In the list of names that the highest mountain inspires are Everest toothpaste, a variety of hard red winter wheat, unaffiliated Everest colleges in Nepal and in North America, and, among others, Everest Affiliates, an investment firm in Canada with the motto 'Making millionaires since 1997'. There is also Everest candy, whisky, computer software, and a brand of special underwear (don't ask). Everest is even a popular name for baby boys. And, computer techies take note: a sophisticated solid-state drive called the 'Everest 2 Platform' is waiting for you to join the team.
The infatuation with things 'Everest' began with an obsession among British climbers in the early 20th century to summit the big one, and it 'peaked', so to say, after Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay topped it on 29 May 1953. That towering event was, to use another well-worn cliché, a 'titanic act' of determination and perseverance. Continuing the play on words, following the death of Hillary in 2008, British actor and adventurer, Brian Blessed, who made his own three attempts on the mountain, described Hillary as "a kind of titan".
Hillary, who was never one to mince his words, summed up the events of that day when he met his friend, George Lowe, during the descent. "Well, George," he said, "we knocked the bastard off!" A week later, Hillary was knighted for this accomplishment. But despite the fame Hillary would enjoy for the rest of his life, he apparently did not hold much romantic affection for the big rock, or at least not for the shenanigans later perpetrated on and about the peak. In a 2003 interview for The Guardian newspaper, he made this blunt summation: "It's all bullshit on Everest these days." Hillary was, obviously, not referring to the ascent of Everest by his son, Peter, in 1990, nor to Peter's follow-up ascent in 2002 with Brent Bishop, son of the 1963 American Everest summiteer, Barry Bishop.
According to statistics on Everest, over 3000 people have tried to climb the mountain, 700 of whom have made it. This season, Prakash Dahal, son of the chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka Prachanda), is leading a batch to the summit. By conquering the ultimate challenge, the party of climbers intends to boost the peace process and drafting of the new Nepali constitution, which is due 28 May. On the trek to the mountain, the team might run into four servicemen sponsored by a British charity group called 'Walking with the Wounded' that helps injured soldiers get on with their lives. There are solo climbing attempts as well. Wasfia Nazreen, a rights activist, development worker and self-proclaimed mountain climber, wants to become the first Bangladeshi woman to scale the mountain. And Sita Rai, a Nepali woman, hopes to perform sirsasan, a type of head-stand yoga, on the top.