Sixty
years ago today New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa
Tenzing Norgay made the first confirmed ascent of the world's tallest peak
which reaches 29,029 feet. Since then thousands of people have made the
attempt, with many perishing. Just last week 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer
Yuichiro Miura became the oldest person to reach the summit for the third time,
although he said that he nearly died on the descent and that this would be his
last time. The 1953 expedition that took Hillary and Norgay to the top ended
with a stay of just 15 minutes, with Norgay leaving chocolates in the snow and
Hillary leaving a cross that was given to him by Army Colonel John Hunt, the
leader of the British expedition. -- Lloyd Young
Tenzing Norgay,
left, and Sir Edmund Hillary on their historic ascent of Mount Everest in 1953.
(Associated Press)
Sir Edmund
Hillary and fellow climbers, on Mount Everest in 1953 during the first credited
ascent to the mountain peak. (New York Times) #
Sherpa Tenzing
Norgay stands on the summit of Mount Everest May 29, 1953 after he and climbing
partner Edmund Hillary became the first people to reach the highest point on
Earth. (Edmund Hillary/Royal Geographical Society via Associated Press) #
From left;
Colonel John Hunt, Tenzing Norgay (better known as Sherpa Tensing), and Edmund
Hillary make a jubilant return to Britain after becoming the first men to scale
Mount Everest. (George W. Hales/Hulton Archive via Getty Images) #
Sir Edmund
Hillary, left, and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa smile after summiting the Mount
Everest in 1953 in this undated handout photograph. Nepali Sherpa friends of
Sir Hillary, who died on January 11, 2008, lit butter lamps and offered special
Buddhist prayers in monasteries for the mountaineer, calling him a great
philanthropist and friend of Nepal. Hillary, who scaled Mount Everest in 1953
along with Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, spent much of his life afterwards
helping Sherpa communities in Nepal, including projects to build hospitals and
schools. (Norgay Archive via Reuters) #
Media film the
statues of Edmund Hillary, left, and Tenzing Norgay during a function to mark
the 60th anniversary of successful ascent of Mount Everest, in Katmandu, Nepal,
on May 29, 2013. Hillary and Norgay were the first people to set foot on the
peak of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press) #
Kancha Sherpa, a team member
of the 1953 Mount Everest expedition that placed Tenzing Norgay and Edmund
Hillary on the summit of the world's highest mountain, and Amelia Rose Hillary
(2nd R), granddaughter of New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, waves to
well-wishers from a horse-drawn carriage during a procession for Everest
Summitteers during the Mount Everest Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Kathmandu
on May 29, 2013. Nepal marked 60 years since the first ascent of Everest May
29, celebrating the summiteers whose success has bred an industry that many
climbers now fear is ruining the world's highest peak. (Prakash
Mathema/AFP/Getty Images) #
Aerial
photograph of Mount Everest (back-center) and Everest's West Shoulder with
Nuptse (Right - 8848m) on May 15, 2003 on the Nepal - Tibet border. (Paula
Bronstein/Getty Images)) #
Buddhist prayer
flags flutter in a strong wind blowing towards the snow capped peaks of Mount
Everest, center, and Lhotse, right, near Tengboche village on the trail to
Mount Everest in Nepal on May 14, 2003. A team of 12 mountaineers from Indian
Army, Royal Nepalese Army and Nepalese sherpas scaled Lhotse Tuesday setting a
record for the highest number of mountaineers to scale the technically
difficult peak in a single day. (Gurinder Osan/Associated Press)) #
Drinks, rice and
a kind of flour is offered near the end of the Puja ceremony for Team Everest
on April 7, 2003, at Everest Base Camp in Nepal. The Puja is a buddhist
ceremony to bless the team and its equipment and to seek safe passage up the
mountain. Buddhist prayer flags radiate from the center pole. (Erich
Schlegel/The Dallas Morning News via Associated Press) #
British
mountaineering photographer Jonathan Griffith climbs in the upper reaches of
Mount Everest on April 27, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images) #
An aerial view
the Mount Everest range some 140 km (87 miles) northeast of Kathmandu on Jan.
14, 2011. The government said it aims to double the number of foreign visitors
who come to Nepal every year to one million in 2011. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty
Images) #
Members of the
E3 99 Everest Extreme Expedition negotiate a three ladder bridge over the Camp
1 crevasse at 19,500 feet on Mount Everest in Nepal, on May 13, 1999, testing
vital sign monitors and gathering additional information on hypoxia and
acclimatization. (Associated Press) #
Mountaineers
pass through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall on their way to Mount Everest near
Everest Base camp, Nepal, on May 18, 2003. With the weather providing a safer
window for summit attempts starting May 19, many teams, including the joint
Indo-Nepalese army, Korean and Japanese have left for attempting to climb the
world's highest peak. (Gurinder Osan/Associated Press) #
A view of the
Kumbhu icefall, the first hurdle in the ascent to Everest from base camp, as
seen from Everest Base camp, in Nepal, on May 17, 2003. (Gurinder
Osan/Associated Press) #
Climbers from
various countries descend Khumbu Icefall on their way back to Base Camo on May
22, 2013 after summiting Mount Everest . May is the most popular month for
Everest climbs because of more favorable weather. Earlier this month, an
80-year-old Japanese man Yuichiro Miura became the oldest conqueror of Mount
Everest and Raha Moharrak became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to scale the
peak. (Pasang Geljen Sherpa/Associated Press) #
An aerial
photograph of Everest Base camp, a large tent city full of climbers at 18,000
ft. May 15, 2003 which sits at the foot of Mount Everest on the Nepal-Tibet
border. A record 1,000 climbers plan assaults on the summit of Mount Everest to
celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the first successful assault on the
World's tallest mountain. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)) #
Nepalese Sherpas
climb Khumbu Icefall, on May 16, 2013 above Base Camp on their way to summit.
May is the most popular month for Everest climbs because of more favorable
weather. (Geljen Sherpa/Associated Press) #
A golden glow
envelopes as the sun sets on the worlds highest mountain, center, seen from
Kalapathar, on the trail to Everest, Nepal, on Nov. 15, 1983. Hundreds and
thousands of mountaineers and mountain lovers have gathered in Katmandu to take
part in various celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent
of Everest by Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgey on May 29, 1953. (Bikas
Das/Associated Press) #
Japanese
Yuichiro Miura, 80-year-old professional skier, alpinist, as he advances amid
an icefall to the advance base camp C2 on the route to the world's highest peak
of Mount Everest, Nepal, on May 16, 2013. (European Pressphoto Agency) #
80-year-old
Japanese extreme skier Yuichiro Miura stands atop the summit of Mount Everest
as he becomes the oldest person to climb the world's tallest mountain May 23,
2013. Miura, who also conquered the peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the
summit at 9:05 a.m. local time, according to a Nepalese mountaineering official
and Miura's Tokyo-based support team. (MIURA DOLPHINS Co., Ltd via Associated
Press) #
Japanese
mountain climber Yuichiro Miura, 80, shows a victory sign upon his arrival at
the airport after climbing Mount Everest, in Kathmandu May 26, 2013. Miura, who
has had four heart surgeries, reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday
becoming the oldest person to conquer the world's highest mountain. Miura, who
first climbed Everest in 2003 and repeated the feat five years later, takes the
oldest climber record from Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who reached the summit
at the age of 76 in 2008. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters) #
Two people
(bottom left) stand next to their tent as they camp at the base of the earth's
highest peak, Mount Everest, in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the People's
Republic of China, on Oct.13, 2011. Tibet is a vast land of harsh, arid, brown
plateaus and majestic mountain ranges. Living in the thin air of this high
altitude desert are many nomads. Religion is an integral part of life for
Tibetans, and most partake in religious pilgrimages of hundreds of kilometers
to visit the region's monasteries and sacred sites. (Barbara Walton/European
Pressphoto Agency) #
Members of Mount
Everest (Mt. Qomolangma) expedition team inch their way up a slope of the
mountain on May 19, 2005. (Suolang Luobu/Associated Press) #
In this image
released by mountain guide Adrian Ballinger of Alpenglow Expeditions and taken
May 18, 2013, climbers make their way to the summit of Mount Everest, in the
Khumbu region of the Nepal Himalayas. Nepal celebrated the 60th anniversary of
the conquest of Mount Everest on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, by honoring climbers
who followed in the footsteps of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. (Adrian
Ballinger/Alpenglow Expeditions via Associated Press) #
Mount Everest
(top), or Sagarmatha, the highest peak in the world with an altitude of 8,848
meters is seen in this aerial view next to the 6,812 meters (22,349 feet) high
Mount Ama Dablam (bottom) on April 22, 2007. Climate experts agreed on a U.N.
report on May 4, 2007 that said fighting global warming is affordable and the
technology available to slow the growth in greenhouse gas emissions and stave
off climate chaos, a senior delegate said. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters) #
Climbers make
their way to the summit of Mount Everest on May 18, 2013, in the Khumbu region
of the Nepal Himalayas. Nepal celebrated the 60th anniversary of the conquest
of Mount Everest on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. (Adrian Ballinger/Alpenglow
Expeditions via Associated Press) #
In a May 19,
2009 photograph, unidentified mountaineers descend Mount Everest. A group of
top Nepalese climbers are planning a high-risk expedition to clean up Everest,
saying decades of mountaineering have taken their toll on the world's highest
peak. "Everest is losing her beauty," seven times Everest summiteer
Namgyal Sherpa, 30, told AFP. "The top of the mountain is now littered
with oxygen bottles, old prayer flags, ropes, and old tents. At least two dead
bodies have been lying there for years now". (AFP/Getty Images) #
Tents glow in
the twilight as clouds cover Everest Base Camp in Nepal on May 22, 2003. Many
teams have rescheduled their summit attempt due to bad weather, even as some
managed to reach the summit of Mount Everest from the south side, first climbed
this season by the Indian-Nepalese army team early Thursday. (Gurinder
Osan/Associated Press) #
Climbers
navigate the knife-edge ridge just below the Hillary Step on May 18, 2013
during their way to the summit of Mount Everest, in the Khumbu region of the
Nepal Himalayas. Sixty years ago Wednesday, Sir Edmund Hillary and climbing
partner Tenzing Norgay were the first to set foot on the summit of Mount
Everest, the highest point on earth on May 29, 1953. (Adrian
Ballinger/ALPENGLOW EXPEDITIONS, via Associated Press) #
Arunima Sinha
poses with the Indian flag on Mount Everest. The twenty-six year old Sinha,
from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, who lost her leg after she was thrown
from a moving train two years ago, became the first female amputee to climb
Everest on May 21. (Arunima Sinha/AFP/Getty Images) #
13-year-old
Jordan Romero, right, poses for photos with a Sherpa guide on the summit of
Mount Everest on May 22, 2010. Jordan became the youngest climber to reach the
top of Mount Everest after climbing it from the Chinese side accompanied by a
team that included his father, his stepmother and three Sherpa guides. (Team
Romero via Associated Press) #
Two Japanese
climbers, in blue, rest on top of Mount Everest, surrounded by Tibetan prayer
flags on May 20, 2013. (Pasang Geljen Sherpa/Associated Press) #
Nepalese
Mountaineer Apa Sherpa with Mountain gear stands atop Mount Everest, Nepal, on
May 22, 2010 while breaking his own record. The Nepalese conquered the
8,848-metre high Mount Everest for the 20th time on May 22, breaking his own
previous world record in a climb he dedicated to environmental awareness. (Apa
Sherpa via European Pressphoto Agency) #
Nepal marked 60
years since the first ascent of Everest May 29, celebrating the summiteers
whose success has bred an industry that many climbers now fear is ruining the
world's highest peak. (Tshering Sherpa/AFP/Getty Images) #
Mount Everest
seen from above Everest Base camp, Nepal on May 26, 2003. Sir Edmund Hillary's
son, Peter Hillary, is scheduled to hold a prayer session and ritual mask dance
at the monastery today to commemorate 50 years of his father's and Tenzing
Norgay's climb to Mount Everest. (Gurinder Osan/Associated Press) #
Tibetan Buddhist
prayer flags are seen on the summit of Mount Everest on May 18, 2013 in the
Khumbu region of the Nepal Himalayas. Nepal celebrated the 60th anniversary of
the conquest of Mount Everest on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, by honoring climbers
who followed in the footsteps of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. (ALPENGLOW
EXPEDITIONS via Associated Press) #
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