Everest Summited
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest
May 29, 1953
The Top of the World
On May 29, 1953, New Zealand beekeeper Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest — at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters), the highest point on Earth. They were part of a large British expedition led by John Hunt that had been methodically working its way up the mountain, establishing a series of high-altitude camps. Hillary and Tenzing left their highest camp at 11,000 feet in the darkness before dawn and reached the summit at 11:30 AM. They spent about 15 minutes at the top, taking photographs and looking out over a vast panorama of the Himalayas, before beginning the dangerous descent.
Years of Attempts and Failures
The summit of Everest had been sought for three decades before Hillary and Tenzing reached it. George Mallory and Andrew Irvine had famously disappeared near the summit during a 1924 British expedition — whether they reached the top before dying remains one of mountaineering's greatest mysteries. The mountain's extreme altitude, brutal cold, high winds, and unpredictable weather had defeated expedition after expedition. Reaching the "death zone" above 26,000 feet, where the air holds only a third of the oxygen available at sea level, pushed the human body to its absolute limits. Hillary and Tenzing's success was the result not just of courage but of careful planning, superior equipment, and teamwork.
Everest After 1953
The news of the first successful summit was announced on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, June 2, 1953, becoming a double celebration for Britain and its Commonwealth. In the decades since, Everest has been climbed thousands of times by people from many countries. Commercial expeditions now guide paying clients up the mountain, creating controversies over crowding, waste, and safety. Over 300 people have died attempting the summit. Hillary himself became a passionate advocate for the Sherpa people of Nepal, building schools and hospitals in the region. Reaching the top of Everest remains one of mountaineering's ultimate challenges and one of the great milestones of human exploration.