In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Links: ‘Conquest of Everest’
Video: ‘Storm on the Mountain’
Background: Earlier efforts end in death; ‘Because it’s there’
Later Developments: Today’s Everest tourism industry
Related Topic: Indian Airforce plans skydive onto Everest
Key Players: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary
Reference: The view from the summit
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Edmund P. Hillary of New Zealand, left, and Sardar Tenzing Norgay of Nepal
On this Day: First Climbers Reach Peak of Mount Everest
May 29, 2008 12:10 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and sherpa Tenzing Norgay of Nepal battled ice and storms to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
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Hardly alone in their endeavor, Hillary and Norgay were a part of a sizable effort that included a dozen climbers, 35 Nepalese Sherpas and more than 350 porters carrying some 18 tons of food and supplies, led by Col. John Hunt.
Dispatched after an initial team was forced to turn back in a paralyzing storm, Hillary and Norgay set out alone for the final ascent to the summit, leaving their support crew and camp shortly after 6 a.m.
Just 2,000 feet short of the peak, the pair stopped and battled cold through the night, making camp on a six-foot overhang that slanted 30 degrees downward.
On their final ascent the next day, they encountered rocks, ice and powder, which gave way beneath Hillary’s feet, sending him 30 feet down before he could regain hold. Looking down, Hillary said he could see 10,000 feet beneath him.
Working their way through the ice, up a narrow crevice and across a daunting ridge, the team arrived at the peak shortly before noon. “The whole world around us, lay spread like a giant relief map,” Hillary later wrote.
Leaving behind a crucifix on behalf of Col. Hurt and Norgay’s gift of biscuits and chocolate to the gods of the mountain, the two men planted flags on behalf of the United Nations, Nepal and the United Kingdom before eating a mint pie and starting their descent.
Dispatched after an initial team was forced to turn back in a paralyzing storm, Hillary and Norgay set out alone for the final ascent to the summit, leaving their support crew and camp shortly after 6 a.m.
Just 2,000 feet short of the peak, the pair stopped and battled cold through the night, making camp on a six-foot overhang that slanted 30 degrees downward.
On their final ascent the next day, they encountered rocks, ice and powder, which gave way beneath Hillary’s feet, sending him 30 feet down before he could regain hold. Looking down, Hillary said he could see 10,000 feet beneath him.
Working their way through the ice, up a narrow crevice and across a daunting ridge, the team arrived at the peak shortly before noon. “The whole world around us, lay spread like a giant relief map,” Hillary later wrote.
Leaving behind a crucifix on behalf of Col. Hurt and Norgay’s gift of biscuits and chocolate to the gods of the mountain, the two men planted flags on behalf of the United Nations, Nepal and the United Kingdom before eating a mint pie and starting their descent.
Headline Links: ‘Conquest of Everest’
“The ascent had been planned with the thoroughness of a commando raid: vast preparation for a brief but crucial hour,” reported Time magazine in a July 6, 1953, article on the climb. “The expedition assembled in March at Katmandu, capital of Nepal,” and included scores of porters and tons of supplies. After news of their May 29 ascent circled the globe, Hillary and Norgay quickly became international celebrities. A few weeks later, the climb was offered to a newly crowned Queen Elizabeth as a commencement gift. The two climbers would remain friends for years to come, but neither would ever return to the world’s highest peak.
Source: Time Magazine
The first conquest of Everest ignited an obsessive cult of followers, mountaineers seeking to replicate the famous ascent, and worldwide fame for the two explorers, but the two reportedly never again spoke of their climb with each other. “I really believed that the story had finished,” Hillary later said.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
Video: ‘Storm on the Mountain’
Everest is notorious for fierce storms like the one that turned back Hillary’s first summit-climbing team. PBS Frontline reports on the ethics and risks of climbing and the deadly 1996 snowstorm that trapped three teams during an ascent of Everest, with video and interactive maps. The piece is filmed and reported by David Breashears, who aided in the rescue efforts.
Source: PBS
Background: Earlier efforts end in death; ‘Because it’s there’
The 1953 exposition was not the first attempt at scaling the world’s highest peak. In 1924 George Mallory, who famously answered a query about why he wanted to climb Everest with the response, “Because it’s there,” died in an unsuccessful ascent alongside Andrew Irvine. The two were eventually found 75 years later, and equipment and parts of their camp have been spotted by several expeditions over the past six decades.
Source: NOVA
Later Developments: Today’s Everest tourism industry
In the years since the first ascent, more than 3,000 people have made the climb, leading some critics to point out a lost “spirit of adventure” as wealthy teams create small towns on their way up the famous mountain. Norgay’s son joined the chorus in 2003, noting that inexperienced climbers often buy their way onto the mountain.
Source: The Guardian
A combination of some of the world’s most challenging terrain and the inexperience of many climbers have made the trip to the peak one of the most dangerous undertakings in the world, resulting in more than 200 deaths since Hillary and Norgay’s first ascent. One of the more tragic of these events ended in the death of eight climbers in 1996; chronicled by one of the effort’s survivors, Jon Krakauer, in the book “Into Thin Air.”
Source: Outside
Related Topic: Indian Airforce plans skydive onto Everest
Fifty-five years after the historic ascent, the Indian Air Force is out to make Everest history this year by being the first to skydive onto the mountain in September 2008. Previously IAF jumpers have leapt from 30,000 feet—Everest stands at 29,035 feet.
Source: The Hindustan Times
Key Players: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary
Tenzing Norgay was an active climber on Everest long before his 1953 effort alongside Hillary. A sherpa reportedly born in Nepalese village of Thame, Norgay was 39 when he finally reached the peak and went on to become a national hero, and lived the rest of his life in Darjeeling. Though he never returned to the peak, his son followed in his footsteps and made the ascent in 1996.
Source: The Darjeeling News
Sir Edmund Hillary, who made the accent to Everest at age 33, went on to live a life rich in adventure, becoming the first man to stand on both poles as well as on the world’s highest peaks. Though he never held public office, Hillary would become a prominent government figure in his native New Zealand, advocating on behalf of conservation efforts and public service until his death in January 2008.
Source: The New York Times
Reference: The view from the summit
Reference publishers DK offer an interactive 360-degree panoramic view, along with history and facts about the mountain, and panoramic views of many other world landmarks.
Source: DK
© 2008 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
