A mountain of facts

EVEREST... 70 YEARS ON

IT'S 70 years tomorrow since a British-led expedition conquered Mount Everest.

On May 29, 1953, climbers Edmund Hillary, then 33, and Tenzing Norgay, 39, made history by becoming the first humans to reach the top of the world's highest peak and fly the Union flag at the summit.

News of the feat arrived hours before Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation.

But how much do you know about the famous rock? JAMES MOORE looks at Everest by the numbers...

1.. is for first place. Everest is the highest mountain in the world above sea level.

2.. the number of countries the mountain straddles - Nepal and China and the number of main routes to summit.

3.. British explorer Ranulph Fiennes, above, got to the top on his third attempt in 2009.

4.. millimetres. How much higher the mountain grows annually thanks to shifting tectonic plates.

8.. number of climbers who died in a 1996 blizzard made famous by the films Into Thin Air and Everest.