On May 29, 1953, at 11.30 am Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. They were members of a joint UK-New Zealand expedition, under John Hunt.
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay after the first ascent. Photo: Jamling Tenzing Norgay
The two men climbed the Southeast Ridge — what is today the normal route. When Hillary and Norgay reached the 8,848m summit, they hugged tightly.
Edmund Hillary leads three Sherpas into the Western Cwm on Everest in the spring of 1953. Photo: George Lowe via Sportsbrief
In that much simpler era, James Morris, the Times correspondent covering the expedition, sent a runner the following from Base Camp to Namche Bazaar. He was to telegram the British Embassy in Kathmandu about the landmark achievement.
The encoded message for his newspaper read: “Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement”.
“Snow conditions bad” was code for “summit reached”, “advanced base abandoned” meant “Hillary”, while “awaiting improvement” was the code for Tenzing Norgay.
The Times editors in London understood the telegram perfectly. On the morning of June 2, 1953, they released the fantastic news, accidentally coinciding with another major British event, Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Everest. Photo: Edmund Hillary
