Tenzing Norgay, original
name Namgyal Wangdi who passed away on 9 May 1986, Darjeeling [now
Darjiling], West Bengal, India, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer who
in 1953 became, with Edmund Hillary of New Zealand, the first person to set
foot on the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak (approximately
29,035 feet [8,850 metres].
There is
uncertainty about Namgyal Wangdi’s early life. He claimed to have been born in
the Khumbu region of Nepal (near Everest), an area that is home to
the Sherpas. Some sources, however, state that his birthplace was Tshechu,
Tibet (now Tibet Autonomous Region, China). It is known that his parents
were Tibetan. Namgyal Wangdi likely grew up in the Khumbu village of
Thame, and at some point he took the name Tenzing Norgay. He worked for several
years for an affluent family in Khumjung, and, as a teen, he ran away from
difficult conditions and settled in Darjeeling (now Darjiling), West
Bengal, India. At age 19 he was chosen as a porter for his first
expedition; in 1935 he accompanied Eric Shipton’s reconnaissance expedition of
Everest. In the next few years Tenzing took part in more Everest expeditions
than any other climber.
After World War II, Tenzing became a sirdar, or organizer of
porters, and in this capacity accompanied a number of expeditions. In 1952 the
Swiss made two attempts on the southern route up Everest, on both of which
Tenzing was sirdar. He went as sirdar of the British Everest expedition of
1953 and formed the second summit pair with Hillary. From a tent at 27,900 feet
(8,500 metres) on the Southeast Ridge, they reached the summit at 11:30 AM on May 29. He spent
15 minutes there “taking photographs and eating mint cake,” and, as a devout
Buddhist, he left an offering of food.
After his feat he was regarded as a legendary hero by many Nepalese and
Indians. His many honours included Britain’s George Medal and the Star of Nepal
(Nepal Tara). Man of Everest (1955;
also published as Tiger of the Snows),
written in collaboration with James Ramsey Ullman, is an autobiography. After
Everest (1978), as told to Malcolm Barnes, tells of his
travels after the Everest ascent and his directorship of the Field
Training Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, which the Indian
government established in 1954. Tenzing: Hero
of Everest (2003), a biography of Tenzing Norgay by
mountaineer and journalist Ed Douglas, is a sensitive appreciation of his life,
achievements, and disappointments.
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