The Nepalese government has confirmed that the airstrip at Lukla will be renamed Tenzing Hillary Airport.

Lukla airport, pictured by grough reader Denzil Broadhurst

The authorities also said they were looking for a suitable mountain peak to be named after the first Everest conquerors, and that the trekkers' trail to base camp would be called the Tenzing Hillary Trekking Route.

Sir Edmund Hillary, who died last month, was instrumental in the setting up of the airstrip, the hairy approach to which is most trekkers’ and would-be summiteers’ introduction to the high-adrenaline world of the Himalayas.

Last month, grough reported that tourism minister Prithvi Subba Gurung was pressing his government to rename the strip. Now the Kathmandu administration has confirmed the decision.

Tenzing Norgay, a Tibetan-born Sherpa who settled in Nepal, and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary, conquered the world’s highest peak in May 1953.