The top 10 included Marco Polo and astronaut Neil Armstrong as well as mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary.

BBC: News | World | Columbus tops millennium poll

Sir Edmund Hillary's ghost would come down and beat you senseless with a crampon, but you could wear it.

CNN: Apparently This Matters: The Hug Me Jacket

Either way, as Sir Edmund Hillary has remarked, they did not get back.

ECONOMIST: Madness and its men

The incident drew much soul-searching in the mountaineering world, with Sir Edmund Hillary complaining to New Zealand's Otago Daily Times of the "horrifying" attitudes it revealed.

CNN: The height of teamwork on Everest

Since New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepali Tenzing Norgay first summited the roof of the world in 1953, nearly 6, 000 people have attempted the climb to the summit.

BBC: Everest's growing problem

It wanted photos of famous partners in exploration:the Apollo 11 crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay.

FORBES: Image Enhancement

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man up Everest, used to say that if you were in real trouble in a difficult place you needed an explorer called Ernest Shackleton, because he understood his people, knew how hard it was to lead well, and was prepared to do the right thing.

CNN: SHARE THIS