Conquest of Everest - 02.10.1953

The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth British mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to succeed. Led by Colonel John Hunt, it was organized and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee.  

On 27 May, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with the second climbing pair, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norkay from Nepal. Norkay had previously ascended to a record high point on Everest as a member of the Swiss expedition of 1952. They reached the summit at 11:30 am on 29 May 1953, climbing the South Col route. Before descending, they stopped at the summit long enough to take photographs and to bury some sweets and a small cross in the snow.

James Morris, the correspondent on the spot of The Times newspaper, heard the news at Base Camp on 30 May and sent a coded message by runner to Namche Bazaar, where a wireless transmitter was used to forward it as a telegram to the British Embassy in Kathmandu. The conquest of Everest was probably the last major news item to be delivered to the world by runner. Morris' encrypted message to his paper read: "Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement". "Snow Conditions Bad" was the agreed code to signify that the summit had been reached, while "Advance Base Abandoned" referred to Hillary (Evans's phrase was "Ridge Camp Untenable" and Westmacott's "Assault Postponed"). This was received and understood in London in time for the news to be released, by happy coincidence, on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation on 2 June.