Who was the first to summit Everest?

[TrogL]

http://life.time.com/history/mount-everest-photos-of-edmund-hillary-and-tenzing-norgay-1953/#1

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/movies/wildestdream/wildest-dream-finding-body/

Or in other words, who was the first person to actually stand at the highest point of Mt. Everest?

Did Hillary insist upon being first up?

Was Norgay up first and helped Hillary?

Did Mallory or Irvine make it on their own and fall on the way down?

3 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Edmund Hillary
	0 (0%)
	Tenzing Norgay
	2 (67%)
	George Mallory
	1 (33%)
	Andrew Irvine
	0 (0%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[datasuspect]

1. i did

after i built the eiffel tower out of metal and brawn

[JI7]

2. is there a dispute whether hillary or norgay first stepped up there ?

i know they were officially the first ones we know of .

if they find mallory's camera maybe we might know if they actually made it there before.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. I think they agreed to never tell anyone which of them was the first

So we don't know.

[JI7]

3. anyone know from which countries you can see everest and the farthest points

from which you can see it with just your eyes ?

[cbdo2007]

4. Abraham Lincoln - unless someone proves he didn't make it.

[SummerSnow]

5. Moses was.lol

[HERVEPA]

6. Norgay! Hillary was a total gentleman and did much for Nepal afterwards

He is highly respected there and he let Tenzing Norgay be the first atop Everest.

[TrogL]

7. Then why didn't he give Norgay credit?

One article also noted that it's always been a "victory for England" when Hillary is actually from New Zealand.

[JI7]

14. i think it had to do with being part of the British Empire and how it was just after WWII

[marions ghost]

8. I thought it was Norgay

Hillary with him.

[Ron Green]

9. "Summit" as a verb

makes me sad.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. After many years and Tenzing's death, Hillary said it was him

So what did happen on that mountain peak 60 years ago today? A new book, published to coincide with the 60th anniversary, Everest 1953: The Epic Story of the First Ascent by Mick Conefrey explains how the politics of the time led to a period of confusion. According to a memo found in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, Colonel James Hunt – who led the expedition – and Christopher Summerhayes – the British ambassador to Nepal – doctored the official account in order to conceal who got to the peak first and made the decision to share the credit between both climbers in a bid to defuse the anti-colonial feelings that had built in both India and Nepal since India’s independence, six years earlier. The memo stated that Hunt insisted on the preparation of a revised version “due to a desire not to cause offence to Nepalese nationalists and smooth over the dispute as to who got there first”. So, in accordance with his wishes, the statement released by the expedition in Kathmandu, had ambiguous wording which stated: “A few more whacks of the ice axe in the firm snow and we stood on the summit”.

However, the archives included the original account of the achievement by Hillary, a three-page memo in which he had written: “(I) stepped on top of Everest…I quickly brought up Tensing (sic) beside me”.

For over 30 years both men stuck to their gentleman’s agreement and refused to say who had reached the summit first as, in climbing terms, no-one could have reached the peak alone. It was only after his friend’s death in 1986 that Hillary felt able to speak freely, saying: “Finally, I just got a gutsful of it. I got tired of people saying Tenzing had got to the top first.”

In an interview with Scotland on Sunday for the 50th anniversary in 2003, Hillary explained what had happened: “We set off at 6.30am, first light, me in the lead, Tenzing behind on a tight rope. We never discussed who would be first up. It really did not matter to me, as the entire expedition was very much a team affair, but I suspect Tenzing was quite deferential to what he saw as the Sahib. So I got to the top first, with him just 10ft or so behind.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/features/hillary-and-tenzing-s-everest-summit-agreement-1-2946398

[SoCalDem]

12. Probably someone whose name we will never know

Until someone "famous" and "white" does/discovers something, it never "happens"

There probably were many people who made it to the top and only told their families/friends

[JI7]

15. if that was the case the Sherpas would have known at least

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Almost certainly not - you need good equipment

It took a long time for anyone to do it without oxygen, and then they needed modern clothing, boots, axes and crampons. It's way above the altitude where anyone lives permanently; it's above 25,000 feet, where you start slowly dying without supplemental oxygen. It's just not something you can do without modern (ie 20th century) technology.

[deaniac21]

13. Who cares?

Climbers have turned it into a big garbage dump.

[1-Old-Man]

17. I know of no reason to think it was anyone other than Hillary and Norgay as a team