Hillary and Tenzing put the top of the world on the bucket list for adventure seekers and established a tourism industry in one of the most remote valleys in the world, writes Thomas Bywater. Now events in Nepal and New Zealand are readying up to mark this most unlikely of
Everest celebrates Hillary and Tenzing with world’s highest marathon, 70 year events
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Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on Mount Everest. Photo / Himalayan Trust New Zealand, Supplied
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But “chance” is exactly the right term for what brought them to the highest point on the planet.
Tenzing and Hillary were the B team. They were given the nod only after the first party, Oxford mountaineers Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans had returned defeated with expedition leader John Hunt. Having come within metres of the summit Evans’ canisters, which had been bleeding oxygen into the upper atmosphere, began malfunctioning again. At a steep rock face they were forced to turn back. That rock came to be known as the Hillary Step.
There had been 12 previous attempts to climb Mount Everest prior to that, none of them successful. Some of the mountaineers had set off for the summit never to be seen again.
Even in a sport for misfits Hillary and Tenzing were the outsiders. Part of the appeal of this Everest story was the team who pulled it off: the side lead sherpa and a 33-year-old who had learned his trade in the Southern Alps. In 1953 it might have been the first time much of the world had heard of either Nepal or New Zealand, writing headlines around the world for the previously impossible climb.
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There have been more than 10,000 successful climbs since. This year alone Nepal has granted 463 climbing permits for the mountain, a new record. Each following in the footsteps of the team on May 29, 1953.
Those visiting Everest are not exclusively climbers aiming at mountaineering’s loftiest prize.
There are hundreds of thousands of visitors who have made the trek from Namche Bazaar to the tented city in the Khumbu Valley. Each summer they fly into Lukla’s Tenzing-Hillary Airport, and visit the tea houses in the mountain valleys.
As Tourism Ambassador Bikram Pandey sees it, the duo are the founders of the region’s important tourism industry. This anniversary year sees the opening of two visitor centres on the Everest route and the highest marathon on earth.
New Zealand’s Himalayan Trust is joining organisations from Australia, the UK and Nepal to hold events throughout May.
The 1953 expedition is a story that brought hope and revitalised the region, more than once.
Bikram who grew up near Khumjung says he remembers the day the Kiwi mountaineer arrived on one of his trips with the Himalayan Trust.
“I have had the honour of meeting Sir Edmund Hillary and it really was an honour,” recalled Bikram, who was approached about storing a helicopter and supplies for the trust on his homestead.
“‘You’ve done so much for us and Nepal already,” I said. “I cannot charge you for this.”
The 1953 expedition transformed the valley into one of the top adventure tourism destinations for mountaineers and hikers.
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However, it was in 2003, during Nepal’s long civil war, that the Tenzing-Hillary climb took on another lease of life.
“Tourism had died down to nothing,” says Bikram. Fifty years on he sought to inspire tourists to return to Nepal by holding the highest marathon on earth: The Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon.
It follows the route on which Hillary and Tenzing’s names and news of their success was carried by a runner, from base camp to Namche to be telegraphed to the world. As luck would have it the route is almost exactly 42km, or an Olympic marathon.
“With a little bit of luck we asked the grandson of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa to attend, Tashi Tenzing, in a dedication to his grandpa,” says Bikram. The mountaineer and “chief guest” was a direct line to that original expedition.
Held on May 19, 10 days before the “Golden Jubilee” as Bikram puts it, there were a grand total of four international runners among a field of mostly locals. They did, however, manage to get the BBC to come and cover the spectacle.
Since then the event has only grown and brought visitors from across the globe.
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“This year we have at least 150 international runners racing to Namche Bazaar.”
This fact is a source of pride for the organisers. As an international event, it has been used to raise money for causes around the world, not just Nepal. Last year one competitor completed the course carrying a giant, stuffed Siberian tiger for an animal welfare charity. “It’s like the UN but in running shoes.”
The event is not one you can just drop in for the day.
“It’s a week-long trek to base camp. You must acclimatise, it takes time.”
Participants have been planting Rhododendron barbatum in the national park as they get used to the altitude and train for the race.
Runners are not the only people making the trip to the Khumbu Icefall.
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Alexander Hillary, the grandson of Edmund Hillary, is leading an expedition of tourists in his role as general manager for the Himalayan Trust.
The 16-day trip is following the trail of the mountaineers and the high-altitude schools and hospitals built in the Solukhumbu over the trust’s history.
“We’re one among a whole lot of groups being led by our international partners - including the Australian Himalayan Trust,” says Hillary.
“We’ll be attending the opening of the Sir Edmund Hillary Visitor Centre, in Khumjung, which is at the site of his first school.”
The new visitor centre is being opened on the morning of the 29th before moving on to Namche Bazaar where the family of Tenzing are opening the Tenzing Norgay Sherpa Heritage Centre.
“It’s in the original national park headquarters,” says Hillary. “That’s a place with a whole lot of New Zealand history and links too.”
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Sagarmatha was created in the 1970s as the country’s first national park by Nepal and New Zealand park managers, from what would become the Department of Conservation. With DoC and Nepalese park rangers having held training exchanges, it’s the spiritual sibling of Tongariro and Aoraki/Mt Cook. Only at twice the altitude.
The conservation movement in Nepal grew out of the tourism boom of mountaineers wanting to follow in the footsteps of the Everest expedition.
The 70th anniversary comes at a key time for the region.
Like the period following the civil war and the 50-year commemoration, this latest anniversary coincides with a period of drastic recovery for Nepal’s tourism. The Covid-19 pandemic shut down travel to Everest even more severely than the unrest and even the 2015 earthquakes.
“It’s been a very challenging time for the people of Solukhumbu. For a place that has gone from subsistence farming to relying so heavily on a tourism economy, there’s been a severe impact,” says Hillary.
With 14 Tenzing-Hillary events being held in Nepal over the month and a record number of climbing parties at Everest, the tourism operators are making up for lost time.
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The Nepalese ex-pat community, NRNA and Nepalese Culture & Tourism Promotion Forum, is holding an event at the Atura Hotel on May 29 to be attended by former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Kailash Raj Pokharel, Nepalese ambassador to New Zealand, celebrating 70 years of friendship and raising the country’s tourism profile.
There is also a strange sense of the end of an era. Many of those on the ground refer to the event as “the Platinum Jubilee” for Everest. With news of the climb reaching the world on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, it was an event that was twinned in the minds of a generation. The late monarch knighted “Sir Ed” for his services to mountaineering. Although the Tenzing family questioned why there was no knighthood for their hero sherpa, there was fondness for the late Queen whose “Second Elizabethan Age” began by thanking the climbers.
“There’s an amazing connection between the region and Kiwis’ passion for mountaineering,” says Hillary. “The first mountaineers aren’t here anymore but their families continue to visit and be involved in the region.”
EVEREST 70: EVENTS HAPPENING IN NEW ZEALAND, NEPAL, AUSTRALIA AND UK
Both Tashi Tenzing and Alexander Hillary will be attending events in the Everest valley over the anniversary week: everest70.com
Everest at 70, May 27, New Zealand
The Embassy of Nepal and the Honorary Consul of Nepal to New Zealand will be holding an Everest Day event in Auckland, at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall. With Nepalese cultural performances, Himalayan food and exhibitions on the first ascent of Mt Everest. nrnanz.org.nz
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Summiting 70 Years, May 29, New Zealand
Nepalese Culture & Tourism Promotion Forum, is holding an event at the Atura Hotel on May 29 attended by former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Kailash Raj Pokharel, Nepalese ambassador to New Zealand. nctpf.co.nz
Himalaya Day, May 31, Australia
The Australian Himalayan Foundation is holding Nepalese cultural events in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra on Himalaya Day 2023, May 31. australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au
Evening on Everest, June 1, Nepal
The Tenzing and Hillary families are holding an event for the Nepal Tourism Board at the Aloft Hotel, Kathmandu, with guest speaker and former prime minister Helen Clark. everest70.com/celebrating-everest-70th-at-aloft-hotel-kathmandu
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70 Anniversary Lecture, June 13, UK
Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing are holding a public lecture at the Royal Geographical Society along with mountaineers Stephen Venables, Kenton Cool and Hari Budha Magar on the enduring inspiration of the 1953 expedition. himalayantrust.co.uk
