Climbing the Everest
Hillary and Norgay Climb Mount Everest (1953): After years of dreaming about it and seven weeks of climbing, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay reached the top of Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953.
Mt. Everest had long been considered unclimbable by some and the ultimate climbing challenge by others. Soaring in height to 29,035 feet (8,850 m), the famous mountain lays in the Himalayas, along the border of Nepal and Tibet, China.
They reached the top of the world at 1130 local time after a gruelling climb up the southern face.
Hillary and Lowe were then invited to join John Hunt’s 1953 British Everest Expedition. On 29 May – four days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – the final pair, Hillary and the experienced Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of Mt Everest via the south face. They were the first men to stand on the ‘roof of the world’. From the moment Hillary told Lowe that they had ‘knocked the bastard off’, his life was public property. Hillary was created KBE and fêted around the world. He married Louise Rose, a talented viola player, in Auckland on 3 September 1953, the bride’s 23rd birthday. They were to have three children: Peter (born 1954), Sarah (1956) and Belinda (1959).
Hillary led the New Zealand component of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1957–58, which was under the overall command of the British explorer Vivian Fuchs. The New Zealanders first set up Scott Base on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. In October 1957, driving modified Ferguson farm tractors, they headed south to establish food and fuel depots for the British crossing party. Then, against the instructions of the British Ross Sea Committee, they went ‘hell-bent for the Pole – God willing and crevasses permitting’. On 4 January 1958, Hillary’s party became the first to reach the South Pole overland since Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated journey in 1912. Despite this success, he faced some criticism for allegedly putting adventure ahead of the expedition's scientific aims.
In the decade after his Everest ascent, Hillary published several best-selling accounts of his exploits, including High adventure (1955), East of Everest (with George Lowe, 1956), The crossing of Antarctica (with Vivian Fuchs, 1958) and No latitude for error (1961).
The route to Everest was closed by Chinese-controlled Tibet, and Nepal only allowed one expedition per year. A Swiss expedition (in which Tenzing took part) had attempted to reach the summit in 1952 but was turned back by bad weather 800 feet (240 m) from the summit. During a 1952 trip in the Alps Hillary discovered he and his friend George Lowe had been invited by the Joint Himalayan Committee for the approved British 1953 attempt and immediately accepted.
Shipton was named as leader but was replaced by Hunt. Hillary considered pulling out, but both Hunt and Shipton talked him into remaining. Hillary was intending to climb with Lowe but Hunt named two teams for the assault: Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans; and Hillary and Tenzing. Hillary therefore made a concerted effort to forge a working friendship with Tenzing.
The Hunt expedition totalled over 400 people, including 362 porters, twenty Sherpa guides and 10,000 lbs of baggage, and like many such expeditions, was a team effort. Lowe supervised the preparation of the Lhotse Face, a huge and steep ice face, for climbing. Hillary forged a route through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.
The expedition set up base camp in March 1953. Working slowly it set up its final camp at the South Col at 25,900 feet (7,890 m). On 26 May Bourdillon and Evans attempted the climb but turned back when Evans' oxygen system failed. The pair had reached the South Summit, coming within 300 vertical feet (91 m) of the summit. Hunt then directed Hillary and Tenzing to go for the summit.
Snow and wind held the pair up at the South Col for two days. They set out on 28 May with a support trio of Lowe, Alfred Gregory and Ang Nyima. The two pitched a tent at 27,900 feet (8,500 m) on 28 May while their support group returned down the mountain. On the following morning Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent. He spent two hours warming them before he and Tenzing attempted the final ascent wearing 30-pound (14 kg) packs. The crucial move of the last part of the ascent was the 40-foot (12 m) rock face later named the "Hillary Step". Hillary saw a means to wedge his way up a crack in the face between the rock wall and the ice and Tenzing followed.
From there the following effort was relatively simple. They reached Everest's 29,028 ft (8,848 m) summit, the highest point on earth, at 11:30 am.
As Hillary put it, "A few more whacks of the ice axe in the firm snow, and we stood on top."
They spent only about 15 minutes at the summit. They looked for evidence of the 1924 Mallory expedition, but found none.
Hillary took the famous photo of Tenzing posing with his ice-axe, but since Tenzing had never used a camera, Hillary's ascent went unrecorded.
Tenzing left chocolates in the snow as an offering and Hillary left a cross that he had been given.
Additional photos were taken looking down the mountain in order to re-assure that they had made it to the top and that the ascent was not faked. The two had to take care on the descent after discovering that drifting snow had covered their tracks, complicating the task of retracing their steps. The first person they met was Lowe, who had climbed up to meet them with hot soup.
News of the successful expedition reached Britain on the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The group was surprised by the international acclaim that they received upon arriving in Kathmandu. Hillary and Hunt were knighted by the young queen, while Tenzing received either the British Empire Medal,or the George Medal from the British Government for his efforts with the expedition.
It has been suggested that Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused permission for Tenzing to be knighted.
Well, George, we knocked the bastard off.
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