HILLARY AND TENZING REACH THE SUMMIT OF MT EVEREST

On 29 May 1953 a beekeeper from New Zealand, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of Mt Everest  —  the world's highest mountain peak.   

Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)

Edmund Hillary's first major climb was up Mt Ollivier (1,933 metres) in the Southern Alps in 1940. After the war he was learnt mountaineering techniques from Harry Ayres, who guided him up Aoraki/Mt Cook, Mt Tasman and Mt Dampier during the late 1940s. In 1950 Hillary travelled to Europe to climb the Alps, before being invited to climb in the Himalayas with British teams in 1951 and 1952. He returned in 1953 to join John Hunt's British Everest Expedition with another New Zealander, George Lowe.

Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986)

The 1953 climb was Tenzing Norgay's sixth climb on Mt Everest, as part of British and Swiss expeditions. His first was in 1935 when he was 20 years old, and his most recent was in 1952 with a Swiss team who attempted to climb Everest from the Nepalese side. Norgay was one of 20 Sherpa guides invited to be part of the 400-strong Hunt expedition in 1953. 

As part of Hunt's team, Norgay and Hillary were chosen to begin the ascent on 28 May. They camped overnight 8,500 metres up the mountain, completing the final ascent to the summit the next morning. They spent about 15 minutes at the top, taking photographs but only one at the actual summit of Sherpa Tenzing posing with his ice axe. 

Their achievement, as part of the British Everest Expedition' took place four days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and was celebrated across the Commonwealth. Hillary was knighted by the new Queen before he had even come down from the mountains.  

In July the team arrived in Britain where they became the subject of media frenzy. 

Edmund Hillary returned to New Zealand in August 1953 as a national hero. 

Hillary went on to lead the New Zealand section of a British trans-Antarctic expedition in 1957/1958. He returned to Nepal in the 1960s to help build schools and hospitals for the Sherpas and local communities. In 1978 he led an expedition up the Ganges River and six years later became New Zealand's High Commissioner to India. 

Norgay continued to guide expeditions in the Himalayas setting up a company, Tenzing Norgay Adventures in 1978. He received honours from Nepal, Britain and India for his achievements.

Hillary and Norgay inspired a new generation of climbers including their own sons, Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Everest in 2003 on the 50th anniversary of their fathers' climb.