05-29-2025 - On This Day in Insane History

On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first humans to successfully summit Mount Everest, conquering the world's highest peak at 29,031.7 feet. Their expedition, sponsored by the Joint Himalayan Committee, marked a pivotal moment in human exploration that had defeated numerous previous attempts, including George Mallory's fatal expedition in 1924.

Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper and mountaineer, and Norgay, a Nepali-Indian Sherpa climber, departed from their final camp at 27,900 feet in the early morning hours. Battling treacherous ice walls, extreme oxygen deprivation, and temperatures plummeting to -30°F, they methodically navigated the infamous Hillary Step—a near-vertical rock face that had thwarted earlier climbers.

At precisely 11:30 AM local time, they planted their flags: the Union Jack, the United Nations banner, and flags of Nepal and India. Their historic achievement came just two days before Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, adding a triumphant punctuation to the British Empire's final era of grand exploration.

Norgay later described the moment with remarkable understatement: "We reached the top. I was very happy—we had worked together and reached our goal."