Hillary and Tenzing become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest
On this day · 29 May 1953
On 29 May 1953, a New Zealand beekeeper and a Nepali Sherpa stood together on the highest point on Earth.
At about 11:30 a.m. on 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa from Nepal, stepped onto the summit of Mount Everest — the first people known to reach the highest point on Earth.
They were the spearhead of a large British expedition led by John Hunt. Having slept at a tiny tent high above the South Col, the pair set out at dawn, crossed the South Summit, and tackled the final barrier: a steep step of rock and ice, now called the Hillary Step, only about 17 m (55 ft) high but viciously exposed.
They lingered roughly 15 minutes at the top, taking photographs and burying a few small offerings in the snow, before beginning the long, dangerous descent back to their tent. Both men knew that getting down alive mattered as much as getting up.
Hillary was knighted within weeks; Tenzing received the George Medal. For decades neither would say who set foot on the summit first.
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