Who was Tenzing Norgay? The Sherpa mountaineer who conquered Mount Everest
Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer who reached Everest’s summit in 1953, is the subject of the new film 'Tenzing'. Here’s his true story.
Image: stock.adobe.com
Standing on the border of Nepal and Tibet, Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain above sea level. Generations of climbers have aspired to reach the summit of Everest, the ‘holy grail’ achievement in mountaineering. So, you’re probably wondering: Who is known to have definitively reached that milestone first?
Your first instinct might be to say Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand-born explorer who, as pub quizzers will know, indeed pulled off the impressive feat. However, he certainly wasn’t alone on the mountaintop that day in May 1953. Who joined him there? It’s a name that’s recently been getting a lot more publicity…
The acclaimed new film Tenzing stars Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer. He’s the one captured on camera wielding the flags of Britain, India, Nepal and the United Nations at the big mountain’s summit. Norgay’s life story was a real case of beating the odds, even before his history-making trek, as we at Sky HISTORY were stunned to discover.
Was Tenzing Norgay a Sherpa?
The short answer: Yes, but it’s a bit complicated. There’s a fair bit of confusion about Tenzing’s early life, including where he was born. Tenzing himself claimed to have been born and raised in the northeast Nepalese region of Khumbu. Other sources have placed his birth in Tibet, which Tenzing acknowledged as his parents’ native land.
Even Tenzing’s birthdate is not known for certain, but is generally thought to have been in May 1914. Decades later, Tenzing would adopt 29th May as his birthday, in tribute to his reaching the Everest summit on that very date in 1953. Given that the mountain-dwelling ethnic groupings of the Sherpas are spread across both Nepal and Tibet, can we safely call Tenzing Norgay a Sherpa?
By ethnicity, perhaps not, since his parents were Tibetan, but he grew up among the Sherpas of Khumbu and Darjeeling and is widely regarded as a Sherpa. His parents originally gave him the name ‘Namgyal Wangdi’, but changed it after meeting a spiritual guide who predicted great things for the young boy. The name ‘Tenzing Norgay’ was chosen as a Tibetan reference to religious fidelity.
Tenzing Norgay hones his climbing skills
Many Brits sought to summit Everest in the early 20th century. Two, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, climbed the mountain in 1924 but never returned (Mallory’s body was found in 1999, and in 2024 a boot belonging to Irvine was discovered). However, British explorers planning their own Everest expeditions knew the Sherpas to be a dab hand at this kind of thing. After all, with Everest itself right on their doorstep, they had plenty of opportunities to practise.
So, when British mountaineer Eric Shipton was planning his 1935 Everest expedition, he asked Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa, to join him. Tenzing’s early exploits up Everest were as a ‘porter’, carrying supplies for the climbers. His own climbing prowess would become an asset on later expeditions. After some especially successful efforts with Swiss teams, Tenzing was recruited to British Army officer John Hunt’s Everest expedition lined up for 1953.
How Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest
Hunt (played by Willem Dafoe in the Tenzing film) established the expedition’s base camp in March 1953. Of the team’s more than 400 members, only two would actually reach the big milestone the following May. Initially, climbers Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans looked set to be the two. They would be halted in their tracks due to an unexpected problem with Evans’ oxygen system.
Hunt now gave the go-ahead for Norgay and Hillary (Tom Hiddleston in the film) to make their own attempts. These, too, were nearly foiled when the men came up against a seemingly insurmountable 40-foot rock face. Hillary eventually managed to squeeze past through a crack, with Tenzing following. It had been the last major obstacle in their path before they reached the 8,848-metre peak at 11:30am on 29th May 1953.
Hillary photographed the triumphant Tenzing, who buried sweets and biscuits at the summit as gifts to the Buddhist gods. As Tenzing would later reflect, he saw this experience not as a ‘conquest’ but instead as deeply spiritual. Aware of their dwindling oxygen supplies, Tenzing and Hillary spent just 15 minutes at the summit before heading back down. Both men would later be honoured by Queen Elizabeth II and immortalised in mountaineering history.
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