Everest Heroes Honoured in Nepal

13 February, 2008 - Published 14:04 GMT

The government of Nepal has renamed the closest airport to Mount Everest to honour the first two men known to have climbed the mountain, Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary. The two explorers achieved their feat in May 1953. This report from Charles Haviland: Listen to the story Except for the purists who walk all the way in from the nearest road-head, most visitors' first experience of Nepal's spectacular Everest region is the airstrip at Lukla. It's a dramatic introduction, as the plane has to drop down almost vertically between the mountains and then lands on a runway which slopes steeply upwards. It was actually the New Zealand joint first conqueror of Everest Sir Edmund Hillary, who died a month ago, who inspired the building of the airstrip in the 1960s. And it's been a motor for the development of health, education and tourism in the area. Now Nepal's tourism minister, Prithvi Subba Gurung, says it will henceforth be known as Tenzing Hillary Airport, also commemorating Hillary's climbing partner, the NepaleseSherpa Tenzing Norgay, who died in 1986. As much as anything it's a tribute to the friendship between the two men and their families, which remained strong, with Sir Edmund visiting Nepal regularly until the end of his life. Charles Haviland, BBC News, Kathmandu Listen to the words the purists people who believe in and follow very traditional rules or ideas in a subject (here, traditional mountain climbers would only arrive in Nepal by walking, not by plane) lands returns to the ground (after flying) a runway the strip of land that a plane uses when it arrives at and leaves from an airport slopes steeply upwards leans or rises up at a very sharp or steep angle joint first conqueror of Everest Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were together the first people ever to successfully climb to the top of Mount Everest a motor for a source of energy for something, made something happen henceforth from now on Sherpa a member of a Himalayan ethnic group who is skilled at mountain climbing. Sherpas are often employed as guides by visiting climbers As much as anything one of the main aspects is a tribute in praise of, a way of celebrating and highlighting something Read more about this story Try this quiz For teachers Download lesson plan 86 K (Using apostrophe -'s)