TRIBUTES were pouring in today to the Hampshire mountaineer killed trying to climb Mount Everest.

Peter Legate, 38, a business manager from Lymington in the New Forest, died as a result of a fall on the world's highest mountain.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We understand he fell on the Lhotse face while climbing between camps two and three."

He was thought to be part of a mixed nationality expedition, the spokesman added.

"We are in touch with his next-of-kin and are ready to offer consular assistance," he said.

Peter was raising money for two local charities - Southampton-based Children Say, which helps deaf youngsters, and Naomi House Children's Hospice at Sutton Scotney near Winchester.

Children Say chief executive Mary Nicklen met Peter for lunch at the charity's offices in Eastern Docks just before he set off for the Himalayas in March.

"I said 'Safe journey' and he said 'Yes, of course. I will see you in May.'"

She spoke of staff being devastated about his death.

Mary added: "We send our love and our condolences to his mother Margaret and to his family and to the people who sponsored Peter in his dream to be at the top."

Hugh Thompson, fundraising manager for Naomi House, a hospice for terminally-ill children based in Sutton Scotney, near Winchester, called Peter an "inspiration".

He said: "On behalf of everyone at Naomi House, we are all really shocked. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. It really is a tragic end to a real adventure. He was up at Naomi House volunteering over the past years so we had a personal relationship with him. He was a thoroughly nice guy, doing it for all the right reasons.

"I can't pay him enough tribute as a genuine character. He was an inspiration. We all knew it was a difficult and dangerous undertaking but it came like a bolt from the blue."

Peter would send e-mail updates from 29,000ft-high Everest to a BBC South website so his progress could be followed, and he would answer questions on his computer.

The last e-mail diary he sent was on Monday, April 22, in which he wrote about the stunning scenery in the Himalayas as he acclimatised to high altitude.

He added: "Quite by accident we were in the right place at the right time to see the son of Sir Edmund Hillary (Peter) and the son of Tenzing Norgay (Jamling) being blessed for their forthcoming climb of Everest."

His last words were: "Next report from Everest Base Camp."

Peter said in a previous e-mail question from Ty Williams in Southampton that he was the most inexperienced member of the team.

He added: "I hope they look after me!"

Nepal's tourism ministry said Peter lost his footing yesterday while trying to fix ropes. He fell about 655 feet into a crevasse.

He was part of a team made up of seven experienced mountaineers, including Hungarian and American climbers.

Neighbours of Peter's terraced town house in Lymington spoke of their shock.

Jeremy Herd said: "I'm so sorry to hear it, it is so sad. We were going to get together when he got back."

His wife Ann added: "He was such a sweetie, such a nice man."

Another neighbour, who declined to be named, said: "Peter was the nicest guy and he had worked so hard for this - I felt sure he would complete it."

Turgay Hassan Hicks, an optician in the town who provided Peter with contact lenses and sponsorship, said: "I saw him regularly - this is a shock, and I am devastated."