KATMANDU, Nepal - Fifty years after New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Qomolangma, Hillary and dozens of climbers who followed in his footsteps have gathered in the Nepalese capital to celebrate the achievement.

　　Hillary and about 100 other Qomolangma climbers were in Katmandu and more were expected before major events get under way Tuesday, ahead of the 50th anniversary on May 29. Hillary and Norgay scaled the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) summit on May 29, 1953.

　　Now 83, Hillary credited his climbing team's porters, Sherpas and other members.

　　"It was a team effort and I am celebrating the 50th anniversary on behalf of all of them," Hillary told Channel Nepal television.

　　Hillary is joined in the anniversary celebrations by Junko Tabei of Japan, the first woman to climb Qomolangma; Reinhold Messner of Italy, the first to climb it without bottled oxygen; Sherpa Temba Tsheri, who last year became the youngest to reach the summit, at age 16; and Pemba Dorjee, a Sherpa guide who set the record in 12 hours and 45 minutes on May 23 for being the fastest.

　　Hillary and other celebrated climbers were to pass through Katmandu in a horse-carriage procession Tuesday morning. Seminars, dinners and exhibitions were planned through the week.

　　"It is good to be back among old friends and a chance to make new ones," said Alan Hinkes, a renowned British mountaineer who scaled Qomolangma in 1996.

　　A record number of people are climbing Qomolangma this month. The Nepalese tourism ministry says more than 90 climbers and their Sherpas have scaled the peak in the past few days and that more will try before Thursday.

　　The mountaineers have set new records this season.

　　A 70-year-old Japanese ski instructor, Yuichiro Miura, became the oldest climber to reach the summit, while a 15-year-old Sherpa girl became the youngest.

　　Sibusiso Vilane, 32, was hailed by his president as the first black South African to reach the peak of Qomolangma on Monday.

　　President Thabo Mbeki said, "Today all Africans stand 8,848 meters tall," the South African Press Association reported from Johannesburg.

　　More than 1,200 people have scaled Qomolangma in the past 50 years, leaving behind their footprints along with tons of garbage.

　　The Nepalese government and environmentalists have organized clean-ups over the past decade to clear empty oxygen cylinders, cans, tents and sleeping bags. The effort has made Qomolangma a cleaner place for climbers, hikers and airplane-borne sightseers.

　　"I just came down from a two-week trekking of Qomolangma base camp. The whole region was unbelievably clean and people there seem to have a better understanding of pollution-free environment," said Brian McCormick, of Denver, Colorado.

　　McCormick said the same area was littered with plastic wrappings and beer bottles when he trekked there 15 years ago.

　　The government now requires mountaineers to bring down all their gear and trash or forfeit the US,000 deposit required for the ascent. It has also banned the use of glass bottles.

　　"The situation has improved a lot in the past few years," said Pasang Temba Sherpa of the environmentalsgroupsKEEPS-Nepal.

　　But he said mountains of garbage remain.