Making of ‘Tenzing Norgay on the Summit of Mount Everest’ (by Edmund Hillary, 1953), 2015

The story behind the photograph…

On 29 May 1953, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986) became the first men to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest. The peak lies at 29,029 feet (8,848 m) above sea level. The ascent was achieved by the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, led by Colonel John Hunt, and organized and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee. This was the ninth attempt at the summit by a mountaineering expedition, and news of the success reached Britain just in time for the coronation day of the young Queen Elizabeth II. On reaching the summit, at 11.30 am, Hillary had shaken Tenzing by the hand (‘in good Anglo-Saxon fashion’, as he later reported), but the Sherpa then joyfully threw his arms around Hillary and pounded him on the back. They only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes, but Hillary took several photographs of the scenery – using his secondhand Kodak Retina, which he had modified so it could be used even through thick gloves – as well as a portrait of Tenzing standing triumphant on top of the world, holding aloft his ice axe on which were hung flags representing the United Nations, Great Britain, Nepal and India.