Which 1953 expedition first confirmed that Mount Everest had been climbed?
Answer
British expedition
The 1953 British expedition first confirmed that Mount Everest had been climbed.
On 29 May 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached Everest’s summit as members of the ninth British expedition to the mountain. Expedition leader John Hunt organized the attempt, which approached Everest from Nepal’s southern side.
Hillary and Tenzing were the first people confirmed to reach the summit, although earlier climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared near the top in 1924. Whether they reached the summit remains unresolved because no decisive evidence was found.
The successful ascent was announced on 2 June 1953, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Everest’s official height is 8,848.86 metres, based on a joint Nepal-China measurement announced in 2020.