10 Things You Didn’t Know About the First Summit of Mount Everest

On May 29, 1953, at 11:30 a.m., Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first two people to stand at the top of the world. Though it had been tried many times before, these two people were the first ever confirmed to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.

The feat was historic but outside of the climbing community, most people don’t know the details about the climb or the men who did it. Here are ten facts that will probably surprise you.

Sir Edmund Hillary was a beekeeper

Hillary was born in 1919 in New Zealand. In secondary school, he discovered a love of mountaineering, but when he was 19, he joined his brother and father in the family beekeeping business. His father was actually the editor of The N.Z. Honeybee journal, and his mother was well known for breeding and selling queen bees. During WWII he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator but was discharged after an accident that left him with severe burns. After his ascent of Everest he made a living as a professional climber and explorer.

They summited on Norgay’s birthday (sort of)

The details of Tenzing Norgay’s early life are unclear. Different accounts say he was born in Nepal or Tibet. He was likely born in 1914, the Year of the Rabbit, but the exact date was unknown. Based on the time of year he had always placed his birthday sometime in May. When he summited Everest on May 29th he decided that date would become his birthday from then on.

They only spent 15 minutes at the top

Once the pair made it to the summit, they didn’t stay long. When they first arrived, they shook hands, and then Norgay wrapped Hillary in a hug. Hillary took photos of the view from the summit and a photograph of Norgay holding an ice axe adorned with the flags of Nepal, the United Nations, Great Britain, and India. Norgay, who was Buddhist, buried sweets at the summit as an offering of gratitude. They celebrated, but they knew they still faced a dangerous descent, so they didn’t linger.

There is more than one way to the summit

Mount Everest has two main climbing routes: the Southeast Ridge from Nepal and the North Ridge from Tibet, along with a number of less frequently used routes. About 98% of climbers use one of the two main routes. The Southeast Ridge is the route Hillary and Norgay used, but their expedition didn’t have much of a choice. The North Ridge from Tibet was closed to Westerners in the 1950s.

It was not an individual effort

The ascent of Everest was not a quest undertaken by just two people. Their ascent happened on the ninth British expedition to the mountain, and was a huge organized effort. The expedition was planned and led by John Hunt, and more than 350 porters helped carry supplies from Kathmandu to the mountain, while climbers spent weeks establishing a series of camps ever higher on Everest’s slopes.

The final ascent was to be tried by three separate teams. The first pair, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, came close on May 26. They reached the South Summit, the highest point any human had gone, but were forced to turn back less than 300 feet from the top when oxygen equipment problems and exhaustion overtook them. Three days later, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay left the highest camp before dawn, climbed past the now-famous Hillary Step, and reached the summit.

News reached England on the Queen’s coronation day

After the successful summit attempt, a runner was sent to base camp to spread the news. From there, a telegram was sent to the British Embassy in Nepal and then on to England. News finally reached England on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Many people saw the news as a good omen for her reign and it was billed as a coronation gift to the Queen. In a surreal moment back on Everest the expedition listened to the coronation on the radio and heard the announcement of their successful summit attempt.

Everest was not the last of the Seven Summits climbed

Though there are variations in what people consider “the” Seven Summits, Everest was not the last to be climbed. Two of the peaks that are typically included are Puncak Jaya, which wasn’t summited until 1962, and Mount Vinson, which wasn’t summited until 1966.

There was a secret pact at the top

For years, Norgay and Hillary kept a pact not to reveal who actually reached the summit first. To them, it was a team effort, and it didn’t matter who put their feet on the top first. They kept that pact until Norgay published his autobiography Tiger of the Snows and revealed that Hillary had stepped onto the summit first.

Everest was not the only accomplishment of the pair

After their ascent of Everest, both Norgay and Hillary dedicated themselves to helping others. Norgay became the first Director of Field Training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, where he spent more than twenty years teaching and mentoring future climbers.

Hillary continued to explore and eventually traveled to the South Pole. In 1985, he and Neil Armstrong (yes, that Neil Armstrong) flew in a small plane to the North Pole, making Hillary the first person to stand on the summit of Everest and at both the North and South Poles.

Perhaps even more importantly, Hillary and his wife established the Himalayan Trust, which helped build schools, hospitals, bridges, and airstrips in remote Sherpa communities.

They were the first… maybe

Hillary and Norgay were the first two people to definitively summit Everest. However, many believe that two others may have done it first.

In 1924, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine attempted the summit. A witness reported seeing them on what is now known as the Second Step before they disappeared into the clouds and were never seen again. Many people believe that if the duo reached the Second Step, they may well have gone on to reach the summit, but there is no conclusive evidence that they did. In fact, when Norgay and Hillary reached the summit they spent a bit of time looking for any evidence that Mallory had reached the top.

Mallory and Irvine both died during the attempt, and the camera they carried has never been found. Perhaps if it is ever recovered, it will contain photographs from the summit and finally answer one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries.

Sources:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sir-edmund-hillary-tenzing-norgay-1953

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/03/sherpas-climbers-everest-fight

https://www.eyesonnewzealand.com/stories/sir-edmund-hillary-tenzing-norgay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay

https://www.history.com/articles/seven-summits-first-climbs

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-to-climb-mount-everest-1779350

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_British_Mount_Everest_expedition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory

https://www.onthisday.com/people/tenzing-norgay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary#CITEREFJohnstonLarsen2005

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sir-edmund-hillary-tenzing-norgay-1953

https://biographics.org/edmund-hillary-biography-conquering-every-mountain/

Hull Daily Mail, Tue, June 2, 1953, Page 7

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