Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay were part of the British expedition to Mt. Everest in 1953. Colonel Khon Hunt led the expedition. Hunt selected a team of people, all of whom were experienced climbers. Edmund Hillary, a climber from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpe from India, were among the eleven chosen climbers.
After months of planning, the team began to climb.
Out of all the climbers on the expedition, only four would get a chance to make an attempt to reach the summit. Hunt, the team leader, selected two teams of climbers. The first team included Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, while Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made up the second team.
The first team left on May 26, 1953 to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. The two men made it up to about 300 feet short of the summit, still the highest any human being had yet reached. They were forced to turn back after they encountered bad weather.
At 4 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Hillary and Norgay awoke and got ready for their climb. Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen and spent two hours defrosting them. The two men left camp at 6:30 a.m. Upon their climb, they came upon one particularly difficult rock face, but Hillary found a way to climb it. The rock face is now called "Hillary's Step".
At 11:30 a.m., Hillary and Norgay reached the summit of Mt. Everest. Hillary reached out to shake Norgay's hand, but Norgay gave him a hug in return. The two men enjoyed only 15 minutes at the top of the world because of their low oxygen supply. They spent their time taking photographs and enjoying the view. Norgay placed a food offering to God. When their 15 minutes were up, Hillary and Norgay made their way back down the mountain.
Some interesting incidents occurred in the following years: 2000
May 22 - Anna Czerwinska became the oldest women to reach the summit of Mount Everest at the aga of 50.
2011
May 20 - Arjun Vajpai, at the age of 16 years and 11 months, became the youngest Indian to climb Mount Everest