On May 29, 1953 at 11:30 a.m., two men looked out across the earth from its highest point. These men, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, were the first in history to summit Mount Everest. Since then, more than 16,000 people have undertaken the treacherous climb to Everest’s tip 29,000 feet in the air.
Mount Everest, nestled in the Himalayas between Nepal and Tibet, is called Chomo-Lungma by Tibetans, meaning “Mother Goddess of the Land.” The name Everest was granted to the peak by the British after Sir George Everest, a British surveyor who completed the first detailed maps of the area. With its summit at 29,000 feet above sea level, the climb to the top is dangerous due to freezing temperatures and low oxygen levels.
The first British expedition to climb Everest set out in 1921. In 1924, a British climber named Edward Norton reached 28,128 feet, just 900 feet short of summiting. In 1952, a Swiss climber, Raymond Lambert, and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, made it to 28,210 feet. This was so close, that the British launched another expedition the next year, intent on summiting. The expedition was led by Colonel John Hunt. His militaristic, extremely organized approach to the climb was a key factor in its success.
On May 29, 1953, Hunt sent Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander who was a beekeeper by trade, and Tenzing Norgay, a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa, on a summit attempt. George Band, a member of the Hunt expedition, said, “It had always been Hunt’s intention, if feasible, to include a Sherpa in one of the summit teams, as a way of recognizing their invaluable contribution to the success of these expeditions.” The two men reached the South Summit at 9 a.m. that day. They then took on the most technically difficult section of the climb—a vertical rock face about 40 feet tall. This section is now known as the Hillary Step. Hillary and Norgay reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. Hillary later recounted, “Both Tenzing and I thought that once we’d climbed the mountain, it was unlikely anyone would ever make another attempt. We couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Learn more here:
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sir-edmund-hillary-tenzing-norgay-1953
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hillary-and-tenzing-reach-everest-summit
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/29/newsid_2492000/2492683.stm
