Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest at about 11:30 a.m. on 29 May 1953, the first confirmed ascent. It was Tenzing's seventh Everest expedition. They climbed the South Col route with bottled oxygen as part of the British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt. Tenzing then spent 22 years training climbers at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, where he died in 1986.
Why Tenzing Norgay still matters to every Everest trek
Walk up the Khumbu today and you are in Tenzing's country. His family settled in Thame, a village half a day's walk west of Namche Bazaar, and the guides who lead trekkers past the mani walls and monasteries of the Everest Base Camp trek guide route come from the same Sherpa world. In 1953 the outside world mostly saw Sherpas as porters. Tenzing changed that. The Everest Base Camp trek ends at the foot of the mountain he climbed, and no rope or oxygen is needed to stand there.
Who was Tenzing Norgay?
He was born Namgyal Wangdi. A lama later suggested the name Tenzing Norgay, roughly "wealthy, fortunate follower of the faith", and it stuck. Nobody wrote down his birth date. He thought it was around May 1914, and after 1953 he chose 29 May, his summit day, as his birthday.
His Everest record started low. In 1935, aged about 21, he joined Eric Shipton's reconnaissance as a porter. British expeditions followed in 1936 and 1938, and in 1947 he went with the Canadian Earl Denman on a small, unauthorised attempt from Tibet that gave up near the North Col. Then came 1952. With the Swiss, Tenzing and Raymond Lambert reached about 8,595 metres on the southeast ridge, the highest anyone had climbed at the time, and roughly 250 metres short of the top. A year later the British asked him back.
Tenzing Norgay in brief
Born around May 1914 as Namgyal Wangdi, exact date unknown, birthplace disputed
First confirmed summit of Everest with Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953
Climbed by the South Col route, using supplemental oxygen
Awarded the George Medal, announced 1 July 1953
First Director of Field Training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, 1954 to 1976
Died 9 May 1986 in Darjeeling, aged 71
Where was Tenzing Norgay born?
Two answers exist. Tenzing's early accounts named the Khumbu in Nepal. His son Jamling and later biographers placed his birth in the Kharta valley of Tibet, east of Everest, with the family crossing the Nangpa La to Thame when he was a boy. The record can't settle it. Both places sit inside the Sherpa world of the high Himalaya, on opposite sides of the same mountain.
Seven expeditions before the summit
By 1953 Tenzing had spent close to two decades on and around Everest. Seven expeditions. He had carried loads to the high camps, waited out storms and turned back short of the top more than once. The 1952 Swiss climb mattered most, because it put him higher on the southeast ridge than anyone else alive and gave him a feel for the terrain above the South Col.
Hunt picked his summit pairs late in May. The first, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, reached the South Summit on 26 May and turned back with failing oxygen sets. Hillary and Tenzing went next. They had climbed well together lower down, and Tenzing had more time above 8,000 metres than anyone on the team.
The first summit of Everest, 29 May 1953
Hillary and Tenzing spent the night of 28 May in a tent at about 8,500 metres on the southeast ridge. They left at 6:30 the next morning, crossed the South Summit, climbed the rock step now called the Hillary Step, and stood on top at about 11:30. They stayed around 15 minutes. Hillary took the photographs, which is why the famous summit image shows Tenzing holding his ice axe hung with flags, and there's no summit picture of Hillary at all. Tenzing pushed a few sweets into the snow as an offering.
News reached London on the morning of 2 June, the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Within days Tenzing was one of the most photographed men in Asia. For the full story of the route, the camps and the team, read our account of the first ascent of Everest.
Tenzing Norgay: key dates
Date | Event |
|---|---|
Around 29 May 1914 | Born; exact date unknown, birthplace disputed (Khumbu, Nepal or Kharta Valley, Tibet) |
29 May 1953 | First confirmed summit of Everest with Edmund Hillary, about 11:30 am |
1 July 1953 | Award of the George Medal announced |
4 November 1954 | Himalayan Mountaineering Institute founded in Darjeeling |
1954 to 1976 | First Director of Field Training at the HMI |
9 May 1986 | Died in Darjeeling, aged 71 |
Honours, and the knighthood that never came
Hunt and Hillary were both knighted within weeks. Tenzing received the George Medal, announced on 1 July 1953. Why he wasn't knighted has never been settled. One account, repeated for decades, says India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru withheld permission, but no document confirming it has surfaced. Nepal gave him the Star of Nepal, and India awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 1959.
A legacy carried by every Sherpa guide
Before 1953, Sherpa climbers carried loads for foreign expeditions and their names rarely reached the newspapers. Tenzing stood on the summit as Hillary's partner, and Sherpa climbing has been visible ever since. Today Sherpa guides fix the ropes on Everest each spring, and one of them, Kami Rita Sherpa, has now been to the top 32 times. Every Sherpa and Gurung guide leading treks across Nepal works in the space Tenzing opened.
Life after Everest: the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
India opened the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling on 4 November 1954, and Tenzing became its first Director of Field Training. He held the post until 1976. Twenty-two years of teaching. Thousands of Indian and Nepali climbers came through its courses in that time, and the institute still runs basic and advanced mountaineering training from the same hillside. His autobiography, Tiger of the Snows, written with James Ramsey Ullman, came out in 1955.
Tenzing died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Darjeeling on 9 May 1986, aged 71. He was cremated on the institute's grounds, where a memorial stands today.
Who was the first person to climb Everest?
Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary, together, at about 11:30 a.m. on 29 May 1953. They climbed the South Col route with bottled oxygen on the British expedition led by Colonel John Hunt. For years both men said they arrived together. Tenzing's 1955 autobiography finally said Hillary stepped up first.
Where was Tenzing Norgay born?
It's disputed. His early accounts named the Khumbu region of Nepal, while his son Jamling and later biographers point to the Kharta valley in Tibet, with the family moving to Thame in the Khumbu when he was young. He was born around May 1914, and the exact date was never recorded.
Was Tenzing Norgay knighted like Edmund Hillary?
No. Hillary and Colonel John Hunt were knighted, and Tenzing received the George Medal, announced on 1 July 1953. The reason has never been confirmed. A long-repeated story says Nehru blocked a knighthood, but no record backs it up.
What did Tenzing Norgay do after climbing Everest?
He became the first Director of Field Training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, which opened on 4 November 1954. He held the job until 1976 and trained thousands of climbers there. He also published his autobiography, Tiger of the Snows, in 1955.
When did Tenzing Norgay die?
On 9 May 1986, in Darjeeling, of a cerebral haemorrhage. He was 71, and his first Everest summit was 33 years behind him.
Related reading
Pemba Sherpa
Trekking Guide, Annapurna Trekking
Pemba Sherpa guides treks across Nepal for Annapurna Trekking. More about our team →
