On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary, a 33-year-old beekeeper from New Zealand and his Nepalese-born guide Tenzing Norgay, stood at the top of Everest for the first time in history. The pair hugged, snapped some evidentiary photographs and buried offerings in the snow. They also surveyed the area for signs of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, two climbers who disappeared in 1924. When met by climbing colleague George Lowe on the descent to camp, Hillary brashly reported the achievement: "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off."
Conquering the 29,035-foot monolith ultimately earned Hillary a knighthood and Tenzing Britain's esteemed George Medal for courage. Hillary later wrote: "When we climbed Everest in 1953 I really believed that the story had finished." Indeed, he and Tenzig never relived the expedition in conversations with one another and neither attempted the climb again.
Of course, that's not to say others haven't. In the wake of Sir Edmund Hillary's death at the age of 88 on January 11, 2008, we're reminded of the frontier he and Tenzing opened and of the 3,500-plus climbers who have since staked their claim in the world's tallest mountain.
Read Full Article »
