THOSE IMMORTAL
FOOTPRINTS ON MOUNT EVEREST
S.M.
Kumar*
Half a century ago
history recorded an event to be remembered forever. It was the
first ascent of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, on May
29, 1953. At 11.30 A.M. on that day the duo who had made it to
the mountain summit for the first time were Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay. One came from New Zealand and the other from Nepal.
Their maiden ascent on Everest thrilled the world. It was hailed
as an unparalleled feat in the annals of human adventure. The
two great mountaineers had left their immortal footprints on what
was till then regarded as an impossible feat to achieve.
Fifty years after,
the world is reliving the saga by observing the Golden Jubilee
of the event. But out of the first two climbers of Everest, only
Sir Edmund Hillary is in our midst today. He has become a living
legend and is being felicitated across the globe. His illustrious
companion on that landmark expedition, Tenzing Norgay, died in
1986.
On May 20, 2003
Sir Edmund, 83, was felicitated by the Government of India in
New Delhi. The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, paid
him the most glowing compliments when he said, "I salute
you, Sir Hillary, All of us here, and all the people of India,
salute you today. We thank you for coming all the way to join
us in celebrating that proud moment. Today we also pay homage
to the memory of your departed friend and our very own son, the
redoubtable Tenzing Norgay. Together, both of you achieved what
seemed like a dream then".
Sir Edmund Hillary
has described his ascent of Everest in minute detail in his memoirs
giving full credit to his fellow climber, Tenzing Norgay, and
the leader of his expedition, Colonel John Hunt. His climb came
to be acknowledged as a turning point in man’s eternal quest of
the unknown.
With its height
of 29,002 feet or 8,848 metres, Everest was confirmed as the world’s
highest peak in 1852 – eleven years after its discovery by the
first Surveyor General of India, whose name it perpetuates. The
Great Trigonometrical Survey of India conclusively established
it as the highest peak on the earth and was named Mount Everest
in 1865. Located between Nepal and Tibet now in China, it attracted
the first organised expedition in 1922 by the British. This earliest
expedition reached over 27,000 feet before being beaten back by
adverse weather. George Mallory and Irvine who were part of it
mounted another expedition in the following year only to vanish
on Everest forever. The third unsuccessful British adventure on
the mountain summit was in 1924. It could reach upto 28,100 feet.
Nine years later, in 1933, the British made yet another attempt.
But both, the intrepid climbers, Eric Shipton and Frank Smyth
had to return from the point, the leader of the earlier expedition,
Colonel Edward Norton, had reached. That was 902 feet short of
the destination. The summit was within sight but too far indeed
to go. There was no expedition on Everest afterwards due to the
second world-war and man’s record of reaching upto 28,100 feet
on way to the Everest summit remained intact for 29 years until
Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay reached its top in 1953.
The success of
the 1953 ascent of Everest saw the real beginning of mountaineering
in India. No doubt, Indians had been climbing the high Himalayan
mountains to reach their shrines like Badrinath, Kedernath, Gangotri,
Yamunotri, Amarnath, Kailash Mansarovar and ManiMahesh but those
ventures would not fit the definition of mountaineering. They
might have been most arduous journeys which would have cost innumerable
lives. But there was no documented evidence of any organised mountaineering
activity.
Commercialisation
has now overtaken a purely esoteric sport like mountaineering.
Everest has turned into a tourism destination with all its original
thrill of adventure gone. Hundreds of people have been taken to
its top under guidance in the last fifty years. All kinds of record
have been set – climbing solo without oxygen, all-female expeditions,
a sightless climber reaching the Everest, a 15-year-old and the
oldest climber of 70 surveying the world from its top, someone
skiing all the way from its majestic heights to the base camp-the
catalogue could go on. (PIB Features)
*Information
Officer, PIB, New Delhi
