Everest hero's Cold War secret revealed

Tenzing Norgay, who with New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt Everest in 1953, never revealed publicly the truth of his origins - that he was born in Tibet and was not really a Sherpa.

Throughout his life Tenzing remained vague about his background.

The conqueror of Everest, who died aged 72 in 1986, claimed he was "born in the womb of Nepal and raised in the lap of India."

Now, a book written about the man known as Sherpa Tenzing reveals his past.

American mountaineer Ed Webster, in Snow in the Kingdom, says that not only was Tenzing born in Tibet but he spent much of his childhood there. The world's most famous Sherpa was not really a Sherpa at all.

Webster reveals the truth about Tenzing's origins with the permission of his family.

Tenzing never actually lied about his birthplace; rather, he obscured the truth. Clearly, he had nationality problems magnified by China's invasion of Tibet and Tenzing's unwillingness to embarrass his supporters in India and Nepal.

The truth would have been locked on to by a China eager to make political capital out of having a "Chinese climber" being first to conquer Everest.

In his autobiography, Tiger of the Snows, Tenzing says he grew up in the village of Thame in Nepal.

Webster says that in fact Tenzing's parents migrated there in the 1920s after a period of financial hardship and after owing a debt to a local Tibetan governor.

Webster describes a 1988 expedition to the east face of Everest which approaches the mountain through the Tibetan Kharta Valley, where Tenzing's village of Moyun is located.

The expedition included Tenzing's oldest surviving son, Norbu, and, while in Tibet, reunions with long-lost relatives were held. But both Tenzing's family house and a nearby temple sacred to Tibetan Buddhists were destroyed following the Chinese invasion in 1950.

From Nepal the family moved to Darjeeling for the chance of greater economic success and young Tenzing sought to make his mark as a porter for Western mountaineers, who began hiring Sherpas in Darjeeling at the start of last century.

After climbing Everest, Tenzing was hailed by both India and Nepal as a local hero, the first humble-born Asian of the modern era to achieve world fame.

The political wrangling led to Tenzing's caution about revealing his true origins.

Sir Edmund Hillary said in an interview: "After we climbed Everest and Tenzing was invited to England we were really in a jam because Tenzing had no passport."

The then Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, stepped in and personally ensured that Tenzing received an Indian passport - upsetting the Nepalese. Mr Nehru became Tenzing's patron and authorised the establishment of a mountaineering school in Darjeeling which Tenzing helped to run. Tenzing had three Sherpa wives.

Webster says it is possible some Sherpas might have ridiculed Tenzing as an imposter and a social and cultural inferior had the truth about his birthplace been known.

"I believe Tenzing was a sensitive and a sincere man.

"His writings make this clear so Tenzing never lied outright about his family origins - but he never told the full truth either. Perhaps he believed he was simply a mountaineer and nationality didn't matter."

Sherpa people originated from Kham in eastern Tibet more than 1600km from Everest. They migrated to Nepal in the 16th century but still number only a few thousand in Nepal, which has a population of about 22 million.

These days, Sherpas have no need to travel to Darjeeling to look for work. With the opening of Nepal to tourism, they can earn thousands of dollars a year helping Western clients on Everest.

The average Nepalese earns $200 a year.