Everest is the world’s highest mountain, towering like an icy giant over the Himalayas. For the millions of people living nearby, it has always been a magical place, known as “Goddess Mother of the World” or the “Peak of Heaven”. To explorers and adventurers, it represents a perilous but thrilling challenge to be conquered.

In this exhilarating account by award-winning author David Long, he looks back at the first attempts by international mountaineers to reach the fabled summit, many of which ended in disaster. But in May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the roof of the world!