The first ascent of Everest

Tenzing Norgay · 1953 CE · Earth

The first ascent of Everest — Tenzing Norgay · 1953 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Climb Everest by the South Col and the south-east ridge with oxygen, on Britain's only permit before the French took their turn in 1954.

Historical context

Everest had beaten every expedition since 1921, and the Swiss had come within 250 metres of the top with Tenzing in 1952. Nepal allowed one expedition a year; Britain held the 1953 permit and the French the next, so John Hunt planned the ascent like a military campaign, with seven and a half tons of baggage, two rival oxygen systems and two summit pairs. The news reached London on the morning of the Queen's coronation, and Tenzing came down the mountain to great adulation in Nepal and India.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Assembling at Kathmandu

    10 March 1953

    In early March the expedition gathers in the capital with 473 packages weighing seven and a half tons, and marches out from Bhadgaon with some three hundred and fifty porters in two parties on 10 and 11 March.

  2. Namche Bazaar

    25 March 1953

    On 25 March the caravan climbs into Namche Bazaar, the chief village of the Sherpas' Khumbu, where their relatives wait by the path with chang and tea; the march ends the next day at Tengboche.

  3. Tengboche

    27 March 1953

    From 27 March the party acclimatises for three weeks around the monastery that faces the mountain, climbing the peaks nearby and testing the oxygen sets.

  4. Base Camp

    12 April 1953

    On 12 April the expedition establishes Base Camp at 17,900 feet below the Khumbu Icefall, and Hillary's party starts cutting a route through the ice the next day.

  5. The Western Cwm

    1 May 1953

    Above the icefall a silent, blinding valley of snow runs up between Everest and Lhotse; the advance base, Camp IV, stands in it at 21,200 feet, nearly 6,500 metres, from 1 May.

  6. From the South Col to the last camp

    28 May 1953

    Tenzing and Hillary wait out a day of wind on the col at 7 900 m, then on 28 May climb with Lowe, Gregory and Ang Nyima to pitch their own tent higher than anyone has slept.

  7. The summit

    29 May 1953

    On 29 May 1953 they stand on the highest point on Earth at 11:30, having reached the South Summit at 9:00 and climbed the last ridge in two and a half hours.

  8. The news reaches London

    2 June 1953

    James Morris of The Times runs down to base camp, sends a coded message by runner to Namche Bazaar and by wireless to Kathmandu, and London prints it on the morning of the Queen's coronation, 2 June 1953.

Outcome

Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on the summit at 11:30 on 29 May 1953, the first people on the highest point on Earth; the news reached London on the morning of the Queen's coronation.

Tenzing Norgay

The Sherpa who had been higher on Everest than anyone alive when he and Edmund Hillary reached its summit on 29 May 1953, after seven expeditions to the mountain.

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Sources

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