
The southeast ridge route is technically easier, and more frequently used than the north ridge route, and was the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Hillary & Norgay were the first to successfully reach the summit of Mount Everest (at 11:30 a.m. local time on 29 May 1953).

First female ascent
The first woman to get to the top was Junko Tabei, in 1975, after being rescued from an avalanche by her sherpa.

First ascents without supplemental oxygen and first solo ascent
On 8 May 1978, Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) made the first ascent without supplemental oxygen, using the southeast ridge route.
On 20 August 1980, Messner reached the summit of the mountain solo for the first time, without supplementary oxygen or support, on the more difficult Northwest route. He climbed for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6,500 metres (21,300 ft).

First winter ascent
In 1980, a team from Poland led by Andrzej Zawada, Leszek Cichy, and Krzysztof Wielicki became the first to reach the summit during the winter season.

First ascent from sea level
In 1990 Australian Tim Macartney-Snape became the first person to climb from sea level to the summit.

Apa Sherpa holds the record for reaching the summit more times than any other person, 21 times as of 2011.

1996 disaster
During the 1996 season, 16 people died while climbing on Mount Everest, the highest number of fatalities in a single year in the mountain's history. Eight of them died on 11 May alone. The disaster gained wide publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of climbing Mount Everest.

2005: Helicopter landing
In May 2005, pilot Didier Delsalle of France landed an Eurocopter AS350 B3 helicopter on the summit of Mount Everest. He needed to land for two minutes to officially set the FAI record, but he stayed for about four minutes, twice. In this type of landing the rotors stay engaged, which avoids relying on the snow to fully support the aircraft. The flight set rotorcraft world records, for highest of both landing and take-off.

Information & Images: Wikipedia