Because it is there

The assault on Mount Everest has set off a backlash as tourist zones reclaim their pride and privacy.

Sat, Jun 29, 2019 - 5:50 AM

Over 4,800 people have climbed Mount Everest, a staggering number given the risks involved and the amount of time it took for the first human being to make that successful ascent. Almost 300 have died.

PHOTO: AFP

ON May 29, 1953 when Edmund Hillary (a reclusive Auckland bee-keeper) and his intrepid Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay emerged above the clouds to finally ruffle Mount Everest's 29,029-foot killer peak, it was the culmination of decades of romantic endeavour at the lung-bursting limits of human...