See the First Men in the world to climb the Mount Everest

Climbing the world’s tallest mountain wasn’t an easy task. Most climbers of Mount Everest at least suffer from headaches, cloudiness of thought, lack of sleep, loss of appetite, and fatigue. And some, if not acclaimed correctly, could show the more acute signs of altitude sickness, which includes dementia, trouble walking, and lack of physical coordination, delusions, and coma.

To prevent the acute symptoms of altitude sickness, climbers of Mount Everest spend a lot of time slowly acclimating their bodies to the increasingly high altitudes. This is why it can take climbers many weeks to climb Mount Everest.

Behold Mount Everest!

Mount Everest is the world tallest mountain at an elevation (snow height) of 8,848.86 (29,031 ft) which was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepal authorities.

Mount Everest is located on the border of Nepal and Tibet. Mount Everest is part of the Himalayas, the 1500 –mile-long mountain system that was formed when the Indo-Australian plate crashed into the Eurasian plate.

The peak of Mount Everest has three somewhat flat sides; it is said to be shaped like a three-sided pyramid. Glaciers and ice cover the sides of the mountain.

Names of the Mountain

Local names for Mount Everest include Chomolungma in Tibetan (which means “Goddess mother of the World”) and Sagarmatha (which means ‘Ocean mother”) in Sanskrit.

Indian surveyor Radhanath Sikdar, part of the British-led Survey of India, determined in 1852 that Mount Everest was the tallest mountain in the world and established an initial elevation of 29,000 feet. The mountain was known as Peak XV by the British until 1865 when it was named after Sir George Everest, who served as the Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.

Do you know that straddling the rim of Tibet and Nepal, Mount Everest had remain unknown to the western humankind until 1852, when surveyors discovered it during it ongoing British government’s charting of India?

After the discovery of Mount Everest, it would be almost 70 years before the first exploration was made.

So who where the first men to climb the Mount Everest?

The first summit attempt was made by Mallory and Irvine as they set off from the North Col in 1924 but did not succed in reaching the peak of the mountain until Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay did that in 1953.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay go up the Mountain

Hillary and Norgay were part of the British Everest Expedition of 1953, led by Colonel John Hunt (1910-1998). Hunt had selected a team of people who were experienced climbers from all around the British Empire.

Among the eleven chosen climbers, Edmund Hillary was selected as a climber from New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, though born a Sherpa, was recruited from his home in India. Most teams hire Sherpas to help carry supplies up the mountain. The Sherpa are a previously nomadic people who live near Mount Everest and who have the unusual ability of being able to quickly physically adapt to higher altitudes.

After months of planning and organizing, the expedition began to climb. On their way up, the team established nine camps, some of which are still used by climbers today.

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 consisted of Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, and the second team consisted of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Reaching the top of Mount Everest

The first team left on May 26, 1953 to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Although the two men made it up to about 300 feet shy of the summit, the highest any human had yet reached, they were forced to turn back after bad weather set in as well as a fall and problems with their oxygen tanks.

At 4 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay awoke in camp nine and readied themselves 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. During their climb, they came upon one particular difficult rock face, but Hillary found a way to climb it. (The rock face is now called ‘Hillary Step.”)

Then at 11:30 a.m., Hillary and Tenzing reached the summit of Mount Everest. Hillary reached out to shake Tenzing’s hand, but Tenzing gave him a hug in return. The two men enjoyed only 15 minutes at the top of the world because of their low air supply. They spent their time taking photographs, taking in the view, placing a food offering (Tenzing), and looking for any sign that the missing climbers from 1924 had been there before them (they didn’t find any).

SEE ALSO: SEE A MOUNTAIN OF SEVEN COLOURS IN PERU

When their 15 minutes were up, Hillary and Tenzing began making their way back down the mountain. It is reported that when Hillary saw his friend and co-New Zealand climber George Lowe (also part of the expedition), Hillary said, “Well, George, we have knocked the bastard off!”

News of the successful climb quickly made it around the world. Both Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become heroes. They were the first men to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Lastly, many climbers have reach the summit of the peak since 1953 when Hillary and Tenzing achieve their feat. By the close of 2002 climbing season and since 1953, 1200 climbers had stood on the world’s loftiest landmark.

The Norgay-Hillary feat of 64 years ago will forever stand as an incredible achievement never to be eclipsed. They were the first, and they did it in era of less-sophisticated equipment.

Sir Edmund Hillary who was later knighted by late queen Elizabeth dies in 2008 at 88years of age. His son peter, on May 25, 2002 stood where his father did 49 years ago when he himself reached the mountain peak.

Tensing died at his home in Darjeeling, India, in 1986 of a severe coughing spell. He was 71 years. His son, Jamling Norgay on May 23, 1996 followed his father’s footsteps on the top of the earth.

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