Exploration
When was Mount Everest first climbed?
1953 AD
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953 AD.
1 BC · 1 AD
Context
What happened?
The pair belonged to a British expedition led by John Hunt, climbing the South Col route through the Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm and the Lhotse Face. An earlier summit attempt by Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans had turned back a few days before, a few hundred feet below the top.
Significance
Why it matters
News reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on 2 June 1953, which fixed the ascent in public memory. Hillary and Tenzing always declined to say which of them stepped onto the summit first, describing the climb as the work of a team.
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