Arvin Timilsina and his team have landed at a dirt airstrip one week's trek from base camp.

They will spend two months acclimatising while preparing for a final assault on the 29,028ft mountain in May.

Arvin, from Pokhara town, Nepal, said: "I am confident of my success as long as I don't get nervous once I get to the mountain."

"When I was 10, I heard about the successful climb of Everest by a Nepali woman. Since then, I have never stopped dreaming about the day I set foot on the summit of Everest."

He will be accompanied by three Sherpas, two of whom have already scaled Everest, as he climbs the South Col route.

He has been in training for the trip for two years, learning rock and ice climbing skills at the Nepal Mountaineering Association and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, India.

The expedition is being sponsored by Pokhara businessmen, his school and his family.