Speaking to ETV current affairs show "Ringvaade" via remote link-up, Eevald said: "Reaching the summit compressed five years of effort into a single moment, and the emotional tempest you feel is your motivation for striving and pushing yourself to the top."

"Then it is done, and no one can take that away from you. That's the high value of this accomplishment," he said, speaking just three days after reaching the summit, which he did last Tuesday, May 21.

"It hasn't all sunk in emotionally yet. 'Numb' is perhaps the best word to describe it. I feel a bit clouded," Eevald went on.

"Occasionally, some emotions break through, and I remember what I've accomplished, but overall, it hasn't fully registered yet. My thoughts are still on the mountain itself," he added.

Eevald said he does not climb mountains for the view, calling it almost a luxury add-on given the seriousness of the task at hand, and changeable weather which can often obscure any vistas with fog or cloud.

"I did see some beautiful views while descending," he noted.

The climb also had a poignant dimension to it.

Eevald's friend and fellow climber, Briton Daniel Peterson, went missing on the same ascent and is now tragically presumed dead.

"Daniel was one of my best friends and climbing partners on this expedition, a very kind and wonderful person," Eevald said.

"We started the summit push at the same time on the evening of May 20, but since I and the Sherpa who guided me were moving faster than he and the Sherpa who accompanied him were, we got separated during the course of the ascent."

"I was the second person to reach the summit that night, the first being a Norwegian," Eevald added.

Eevald did briefly see and greet Peterson during his descent.

"We met near the South Col, fist-bumped, and then I continued descending, while he continued upward," a combination of unfortunate events in a notoriously hazardous zone led to what happened next.

"A snow cornice collapsed under the weight of the climbers, but for reasons unknown, they were not attached to the safety ropes. As a result, they fell thousands of meters," Eevald said.

Eevald himself had faced a dilemma shortly before reaching the summit, and one which most climbers attempting the feat encounter.

This was: "The fear that my body might fail and something could go wrong was quite significant," he recalled.

This made the final push to the summit about as challenging as things can get.

This included severe stomach pains quite different from a regular stomach ache and likely the harbinger of something far more serious.

"But when I saw the summit ridge from a distance, I decided to take this small risk and go all the way," he added.

"The fear that my body might fail and something could go wrong was significant before reaching the next milestone," dominated his thoughts.

"At that altitude, you don't want to make mistakes or overexert yourself because no one is coming to rescue you with a helicopter, and you won't be carried off the mountain," Eevald told "Ringvaade."

"By the time I made it, I was quite exhausted and so didn't want to linger. My thoughts were constantly focused on the importance of getting down from the summit, and making it back alive."

His next step will be a much more relaxed summer back home in Estonia, spending time with friends, Eevald added.

"Time will do its work, and the right thoughts will come after we have relaxed and let go a bit," he added.

Everest, called Sagar-Matha in Nepali, at just under 8,849 meters, Is the highest peak on earth, over 200 meters higher than the second tallest mountain, Karakoram (K)2.

Its first known successful ascent attempt took place in 1953, when Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary reached the summit.

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