IT’S the ultimate goal for any mountaineer: to be standing at the top of the world, looking down on creation.

But conquering Everest isn’t the feat it used to be, according to the first British woman who scaled the world’s highest mountain.

The startling images of people queueing near the summit of the 8,848 metre-high behemoth have shocked Harting mountaineer and explorer Rebecca Stephens MBE.

Conditions were very different when the author, journalist and motivational speaker reached the top in 1993, as Rebecca shared the summit with two Sherpas.

And while she can understand Everest’s continued appeal, she believes the reach-the-summit-at-all-costs policy that has made 2019 one of the deadliest years in the mountain’s history needs to change.

She said: “There’s been a lot of interest in Everest recently because of that picture of people queuing and I think it’s a tricky one.

“Everest feels very different now, although I’ve not been there recently so I can’t judge that much.

“But I think we’ve got to the stage, especially when you see a line of people like that, where something needs to change.

“Some people are waiting to get down, so someone has to step aside and may slip and die.

“And yet people carry on towards the top, and there’s something really sad and inhumane about that.

“I think there needs to be some kind of contract with mountaineers.

“The year after I climbed Everest the Nepalese restricted the numbers on the mountain but they also multiplied the permit fee.

“It got to $11,000 but people were prepared to pay that so they opened the floodgates.”

Rebecca isn’t alone in having mixed feelings about Everest as famed mountaineer Chris Bonington wasn’t complimentary when he appeared at last year’s Hay Literary Festival.

“It’s awful,” said Bonington, who is thankful he doesn’t have to return after four expeditions to the mountain, especially as he lost a colleague on one.

“Be prepared to stand in a long queue, as you’ll be doing it with about 600 other people.”

Rebecca, who was also the first British woman to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, said: “It’s something I would not do again, for a variety of reasons.

“There are still ways you can climb Everest away from the main routes – and perhaps if you do these at a different time, you might get a different experience.

“You can approach Everest from the Tibetan side and the north-east ridge is also quite popular, so there are other ways of climbing it aside from base camp.

“But 20 years ago when I was there I was extremely blessed because it was just two Sherpas and myself, on a closed route at the end of the season.”

Some operators have urged the government to cut the number of permits, and raise the price to around $20,000 to combat increased crowds.