Last member of Hillary's team dies

Kanchha Sherpa was the last surviving member of the 1953 expedition that saw Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa become the first to summit the world's highest mountain.

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Born in 1933, Sherpa, pictured, was 19 when he was engaged as a porter on the expedition and climbed above 8 000 metres close to the peak - with no prior mountaineering experience.

He died in Nepal's capital yesterday, aged 92.

Hundreds now follow in his footsteps to the summit of Everest each year, fuelling a multi-million-dollar mountaineering industry.

But while today's climbers follow a well-trodden route set by experienced Nepali guides, the team navigated the mountain on their own.