Sixty years ago today Edmund Hillary became the first man to set foot on the summit of Everest, the world's highest mountain. Or did he? For many years, rumours raged that the accolade belonged to his sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. But, discovers Stephen McGinty, the speculation was fuelled in part by a simple agreement between the two heroes At just before 6am, 60 years ago today, two men watched as the sun rose over the roof of the world. Edmund Hillary, the 33-year-old son of a New Zealand beekeeper and Tenzing Norgay, the 39-year-old son of a Nepalese yak herder, were just above the South Coll on Mount Everest, 8,504m (27,900ft) above sea-level and dining on a breakfast of tinned apricots, sardines and hot tea in temperatures of -17C), which, with the wind-chill factor, was reduced to -50C. Today was their chance to step into the history books as the first men to conquer the highest mountain in the world. They were not the first choice. A day or so previously, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans had been chosen by Colonel John Hunt, leader of the 1953 British mountaineering team, to claim the summit for the Commonwealth but they had been beaten back with just 300 feet to go by a combination of exhaustion and malfunctioning oxygen cylinders.
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