It happened at 11:30 AM on May 29, 1953. Two men stood on a patch of snow about the size of a dinner table, breathing thin, bottled air through rubber masks. They were higher than any human had ever stood before. One was a lanky, bee-keeping New Zealander named Edmund Hillary. The other was Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of incredible strength and experience who had already been higher on the mountain than almost anyone alive.
Most people just want a single name. They ask, who was the first person to climb Mount Everest, looking for a solo hero. But the truth is a bit more tangled than a simple trivia answer. It wasn’t a solo sprint; it was a massive, military-style siege involving over 350 porters and tons of gear. Without the team, neither man reaches the top.
The moment they touched the sky
Hillary and Tenzing spent about fifteen minutes on the summit. That's it. Just fifteen minutes at 29,032 feet (8,848 meters). Hillary took the famous photo of Tenzing waving his ice axe, adorned with the flags of Britain, Nepal, the UN, and India. Interestingly, there is no photo of Hillary on the summit. Tenzing didn't know how to use a camera, and Hillary didn't think it was the time for a photography lesson.
They shook hands. Then, in a moment that felt more human than heroic, Tenzing embraced Hillary and thrashed him on the back. They buried some sweets and a small cross in the snow as an offering. They looked down at the world, took some pictures to prove they weren't lying, and then started the terrifyingly dangerous walk back down.
Honestly, the descent is often where people die. Your brain is starved of oxygen. Your legs feel like lead. But they made it. When Hillary saw his lifelong friend George Lowe coming up to meet them later, he didn't give a poetic speech. He just said, "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off."
The controversy: Who stepped up first?
For years after the 1953 expedition, the press was obsessed with one question: who actually touched the summit first? Was it the British subject (Hillary) or the local hero (Tenzing)? The pressure was political and intense. In Nepal and India, people desperately wanted Tenzing to be the first. In Britain, they wanted the glory for the Crown.
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Both men stayed quiet for a long time. They said they reached it "together, as a team." It was a classy move. It reflected the reality of high-altitude climbing where one man leads for a while, then the other takes over to break the wind. However, in his later autobiography, Tiger of the Snows, Tenzing finally admitted that Hillary took the final step a few yards ahead of him.
Does it matter? Not really. In the mountaineering community, the lead climber and the second climber share the summit equally. If Hillary had slipped on the "Hillary Step"—the 40-foot rock face just below the summit—Tenzing would have been the one holding the rope that saved his life. Or they both would have fallen. They were tied together by a hemp rope; their fates were literal mirrors of each other.
The Mallory mystery: Were they actually the first?
We can't talk about who was the first person to climb Mount Everest without talking about George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine. In 1924, nearly thirty years before Hillary and Tenzing, these two Englishmen were seen disappearing into the mist high on the Northeast Ridge. They were "going strong" for the top.
Then they vanished.
In 1999, climber Conrad Anker found Mallory's body. It was preserved by the cold, bleached white like marble. Mallory had severe rope jerk injuries around his waist, suggesting a fall. But did they fall on the way up or the way down?
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- The Case for Mallory: He promised his wife he’d leave her photo on the summit. When they found his body, the photo wasn't in his wallet.
- The Case Against: They were wearing gabardine wool and leather boots. They didn't have the technical gear to scale the "Second Step," a sheer rock wall that today's climbers only get past using a permanent ladder.
Most historians believe Mallory and Irvine died before reaching the top. Without a photo or a "summit ping," Hillary and Tenzing remain the official firsts. But the "what if" still haunts the mountain.
Why 1953 was the "Goldilocks" year
The British 1953 expedition was lead by Colonel John Hunt. He ran it like a war. They used open-circuit oxygen sets that were heavy and temperamental. If you've ever tried to hike with a 30-pound dumbbell on your back while breathing through a straw, you’re halfway to understanding their struggle.
Earlier attempts failed because of bad weather or poor logistics. The 1952 Swiss expedition actually got Tenzing and Raymond Lambert to within 800 feet of the summit. They had to turn back because they were physically spent. Hillary and Tenzing succeeded because they stood on the shoulders of all those failures. They had better oxygen, better boots, and a path already scouted by the Swiss the year before.
Life after the mountain
Hillary didn't just take the fame and run. He spent the rest of his life building schools and hospitals in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust. He became an honorary Sherpa in the eyes of the people. Tenzing became a global icon and the director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling.
They remained friends until Tenzing passed away in 1986.
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How to understand the feat today
Everest is different now. It's crowded. There are fixed lines from the bottom to the top. You can pay a guide company $60,000 to $100,000 to basically pull you up the mountain. In 1953, there was no map for the final ridge. There were no tracks in the snow.
When you think about who was the first person to climb Mount Everest, don't just think about a guy in a puffer jacket. Think about two men stepping into the complete unknown. They didn't know if the human body would simply shut down at that altitude. They didn't know if the snow would hold.
Practical takeaways for history buffs and climbers
If you're fascinated by the 1953 climb, there are a few things you can do to get closer to the story:
- Read the original accounts. Skip the Wikipedia summary. Read Hillary's High Adventure and Tenzing's Tiger of the Snows. The difference in their perspectives is fascinating.
- Visit the Khumbu. You don't have to climb Everest. Trekking to Everest Base Camp (EBC) lets you see the Khumbu Icefall—the same terrifying river of ice Hillary had to navigate.
- Research the "Second Step" debate. If you're a fan of mysteries, look into the 1924 expedition. The tech they used vs. what is required today is a massive point of contention among high-altitude experts.
- Support the Sherpa community. The 1953 climb began a legacy of Sherpas doing the heaviest lifting in the Himalayas. Organizations like the Himalayan Trust continue Hillary's work.
The feat of May 29, 1953, changed how we see the limits of the human body. It wasn't just about a mountain; it was about proving that the "Third Pole" of the earth could be conquered.
To truly honor the history of the first ascent, focus on the partnership. Hillary and Tenzing proved that a beekeeper from Auckland and a Sherpa from the shadows of the peaks could do together what no one could do alone. They didn't just climb a hill. They opened a door to the rest of the world.
Check the records at the Royal Geographical Society or the American Alpine Club for digitized logs of the 1953 trip if you want to see the actual oxygen flow charts and gear lists they used. It makes modern gear look like science fiction.
Next Steps for Deep Research
- Locate the 1953 documentary: Watch The Conquest of Everest. It features actual footage from the expedition.
- Examine the Mallory evidence: Look up the 1999 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition findings to see the artifacts recovered from 27,000 feet.
- Compare modern routes: Study the South Col route (Hillary’s route) versus the North Ridge (Mallory’s route) to understand the technical differences in the two first-ascent attempts.