Edmund Hillary

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

Background
Mount Everest
No one knew Everest as the ‘roof of the world’ until the 19th century.
In 1856, a survey of the Himalayas mountain range by George
Everest, the British Surveyor General of India, revealed that one of
the mountains there was officially the tallest in the world. Mount
Everest is 8,848 metres high. Everest couldn’t be climbed before the
1920s because the areas around it were closed to foreigners. None
of the attempts to climb Everest in the 1920s succeeded, and they
were sometimes fatal. In 1924, the British climbers George Mallory
and Andrew Irvine disappeared near the summit of the mountain.
Mallory’s body was finally found there in 1999.

Venture Level 2 . Edmund Hillary, p.254 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE

 FACT FILE
Name: Sir Edmund Hillary
Dates: 1919–2008
Nationality: New Zealander
Role: mountaineer
Known for: first successful expedition to the summit of Everest

3 Read Background and the text.

Match the paragraph headings
(a–f) to Background (B) and
to the paragraphs (1–5) of The
Conquest of Everest, 1953.

a  Hillary’s different careers

b  Hillary’s life after 1953

c  The 1953 British expedition

d  Early expeditions to Everest

e  The first people to the

summit

f  Hillary’s school years

The Conquest of Everest, 1953

1 Edmund Hillary was born in Auckland in New Zealand in
1919. Tall, thin and shy, he showed no talent for sport at
school. If he hadn’t gone on a school trip to New Zealand’s
Southern Alps, he might never have discovered a talent for,
and a love of, mountain climbing.

2 Hillary followed his father’s profession and became a

bee-keeper. This job meant that he was free every winter
to go climbing. During the Second World War, Hillary was
a navigator in the New Zealand Air Force. After the war, he
focussed on his ambition to climb Mount Everest.

Venture Level 2 . Edmund Hillary, p.254 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE

 3 In 1949, Nepal opened its borders to foreigners. Access
to Everest became easier. Hillary agreed to join a British
expedition to Everest in 1953. They arrived at their base
camp in March. Local Nepalese Sherpa people, including an
experienced guide called Tenzing Norgay, accompanied
them up the mountain.

4 On May 29th, Hillary and Tenzing reached the summit

of Mount Everest. They only stayed there for 15 minutes,
because their oxygen levels were low. But this was just
enough time for Hillary to take photos of the scenery and
of Tenzing waving flags representing Britain, Nepal, the
United Nations and India. On their return, Hillary and Tenzing
became international heroes.

5 After Everest, Hillary continued climbing and exploring. In

1958, he reached the South Pole. He also founded a charity,
called the Himalayan Trust, to build schools and hospitals for
the Sherpa people of Nepal.

Venture Level 2 . Edmund Hillary, p.254 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE