Standing over 29,000ft above sea level, the peak of Everest is the highest point on the planet. To the sherpa people of the Himalayas it is sacred, and to foreign adventurers, it is the holy grail of climbing. But what did it take to reach the summit? Was it expertise and endurance—or simply better equipment? What was sacrificed to plant a flag on top of the world?

This is a Short History Of the Conquest of Everest.

Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Mick Conefrey, documentary maker and author of Everest, 1922.

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