Everest Anniversary Part 1: First climb forges a top pairing

By TIM WATKIN

Fifty years ago today, a partnership was formed that would take two men to the top of the world.

Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first climbed together on April 26, 1953, when making the now historic expedition's first push up Mt Everest's hostile Western Cwm.

On May 29, Sir Edmund will join friends and family in Nepal to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent to the Everest's summit.

He is planning "a big party" in Kathmandu, while other expedition members will dine with the Queen in London, and Sir Edmund's son, Peter, will host a dinner at the Thyangboche Monastery high in the Himalayas. Climbers from around the world are flocking to Nepal for the celebrations.

Over the next four Saturdays leading up to the anniversary week, the Herald will track the progress of the expedition 50 years ago as it made its way up Mt Everest, climbing into history.

The expedition left Kathmandu on March 10, and by this week had established base camp at the foot of the Khumbu Icefall.

Sir Edmund wrote in his memoir of the climb, High Adventure, that April 26, 1953, dawned fine and clear as the expedition had its first day in the Western Cwm.

"[Expedition leader Sir John] Hunt, [Charles] Evans, Tenzing and I were to go ahead and complete the route as far as the site of the Swiss Camp IV ... This was the first time I had climbed with Tenzing, or indeed seen him climbing, and I was very interested to watch him in action."

As the strongest climber, Sir Edmund was confident of being chosen in one of the two summit teams, and had hoped to be teamed with old mountaineering friend George Lowe. But Sir John would not let two New Zealanders summit together for political reasons, and they were split up.

"Then I had to think up someone else and I'd noticed how well Tenzing moved," Sir Edmund said this week.

"He was very different from the majority of the other Sherpas in the expedition. He'd had a lot more experience of climbing in high mountains and was also very strongly motivated.

"He was very keen on getting to the top and that motivation was a pretty valuable thing to have along with you. He was an obvious choice, really.

"The first time we climbed together it was obvious he was very fit and well-adjusted and that he enjoyed a bit of competition, which I certainly did. And it seemed to me we could make a pretty good team."

Sir Edmund was proved right almost immediately. Hurrying down to base camp at the end of the day, Hillary tried to leap a crevasse rather than cross carefully over the bridge. As he landed on the far side, the ice slid away beneath him and he fell into the crevasse.

He tried to stop his fall by thrusting his shoulder against one wall and his crampons into the other.

"Next moment the rope came tight ... Tenzing's reaction had been very quick.

"I cut my way to the surface without too much difficulty, and thanked Tenzing for his capable handling of the situation. He seemed to regard it as a rather good joke."

Norgay had probably saved Hillary's life. A partnership had been formed between two tough, determined yet amiable men that would take them all the way to the top.

Climber's mountain of awards:

Sir Edmund Hillary got another award this week - he was named a Distinguished Citizen of Auckland. But that honour was just the tip of an extensive CV of patronships and awards. Here are just some of them:

* Inducted into American Academy of Achievement in 1973 in the Hall of Science and Exploration.

* Knighted after conquering Mount Everest in 1953.

* Awarded the Garter, for people of distinction who have English, Welsh and Irish descent, in 1995.

* Bestowed as an Honorary Fellow by the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand in 1997.

* Patron of Les Clefs d'Or New Zealand.

* Patron of The Ranichauri/Eastwoodhill trust in New Zealand.

* Patron of The Rucksack Club in Fiji.

* Patron of Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre.

* Canada's St Boniface Hospital and Research Foundation gave Hillary the International Award in 1994.

* Patron of Lincoln University's EnviroSchool.

* Honorary Chairman of the Explorers Club in America.

* Honorary Chairman of The American Himalayan Foundation.

* President of the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust.

* Patron and Trustee of the Himalayan Environment Trust.

* Associate Patron of the Antarctic Heritage Trust.