Everest: 70th anniversary of the first climb

On May 29, 2023, the mountaineering community, and perhaps beyond, will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. To mark this anniversary, we've given carte blanche to our friend Jean-Michel Asselin, a journalist and writer who has attempted to climb the roof of the world five times. With his seasoned pen, he takes us back to 1953, to relive the feat that forever marked the history of Himalayan climbing.

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Mount Everest, the planet's highest peak

John Hunt was a true military man, and if he was chosen over Eric Shipton to lead the British expedition to the top of the “roof of the world”, it was because Hunt saw the climb as a battle. Shipton, on the other hand, saw it more as an expression of immoderate love. The 1953 ascent didn't happen “by chance”, it was the fruit of a story the British had been writing since 1875, when the organization responsible for mapping the Himalayas had appropriated a certain Peak XV. An Indian mathematician, Radhanath Sikdar, had discovered an altitude (8,846 m) that placed him at the top of all mountains, and Andrew Waugh, head honcho of the famous Survey of India, had chosen to name this summit of the absolute Everest, no less than the name of his predecessor. 

A slightly ambitious acknowledgement that George Everest considered “inappropriate”, believing that neither Tibetans nor Nepalese could pronounce such a name. If only this man, who never had the chance to see “his” mountain, could see the success of his surname today! Yet it would have sufficed for cartographers to read a few maps drawn up centuries earlier by Chinese scholars to see that a mountain located where Peak XV had been identified was called Chomolungma: “the highest goddess, the mother goddess of the winds”.

George Everest

The conquest of this third pole began with politics. Worried about the Tibetan authorities' rapprochement with Russia, the British Empire allowed itself a small war (hundreds of deaths on the Tibetan side, after all!). It took place in September 1904 and led to the establishment of an exclusive Anglo-Tibetan relationship, in the form of a trading post in the holy city of Lhasa. As a result, in 1921, the British obtained authorization to climb Chomolungma. The rest we know... But it's worth noting that in 1924, two climbers, Mallory and Irvine, disappeared near the summit, and we still don't know whether they reached it or not! That's the way life goes, and it will take a few generations before we move on from tweed jackets, jellied quail and calf pads to down jackets and freeze-dried meals.

1953: a narrow window for ascent

When history knocked on Nepal's door in 1953, the French had set the tone by becoming the heroes of a first summit over 8,000 metres: Annapurna in 1950. Everest wasn't “offered” to the English until 1953, and God knows they were hot on their heels! In 1952, the Swiss almost stole their mountain. Tenzing Norgay (on his fifth expedition to the mountain) and guide Raymond Lambert were unlucky. They had to give up at 8,600 meters. Yes, in 1953, as the festivities for the coronation of the young Queen Elizabeth II were being prepared, there could be no question of failure.

Hunt (Baron Hunt of Llanfair Waterdine! ) has assembled a crack team, drawing on the entire Commonwealth, and his climbers make up a dream cast: Alfred Gregory (travel agent), Tom Bourdillon (genius handyman), Charles Evans (surgeon), George Lowe (schoolteacher), Edmund Hillary (beekeeper), Mike Westmacott and Georges Band (both climbing club presidents), Charles Wylie (gurkha officer rescued from Japanese jails), Wilfrid Noyce (writer), Tom Stobart (filmmaker), James Morris (journalist), Griffith Pugh (physiologist) and Michael Ward (doctor). The team is completed by Tenzing Norgay, Everest's most experienced Sherpa, who this time is hired as a full-fledged mountaineer.

The british team in 1953

On May 26, Bourdillon and Evans set off for the summit with closed-circuit oxygen cylinders developed by Bourdillon. By 1 p.m., the two men were on a summit, but it was only the South Summit of Everest at 8750 meters. In front of them, a ridge hemmed in by a cornice and bordered by a spur of rock. They are exhausted and Evans has a problem with his oxygen. Bourdillon descends below the summit, observes what's to come and quickly realizes that he won't have the strength to make it over this last obstacle. By now, they are both altitude record holders! Giving up on their dream, the descent is very tough, and the friends at the South Col are a kind of disappointed castaways. On May 28, Lowe, Gregory and Ang Nyima set off from the South Col at 8.45 a.m., each carrying 18 kilos of equipment. At around 10 a.m., the second assault party, consisting of Hillary and Tenzing, followed them, carrying almost as much... At 1:30 p.m., at around 8,500 meters, the five climbers find a platform where they can set up a tent. Lowe, Gregory and Nyima descend. Hillary and Tenzing take almost 3 hours to set up. Tenzing, as usual, prepares the kitchen: chicken soup, pasta, sardines, dates and apricots in syrup. From time to time, they sip oxygen and drink lemon water.

Tenzing Norgay and Edmond Hillary

May 29, 1953: Everest summit reached at 11:30 am

he night is a little unsettled, but at 6:30 am on May 29, they emerge from their tents well bundled up in their goose-down suits. By 9 o'clock they were on the south summit. Determined, they make their way along the ridge that leads to the foot of a dozen-meter rocky spur. Hillary slips between the rock and the ice and overcomes the obstacle. The two climbers are now progressing almost side by side. And then the ridge becomes rounder, no more slope... It's the summit! At last. It's exactly 11:30. Excited, the two men congratulate each other, Hillary takes a picture of Tenzing brandishing his ice axe. There will be no photo of Hillary, as he decided that the summit of Everest was not the ideal place to give Tenzing a course in photography.

Each person makes an offering: chocolate and a pencil (donated by his daughter) for Tenzing, a crucifix entrusted to him by Hunt and a small black cloth cat for Hillary. Then, prosaically, the two men pee together (which Hillary would reveal 40 years later!). Hillary casually takes a few steps north to find that there's no trace of Mallory and Irvine. The descent goes off without a hitch, and when Lowe greets Hillary near the southern pass, he grins: “We got the bastard!"

Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Day

News of the feat will reach the Queen's ears at her coronation. Could there have been a happier omen? By the way, what was the content of the message written by James Morris, special envoy of the Times? The telegram read: “Bad snow conditions-stop-Advanced base camp abandoned-stop-Waiting for improvement”... And yes! a real coded message so that theTimes was certain of the exclusivity of the information delivered to Elizabeth II. And so begins (or ends) the crazy story of the ascent of Everest, which now boasts almost 11,000 successful ascents, a good half of them by Sherpas. So, if you want to be the eleven thousand seven hundred and thirty-fourth summiter, you know what you have to do! Good luck to you.

Join the next Everest climb via the Nepalese South Face or the North Tibet side.