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50-585: The South Summit is a dome-shaped peak of snow and ice approximately 130 metres (430 ft) distant from the summit of Mount Everest and 100 metres (330 ft) below it, connected to it by the Cornice Traverse and Hillary Step . It was first climbed by Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition on 26 May 1953. They arrived at 1 pm, too late to continue on because of problems with Evans' oxygen set. Three days later, on 29 May, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay passed over

100-762: A Sherpa born and raised in Tengboche , Khumbu , in northeastern Nepal . In a 1985 interview with All India Radio, he said his parents came from Tibet, but that he was born in Nepal. According to many later accounts, including a book co-written by his son Jamling Tenzin Norgay , he was born in Tibet , at Tse Chu in the Kama Valley , and grew up in Thame . He spent his early childhood in Kharta , near

150-575: A crevasse but was saved from hitting the bottom by Norgay's prompt action in securing the rope using his ice axe, which led Hillary to consider him the climbing partner of choice for any future summit attempt. At the time, newspaper reports variously referred to him as Tensing, Tenzing, Tenzing Bhotia, Tenzing Norgay, Tensing Norkey, Tenzing Sherpa or Dan Shin, as one Indian academic suggested. The Hunt expedition totalled over 400 people, including 362 porters , 20 Sherpa guides and 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) of baggage, and like many such expeditions,

200-510: A 7,916-metre (25,971 ft) mountain in Nepal Tenzing Peak in Norgay's honour. Both Tenzing Peak and Hillary Peak are points on the long Ridge from Cho Oyu to Gyuchung Kang with Tenzing Peak nearer to Cho Oyu. In July 2015, the highest-known, 3.4-kilometre-high (11,000 ft) mountain range on the dwarf planet Pluto was named Tenzing Montes . Norgay was married three times. His first wife, Dawa Phuti, died young in 1944. They had

250-613: A farewell celebration. In 1978 Norgay founded Tenzing Norgay Adventures, a company providing trekking adventures in the Himalayas . As of 2021, the company was run by his son Jamling Tenzing Norgay , who himself reached the summit of Everest in 1996. On 10 May 1984 Tenzing Norgay, together with Grp Capt A. J. S. Grewal, Principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, attended the 10th-anniversary celebrations of The School of Adventure, Mysore , Karnataka held at

300-471: A height of about 8,595 metres (28,199 ft) on the southeast ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. The expedition opened up a new route on Everest that was successfully climbed the next year. Norgay and Raymond Lambert reached on 28 May the then-record height of 8,600 metres (28,215 ft), and this expedition, during which Norgay was for the first time considered a full expedition member ("the greatest honour that had ever been paid me") forged

350-458: A lasting friendship between Norgay and his Swiss friends, in particular Raymond Lambert. During the autumn expedition, the team was stopped by bad weather after reaching an altitude of 8,100 metres (26,575 ft). In 1953, Tenzing Norgay took part in John Hunt 's expedition; Tenzing had previously been to Everest six times (and Hunt three). A member of the team was Edmund Hillary , who fell into

400-511: A monk, but he decided that was not for him and left. At the age of 19 he settled in the Sherpa community in the Too Song Busti district of Darjeeling. Norgay received his first opportunity to join an Everest expedition at age 20, when Eric Shipton was assembling the 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition . After two other prospective team members failed their medical tests, Norgay

450-595: A new and unsuspected peak of alpine stature stood above the South Col." A geologist with the 1965 Indian Everest expedition discovered a deposit of fossils of seashells in limestone about 100 feet above the South Summit. Recounting his first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen in 1978, Reinhold Messner described the South Summit as "quite a milestone for me". During the 1996 Mount Everest disaster , mountain guide Rob Hall and three other people died at

500-883: A photo exhibition at the Nepal Tourism Board showing how the Hillary Step area had changed. Rangdu has climbed Everest multiple times since 2005, including before and after the big Nepal earthquake. The combination of these skills—high-altitude photography and mountaineering—allowed him to provide a photographic history of the Hillary Step, and he has said that it is indeed gone. 27°59′14″N 86°55′32″E  /  27.9871066°N 86.9256306°E  / 27.9871066; 86.9256306 Tenzing Norgay Tenzing Norgay GM OSN ( / ˈ t ɛ n z ɪ ŋ ˈ n ɔːr ɡ eɪ / ; Sherpa : བསྟན་འཛིན་ནོར་རྒྱས tendzin norgyé ; May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi , and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing ,

550-442: A son, Nima Dorje, who died at the age of four, and two daughters: Pem Pem, whose son, Tashi Tenzing , climbed Everest, and Nima, who married a Filipino graphic designer, Noli Galang. Norgay's second wife was Ang Lahmu, a cousin of his first wife. They had no biological children, but she was adoptive mother to their daughters from his earlier marriage with her cousin. His third wife was Dakku, whom he married while his second wife

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600-432: A support trio comprising Ang Nyima, Alfred Gregory and George Lowe . Norgay and Hillary pitched a tent at 27,900 feet (8,500 m) on 28 May while their support group returned down the mountain. On the following morning, Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent. He spent two hours warming them before he and Tenzing attempted the final ascent, wearing 30-pound (14 kg) packs. The last part of

650-501: A time could traverse it. With increasing numbers of people climbing the mountain, the Step frequently became a bottleneck , with climbers forced to wait for their turn on the ropes and thereby slowing the flow of people up and down the mountain. Before 2015, the descending sequence along Everest's southeast ridge was: It was suspected in 2016 that the April 2015 Nepal earthquake had altered

700-550: Is unknown, he knew it was in late May by the weather and the crops. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May 1953, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter. His year of birth, according to the Tibetan calendar , was the Year of the Rabbit , making it likely that he was born in 1914. This agrees with Hunt's statement that he was 39 in 1953, and had "established himself (as) not only

750-496: The George Medal for his efforts on the expedition. It has been suggested that Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused permission for Norgay to be knighted. It has been a long road ... From a mountain coolie , a bearer of loads, to a wearer of a coat with rows of medals who is carried about in planes and worries about income tax. Nonetheless, there was some inequity, according to National Geographic , "Hillary

800-519: The South Col , at 25,900 feet (7,900 m). On 26 May, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans attempted the climb, but turned back when Evans' oxygen system failed. The pair had reached the South Summit , coming within 300 vertical feet (91 m) of the summit. Hunt then directed Norgay and Hillary to go for the summit. Snow and wind held the pair up at the South Col for two days. They set out on 28 May with

850-436: The 30 foot rope in loops in his hand: A little below the summit Hillary and I stopped. ... I was not thinking of 'first' and 'second'. I did not say to myself, there is a golden apple up there. I will push Hillary aside and run for it. We went on slowly, steadily. And then we were there. Hillary stepped on top first. And I stepped up after him ... Now the truth is told. And I am ready to be judged by it. Tenzing Norgay became

900-470: The First Assault Party of Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans when they reached the South Summit on 26 May at 13:00, too late to continue on. Seated on the snow dome, they could look closely at the last 90 m (300 ft) ascent to the summit. It was not the gentle snow ridge they had hoped for, but a thin crest of snow and ice on rock, steep on the left, overhanging as a cornice on the right. It

950-623: The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan , the third-highest civilian award of India. Indian Mountaineering Foundation presented him with its gold medal. On 1 March 1963, Norgay was awarded the honorary title of " Merited Master of Sport of the USSR " by the Soviet Union , becoming the first foreigner to receive this distinction. In September 2013, the Government of Nepal proposed naming

1000-410: The Hillary Step, but there was so much snow it was not clear whether it had truly changed. Kenton Cool wrote that the Hillary Step "is only 12 to 15 feet [3.7 to 4.6 m] high." In May 2017, Tim Mosedale and other climbers reported that "the Hillary Step is no more", although the full extent and interpretation of the changes were still nascent. Another climber who thought the Step changed by 2016

1050-810: The Indian subcontinent. For a time in the early 1940s, Norgay lived in the princely state of Chitral (then in India, later a part of Pakistan ) as batman to a Major Chapman. Norgay's first wife died and was buried there during his sojourn in the state. He returned to Darjeeling with his two daughters during the Indian partition of 1947, and managed to cross India by train without a ticket and without being challenged by wearing one of Major Chapman's old uniforms. In 1947, Norgay participated in an unsuccessful summit attempt of Everest. The Canadian-born mountaineer Earl Denman , Ange Dawa Sherpa, and Norgay entered Tibet illegally to attempt

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1100-539: The Mysore Institution of Engineers ' auditorium. In 1938, after Norgay's third Everest expedition as a porter, the Himalayan Club awarded him its Tiger Medal for high-altitude work. On 7 June 1953, it was announced that the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II wished to recognize Norgay's achievements. 10 Downing Street announced on 1 July that, following consultation with the governments of India and Nepal,

1150-728: The Queen had approved awarding Norgay the George Medal . He also received, along with the rest of the Everest party, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal . In May 2013, Norgay's grandson, Tashi Tenzing , said he believed his grandfather should have been knighted, not just given "a bloody medal". In 1953, King Tribhuvan of Nepal presented him with the Order of the Star of Nepal , 1st Class ( Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara ). In 1959,

1200-399: The South Summit en route to achieving the main peak. On reaching the South Col in 1953, expedition leader John Hunt was struck by the sight, writing "Above us rose the South Summit of Everest ... an elegant snow spire, breathtakingly close yet nearly 3000 feet above our heads ... none of us had been prepared for any spectacle quite so sharp, quite so beautiful as this. To me it seemed that

1250-511: The South Summit while descending from the main summit in an unexpected blizzard . Hall survived overnight, and established radio contact the following day, but froze to death later that day, May 11, 1996. His body remains on the South Summit. The South Summit is a popular place for Everest climbers to pause, change oxygen bottles, and turn around if necessary. From this location the cornice traverse, Hillary Step , and summit can be seen in clear weather. Hillary Step The Hillary Step

1300-412: The ascent and descent over the Step were generally made with the assistance of fixed ropes , usually placed there by the first ascending team of the season. In a good climbing situation, it was about a two-hour climb from the South Summit to the Hillary Step, one to two hours to climb the cliff, and then another 20 minutes from the top of the Hillary Step to the summit of Mount Everest. Only one climber at

1350-408: The ascent comprised a 40-foot (12 m) rock face later named the " Hillary Step ". Hillary saw a means to wedge his way up a crack in the face between the rock wall and the ice, and Norgay followed. From there, the following effort was relatively simple. They reached Everest's 29,028-foot (8,848 m) summit, the highest point on Earth, at 11:30 a.m. As Hillary put it, "A few more whacks of

1400-416: The climb, an attempt which ended when a strong storm hit at 22,000 feet (6,700 m). Denman admitted defeat, and all three turned around, returning safely. In 1947, Norgay became a sirdar of a Swiss expedition for the first time after having helped to rescue Sirdar Wangdi Norbu, who had fallen and been seriously injured. The expedition reached the main summit of Kedarnath at 22,769 feet (6,940 m) in

1450-683: The first Director of Field Training of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling , when it was set up in 1954. In January 1975, with permission of the King of Bhutan , Jigme Singye Wangchuck , Norgay served as sirdar (guide) for the first American tourist party allowed into the country. Brought together by a company then called Mountain Travel (now called Mountain Travel-Sobek),

1500-460: The foremost climber of his race but as a mountaineer of world standing". Tenzing was originally called "Namgyal Wangdi", but as a child his name was changed on the advice of the head lama and founder of Rongbuk Monastery , Ngawang Tenzin Norbu. "Tenzing Norgay" translates as "wealthy-fortunate-follower-of-religion". His father, a Tibetan yak herder, was Ghang La Mingma (d. 1949), and his mother, who

1550-509: The group first met Norgay in India before beginning the trek. The official trek began in Paro , northern Bhutan and included a visit to Tiger's Nest (Paro Taktsang), the ancient Buddhist monastery, before returning to India via Nepal and Sikkim . Norgay even introduced his group to the King of Sikkim (the last king of Sikkim, as Sikkim is now a part of India) and also brought them to his home in India for

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1600-535: The ice axe in the firm snow, and we stood on top." They spent only about 15 minutes at the summit. Hillary took the famous photo of Norgay posing with his ice-axe, but since Norgay had never used a camera, Hillary's ascent went unrecorded. However, according to Norgay's autobiography Man of Everest , when Norgay offered to take Hillary's photograph Hillary declined—"I motioned to Hillary that I would now take his picture. But for some reason he shook his head; he did not want it." Additional photos were taken looking down

1650-501: The mountain, in order to re-assure that they had made it to the top and to document that the ascent was not faked. The two had to take care on the descent after discovering that drifting snow had covered their tracks, complicating the task of retracing their steps. The first person they met was Lowe, who had climbed up to meet them with hot soup. Afterwards, Norgay was met with great adulation in Nepal and India. Hillary and Hunt were knighted by Queen Elizabeth II , while Norgay received

1700-609: The north of the country. Norgay went to Nepal as a child to work for a Sherpa family in Khumbu. Khumbu lies near Mount Everest , which the Tibetans and Sherpas call Chomolungma ; in Standard Tibetan , that name means "Holy Mother", or the goddess of the summit. Buddhism is the traditional religion of the Sherpas and Tibetans, and Norgay was Buddhist. Although his exact date of birth

1750-420: The opportunity to bypass Hillary, by way of snow and ice climbing. The Hillary Step has claimed its share of lives, due to its strenuous conditions and unpredictable, rapidly changing weather. Author Anatoli Boukreev found the body of Bruce Herrod hanging from ropes at the base of the step in 1996, according to his book The Climb . The step was closed during the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition by

1800-483: The step had conclusively changed. Dave Hahn , who has climbed Everest 15 times, was shown photos and agreed that it was changed. A special kind of mourning hit the community with realization of missing rocks and freshly hewn scars of new coloured rock at this landmark feature. Hahn noted how it was a great tribute to Hillary and Tenzing and he thought of them whenever he scrambled over it. Later in 2017, mountaineering guide and trained photographer Lhakpa Rangdu mounted

1850-477: The two men had the right to the glory of being the first one, and who was merely the second, the follower?" Colonel Hunt, the expedition leader, declared, "They reached it together, as a team." Norgay eventually ended the speculation by revealing that Hillary was first in his 1955 autobiography. It was ghost-written by American writer James Ramsay Ullman as Tenzing could speak several languages but could not read or write. They were roped six feet apart, with most of

1900-401: The upper portion of the step had indeed changed. Peter Hillary , Edmund Hillary's son, was asked his opinion about the Step based on photos. He agreed it was there in part, but seemed to think it had undergone some sort of a change, noting especially what looked like a fresh broken rock. By early June 2017, more reports and photographic evidence came in, with Garrett Madison reporting that

1950-406: The western Garhwal Himalaya with Norgay among the summit party. In 1952, he took part in the two Swiss expeditions led by Edouard Wyss-Dunant (spring) and Gabriel Chevalley (autumn), the first serious attempts to climb Everest from the southern (Nepalese) side, after two previous US and British reconnaissance expeditions in 1950 and 1951. Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay were able to reach

2000-423: Was Tibetan, was Dokmo Kinzom. She lived to see him climb Everest. Tenzing was the 11th of 13 children, several of whom died young. Tenzing ran away from home twice in his teens, first to Kathmandu and later to Darjeeling , India (which at that time was the starting point for most expeditions in the eastern Himalayas), and eventually acquired Indian citizenship. He was once sent to Tengboche Monastery to become

2050-521: Was a 40-foot vertical rock face that sits 8,790 metres (28,839 ft) above sea level. It was located near the summit of Mount Everest . Located on the Southeast ridge, halfway between the " South Summit " and the True Summit, the Hillary Step was the most technically difficult part of the typical Nepal-side Everest climb and the last real challenge before reaching the top of the mountain. The rock face

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2100-400: Was a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. On 29 May 1953, he and Edmund Hillary were the first confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest , as part of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition . Time named Norgay one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. There are conflicting accounts of Tenzing's early life. In his autobiography, he wrote that he was

2150-550: Was a team effort. The expedition set up base camp in March 1953. Hillary wrote in 1975 about first meeting Norgay in Kathmandu on 5 March 1953: I was eager to meet Tenzing Norgay. His reputation had been most impressive even before his two great efforts with the Swiss expedition ... Tenzing really looked the part – larger than most Sherpas, he was very strong and active; his flashing smile

2200-447: Was destroyed by an earthquake that struck the region in 2015 . The Hillary Step has a reputation among climbers for its 3,000-metre (10,000 ft) and 2,400-metre (8,000 ft) drops on the ascent. Without a guide, the climb is Class 4 and in the death zone . One expedition noted that climbing the Hillary Step was "strenuous" and offered little to no escape from the changing elements. Heavy snowfall events can allow climbers

2250-472: Was interrupted by a formidable-looking 12 m (40 ft) rock step two-thirds of the way up. The step was named after Sir Edmund Hillary , who led Sherpa Tenzing Norgay , on 29 May 1953 climbing the crack between the snow and the rock, earning the feature its name. Upon completion of the summit, the pair reported the snowpack on Hillary is harder than that of lower elevation. In his 1953 account of summiting Everest he wrote: In more recent years,

2300-435: Was irresistible; and he was incredibly patient with all our questions and requests. His success in the past had given him great physical confidence – I think that even then he expected to be a member of the final assault party ... One message came through however in very positive fashion – Tenzing had substantially greater personal ambition than any Sherpa I had met. Working slowly, the expedition set up their penultimate camp at

2350-422: Was knighted for being the first known person to climb to the top of Mount Everest. But Tenzing, who simultaneously reached its summit, only received an honorary medal. In the years since there's been growing disquiet at the lack of official recognition." Norgay and Hillary were the first people to conclusively set foot on the summit of Mount Everest, but journalists were persistently repeating the question: "Which of

2400-463: Was pushed forward by his friend Ang Tharkay , a Sherpa sirdar who had been on the 1933 British Mount Everest expedition . His attractive smile caught the eye of Shipton, who decided to take him on. Norgay participated as a high-altitude porter in three official British attempts to climb Everest from the northern Tibetan side in the 1930s. On the 1936 expedition , he worked with John Morris . He also took part in other climbs in various parts of

2450-531: Was six-time Everest summiter David Liaño Gonzalez , who summited in 2013 and 2016, when the relevant changes are reported to have occurred. However, some important Nepalese climbers, including Ang Tshering Sherpa, chairman of the Nepal Mountaineering Association , reported that the Step was still intact but covered in more snow than before. Later in the year, after seeing a large exhibition of photos from 2006 to 2016, he did agree that at least

2500-462: Was still alive, as allowed by Sherpa custom (see polygyny ). They had three sons (Norbu, Jamling and Dhamey), and one daughter, Deki, who married American lawyer Clark Trainor. Jamling would join Peter Hillary , Edmund Hillary's son, in climbing Everest in 2003 on the 50th anniversary of their fathers' climb. Other relatives include Norgay's nephews, Nawang Gombu and Topgay, who took part in

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