2 of British Team Conquer Everest: Delighted Queen Cables Thanks

(Tuesday, June 2, 1953, Toronto Daily Star)

A New Zealand beekeeper and a Nepalese porter presented Queen Elizabeth today with her most spectacular coronation gift - man's first conquest of icy Mount Everest, tallest mountain in the world.

A message from the British expedition, led by Col. John Hunt, said that E.P. Hillary, 34-year-old New Zealander and fabled guide, and porter Bhotia Tensing had reached the top of the mountain which towers between 29,002 and 29,010 feet.

A coronation-eve announcement by Buckingham Palace disclosed that the British expedition has planted the Union Jack on Everest. A palace spokesman described the dramatic news as a coronation "gift".

A message from Hunt relayed to the palace said, "All is well."

The Queen led a nation bursting with pride in cheering the conquerors of Everest. Reports said she had been awakened to hear the news.

On this, her day of majesty, she took time to send a cable of congratulations to the expedition "Please convey to Col. Hunt and all members of the British expedition my warmest congratulations on their great achievement in reaching the summit of Mount Everest (Signed) Elizabeth R." read the telegram to the British minister in Katmandu, Nepal.

The Duke of Edinburgh sent this telegram to Col. Hunt "Everybody is delighted with the wonderful news. Well done. Congratulations to you all. Philip."

London newspapers hailed the achievement as the beginning of a new Elizabethan era of British daring. They compared the deed with the triumphs of Captain Cook, Sir Francis Drake and Robert Scott, Antarctic explorer.

That a New Zealander and a tribesman from Britain's long-time ally, Nepal, won the final victory was looked upon here as another symbol - like the coronation - of Commonwealth unity. It is reported they carried Nepal's flag to the top, along with the Union Jack.

Prime Minister Churchill today wired congratulations to Col. Hunt: "My congratulations on this memorable British achievement in which the whole world has been interested for so may years."

London sandwich vendors and newspaper hawkers did lively trade and the news that Mount Everest had been conquered spread rapidly along the coronation procession route.

"We did it; we did it" shouted many, slapping each other on the back.

Impromptu cheerleaders quickly took over and called for three cheers for the dauntless mountain climbers.

Fair weather and improved oxygen equipment were given much of the credit for the success of the expedition, the 11th to attempt the feat in more than 30 years. More than 15 mountaineers lost their lives in the previous attempts.

The climbers raced against the approaching storms of the summer monsoons. It had been reported previously that they had failed to reach their goal during the brief spell of good weather and had given up hope.

Other Everest expeditions had been beaten back by the numbing cold, fierce winds and lack of oxygen that produces extreme weariness and plays mental tricks with climbers at the extreme Himalayan heights. Eight of the previous attempts had been by Britons.

The victory over Everest was especially sweet for Bhutia Tensing, who Himalayan experts say has climbed more peaks in the range than anyone else. Last year, with Raymond Lambert, famed alpinist, he climbed to within 800 feet of Everest's top, but they were driven back by wind blasts hurling stones and chunks of ice and by lack of oxygen.

The Hunt expedition carried new light-weight oxygen apparatus, radios to pick up weather reports from Indian, and newly designed mortars to last away dangerous overhanging ice.

Some 400 Nepalese bearers packed the gear over trails from Namche Bazar, the village nearest the base of the mountain.

Eight advance camps were spotted up the mountain slopes. The last shelter, from which the final attacks were launched, was about 2,000 feet from the summit.

The Sherpa guide who reached the top, Bhutia Tensing, is a 39 year-old native veteran of more Everest attempts than any other man on earth.

With 362 porters, 20 Sherpa guides and 10,000 pound of baggage, the 13-man team left Katmandu March 10. Thus they took 80 days from start to finish.

The Britons wore special clothing, including an outer suit of cotton windproof material; smock with protective hood and trousers double-lined with nylon; two featherweight jerseys and one heavy pullover, a special type of climbing boot with no nails' close-fitting silk gloves and an outer gauntlet of wind proof cotton.

The sleeping bags were made in Canada, New Zealand and Britain in accordance with special designs. The tents were made of cotton-nylon specially proofed to be tough and resistant to the savage winds.

The 42 year old Hunt utilized military tactics and all the knowledge he had gained in World War II as chief intructor at the commando mountain and snow warfare school.

Hunt and his climbers went around almost three sides of the towering mountain, establishing their first camp on Khumbu glacier, and then ascending 11,000 feet along a steep and narrow trail.

Reaching the foot of Lhotse glacier, Everest's "south peak," Hunt set up another camp. Then began a rugged climb to the 26,000-foot level, to a ridge running from Lhotse's summit to the top of the world. I was on this ridge that the Swiss quit.

Only 800 feet from the top, Hunt's climbers got a break in the weather. Then they launched the final assault.

It was planned that the final sprint to the top and back to the advance camp would be made in one day because it was believed nobody could live through a night in the bitter cold and rarified atmosphere at the summit.

Two British climbers, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, disappeared into the mists on Everest in 1924 and were never seen again. Hunt's party hoped to find their bodies in the ice and solve the myster of whether the pair ever reached the peak.

Everest was first seen by westerners in 1849 and was named in 1855 for Sir George Everest, a surveyor-general of India. Its Tibetan name is Chomolungma.

Earlier northern routes toward the summit were through Tibet, but they were closed when the Chinese Communists took over the kingdom. A British expedition under Eric Shipton marked out the new southern approaches in 1951.

The British victory over Everest was expected to spur - rather than deter - efforts of other climbers to reach the top of the peak. Climbs already are "booked" for 1954 with the Nepal government, which must approve them, by a French expedition in the spring and a Swiss group in the autumn. An Italian team has asked permission for an attempt in 1959.

Known as the "Tiger of the Snows", Tensing is uneducated, semi-literate and utterly fearless. He carries no life insurance. For his labors he receives 225 rupees ($47.25) a month plus a three rupee (63 cents) daily "snow allowance".

A friend of Tensing, a man of few words, quotes him as saying that, after 16,000 feet, one "does not feel hungry or thirsty" and "cannot remember his family or homelife". He is completely possessed with reaching the summit.

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