Kathmandu, Oct. 17 -- A total of 6,507 mountaineers have climbed Everest from the Nepal side since Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and New Zealander Edmund Percival Hillary first set foot atop the world's highest peak in May 1953.

This and other figures are contained in the latest annual mountaineering statistics published by the Tourism Ministry on Tuesday. Among the 6,507 summiteers, 471 are female, with Junko Tabei of Japan being the first to make it to the top in 1975.

The 8,848-metre (29,028 feet) Everest straddles Nepal and China and the summit can be reached from both countries. It costs less to climb from the Chinese side since the royalty is less than Nepal's $11,000 per person and also because there is a motorable road up to the base ca...