Lord Hunt and the first successful Everest expedition

Philip M (L6)

Introduction

Mount Everest has always had a special place in British mountaineering, being first measured in the British survey of India in the 1850’s where it was identified as the tallest mountain in the world. For a whole century, only the British were allowed anywhere near the mountain because of their ties with Tibet, and then when it was invaded by China, Nepal. Throughout all this time every attempt to summit was unsuccessful, but slow progress was made.

However, when a Swiss team of explorers were granted a go at the mountain by the Nepalese government, the race for Everest was on. On their first attempt they achieved much more than any of the British teams, getting within 150 meters of the south summit. It was decided that it was time for a change of leadership, and so George Everest was replaced by Colonel John Hunt (C2 1924-28). He was a suitable leader due to being a serving army officer and mountain warfare expert. Hunt had a charismatic personality and was quickly able to quell the issues among the team upon his appointment.

The expedition was to be in 1953 and this would be Britain’s last chance to summit Everest first, as Nepal was granting more and more countries permission to attempt the mountain. Only one team could attempt the mountain every year, and France and Switzerland were to take up the years 1954 and 1955 and the chance that they would summit then was high. Hunt spent months ensuring they had the best equipment possible, for example collecting research from 30 different companies to decide on their footwear. Eventually they started the trek with 3 tons of supplies carried by a small army of Sherpas.

Sherpas are Himalayan people living on the border between Nepal and Tibet and they were used by all teams who attempted the mountain and are still used today as they are incredibly skilful navigators and mountaineers with the benefit that they can survive at extreme altitudes with seemingly no adverse effects to their health. Also, Sherpas can carry very heavy loads of equipment and supplies up the treacherous paths hence why they are invaluable to Everest expeditions.

Obstacles overcome on the mountain

Even with all the research done into the equipment they took, Hunt concluded that in the boots they were wearing it was necessary to cut steps out of the ice all the way up the 1,125m Lhotse Face which was a huge waste of supplies and especially time as there is only a window of a few weeks every year that a summit can be attempted due to the foul weather conditions. Even today, the Lhotse Face is one of the most dangerous parts of the ascent of Everest, but modern crampons mean that it can simply be walked up with caution.

Supplementary oxygen is required above 8,000m (26,000ft). The chosen apparatus was a self-sustaining system where the CO2 the climbers breathed out was passed through a soda lime canister which turned it back into O2. This was used alongside oxygen cylinders as this system was not 100% efficient. The first attempt for the summit from their base on the South Col at 7,900m by Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans failed due to their oxygen supply being insufficient for them to be able to return from the summit so they had to painstakingly turn back with the summit only 300ft above them.

Then on the 29th of May, Edmund Hillary (from New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay (Sherpa) made the second attempt, this time starting higher up the mountain, therefore preserving oxygen supplies. The final obstacle that opposed them was a 40ft high rock spit which they had to traverse by shimmying up a chimney shaped crevice with 20 pounds of oxygen equipment strapped to their backs. To this day that cliff at nearly 29,000ft is known as the Hillary step and is arguable the hardest obstacle for conquering Everest today as only one mountaineer can climb up the chimney at one time. After that it was a short climb to the top, and Hillary and Norgay became the first two men to summit the tallest peak in the world, masterminded by the OM, Sir John Hunt.

Controversy upon returning

Once they had returned to camp, the group then raced down the mountain as they realised that if they got down that day, they could get the news back to England in time for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The message was encrypted to prevent the scoop being stolen, and read: ‘SNOW CONDITIONS BAD. ADVANCE BASE ABANDONED YESTERDAY. AWAITING IMPROVEMENT’ which when decoded was ‘Summit of Everest reached on 29th May by Hillary and Tenzing’.

When Tenzing and Hillary were descending they did not realise they were about to be thrown into the middle of a hotly debated argument with the pride of India, Nepal, England and New Zealand all pitted against each other. This was because the press wanted to be able to name one person who had actually been the first upon the top of Everest, and of course each country wanted it to be their own man. Both India and Nepal wanted to claim Tenzing for their own and make it out that he was unequivocally the first there, meanwhile Hillary received death threats demanding he admitted Tenzing was there first. However, as both men did not want to say that the other was not the first atop the mountain, nobody was satisfied. Unfortunately, on the mountain everyone had worked together, but back down below politicians and the press had pulled them apart.