Mountaineers navigating through the Hillary Step on Mount Everest. The Hillary Step is a nearly vertical part (height around 40 ft) of upper Mount Everest. It lies almost at the top of the mountain, halfway from the "south summit" to the summit top, and is the last real challenge before the summit. It is reached by climbing the South East route. It was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first person, along with Tenzing Norgay, who passed it to reach the summit, Nepal