For over 100 years, people have tried to accomplish the ultimate feat; climbing to the peak of Mount Everest. The first two people to do it successfully were humble men with a passion for climbing. Tenzing Norgay was a Tibetan yak herder-turned-mountain climber extraordinaire. Edmund Hillary was a beekeeper from New Zealand who began climbing mountains at an early age. The two of them would go on to make history in the British Everest Expedition of 1953 on May 29th.
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Sources
“Learn About the First Men to Climb Mount Everest” by Jennifer Rosenberg (May 11 2025)
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-to-climb-mount-everest-1779350
“Everest 1953: First Footsteps - Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay” by David Roberts (April 2003; updated May 4 2021)
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/sir-edmund-hillary-tenzing-norgay-1953
“A History of Everest | What It Took to Reach the Roof of the World” by Steven Agar (May 29 2024)
https://snowbrains.com/history-climbing-everest-highest-place-earth/#google_vignette
“Edmund Hillary” by Britannica Editors (Oct 16 2025)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Hillary
“‘This was a mountain that he had to climb’: How HIllary and Tenzing survived the ‘death zone’ to conquer Everest” by Myles Burke (May 26 2025)
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250522-the-first-men-to-conquer-everests-death-zone
“Edmund Hillary Biography”
https://www.notablebiographies.com/He-Ho/Hillary-Edmund.html
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/edmund-hillary
“The Gentleman From Everest”
https://tenzingsherpafoundation.com/about-tenzing/
“Tenzing Norgay” (Oct 16 2025)
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tenzing-Norgay
“Tenzing Norgay: the Mountaineer Who Refused to Be Categorized” by Imogen Lepere (Jul 17 2023)
https://daily.jstor.org/tenzing-norgay-the-mountaineer-who-refused-to-be-categorized/
“Tenzing Norgay - Biography”
https://biographyonline.net/adventurers/tenzing-norgay.html
“Tenzing Norgay - The first sherpa to climb Mt. Everest” by Malika Tamang (Jan 18 2024)
https://getlostforever.com/tenzing-norgay/
“Tenzing Norgay Sherpa: Biography and Facts” by Graham Hoyland (Jan 4 2022)
https://mounteverest.info/tenzing-norgay-sherpa-bio-facts/
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/28432/wedding-day
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