after everest: an autobiography

On 29 May 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary conquered Everest.

Before it had claimed the lives of dozens of climbers, including George Leigh Mallory in 1924. Norgay, the descendant of generations of yak herders, was destined to become a monk, but his love for the mountains was that much stronger. He had but one dream, despite seven sherpas dying in 1922, to conquer Everest. For thirty years expeditions had been struggling to scale its fiendishly difficult icy slopes until he and Hillary finally succeeded.

Tenzing Norgay was born in Nepal from Tibetan parents as the 11th of 13 children. He grew up near Everest, which Buddhists call ’Goddess of the Summit’. He was sent away to become a Buddhist monk, but ran away to India where his sherpa career began and he took part in all Everest attempts since 1936.