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On This Day 1953: Hillary and Tenzing conquer Everest BBC ^ | 5/29/06

The New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, have become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepal-Tibet border. They reached the top of the world at 1130 local time after a gruelling climb up the southern face.

The two men hugged each other with relief and joy but only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes because they were low on oxygen.

Mr Hillary took several photographs of the scenery and of Sherpa Tenzing waving flags representing Britain, Nepal, the United Nations and India.

Sherpa Tenzing buried some sweets and biscuits in the snow as a Buddhist offering to the gods.

They looked for signs of George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine who had disappeared in 1924 in a similar attempt to conquer Everest, but found nothing.

Then they began the slow and tortuous descent to rejoin their team leader Colonel John Hunt further down the mountain at Camp VI.

When he saw the two men looking so exhausted Col Hunt assumed they had failed to reach the summit and started planning another attempt.

But then the two climbers pointed to the mountain and signalled they had reached the top, and there were celebrations all round.

Careful planning

Col Hunt attributed the successful climb to advice from other mountaineers who had attempted the feat over the years, careful planning, excellent open-circuit oxygen equipment and good weather.

Mr Hillary described the peak, which is 29,028 feet (8,847 m) above sea level, as "a symmetrical, beautiful snow cone summit".

He was one of the members of the expedition led by Eric Shipton in 1951 that discovered the southern route to the top of the mountain.

A year later, Tenzing reached the record height of 28,215 feet (8,599 m) during a Swiss expedition led by Raymond Lambert.

Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest, the surveyor-general of India who was the first to produce detailed maps of the Indian subcontintent including the Himalayas. News of the conquest of Mount Everest did not reach the outside world until 2 June, the eve of the Queen's coronation.

Colonel Hunt and Edmund Hillary were knighted on their return.

Sir Edmund took part in several expeditions after that including a trip across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1958. He set up a medical and educational trust for the Sherpa people in 1961 and was New Zealand High Commissioner to India in Delhi from 1984 to 1989.

Tenzing Norgay was awarded the George Medal for his achievement and later became director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling. He died in 1986.

The body of George Mallory who had attempted the ascent in 1924 was found on Mount Everest in 1999.

By the 50th anniversary of the ascent in May 2003 over 1,300 people had reached the summit of the roof of the world.

Not in my day, says Everest legend Hillary

The first man to conquer Everest has criticised a New Zealand double amputee and other climbers for leaving a young Briton to die near the summit of the world's highest mountain.

Sir Edmund Hillary said climbers including Mark Inglis, who became the first double amputee to scale the 8,848-metre peak on May 15, were wrong to leave David Sharp to die while they carried on to the summit.

"It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say 'good morning' and pass on by," he told the New Zealand Press Association.

"I think it was the responsibility of every human being. Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain."

Inglis, who lost both of his legs to frostbite after being trapped on a mountain in 1982, was on his way back to New Zealand on Wednesday but said earlier there was nothing he could do to save Mr Sharp's life.

Mr Sharp, 34, ran out of oxygen just 300 metres from the summit on his way down the Himalayan mountain.

"You know, we couldn't do anything... he had no oxygen, he had no proper gloves, things like that," Inglis told Television New Zealand in a program broadcast Monday.

Inglis said he accepted suggestions his party should have stopped to rescue Sharp.

"Yep, it's a very fair point. Trouble is, at 8,500 metres it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone keeping anyone else alive," the 47-year-old said.

"On that morning over 40 people went past this young Briton. I was one of the first, radioed, and (expedition manager) Russ said, 'Look mate, you can't do anything. You know, he's been there X number of hours, been there without oxygen. You know, he's effectively dead'."

But Sir Edmund, 86, who reached the top of Everest with sherpa Tenzing 53 years ago, said Mr Inglis and other climbers could have done more.

"My expedition would never for a moment have left one of the members or a group of members just lie there and die while they plugged on towards the summit," he said.

"They certainly could have put in a considerable effort to get him to safety."

Sir Edmund also said there should be a limit on the number of expeditions allowed to attempt Everest's summit.

"People are still going up in vast numbers and people are dying on the mountain - 150 people have died on Mount Everest," he said.

-AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1646192.htm