Which 1953 expedition first reached Mount Everest’s summit, with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay?

The 1953 British expedition first reached Mount Everest’s summit with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

The expedition was organized by Britain’s Joint Himalayan Committee and led by Colonel John Hunt. On 29 May 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. They climbed via the South Col route from Nepal.

The pair spent only a short time on the summit, taking photographs and checking that the route was secure. Hillary photographed Norgay, but no summit photograph of Hillary was taken because Norgay was not familiar with the camera. They descended safely, and news of the achievement became public on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

Everest had been attempted by earlier expeditions, including the 1924 British expedition, during which George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared high on the mountain. Hillary and Norgay’s success ended decades of uncertainty about whether the summit could be reached.