For more than a century, Mount Everest has occupied a unique place in mountaineering history. At 8,848.86 meters (29,031.7 feet) above sea level, it is the highest mountain on Earth, but its significance goes far beyond elevation.
The history of climbing Everest includes pioneering reconnaissance expeditions, remarkable altitude records, unresolved mysteries, major technological advances, historic firsts, and devastating disasters. It is also inseparable from the contributions of Sherpa climbers and other Himalayan workers whose experience and labor have supported expeditions since the earliest attempts.
The first confirmed ascent came in 1953, when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit. But the story began decades earlierβand one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries, the disappearance of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine in 1924, remains unresolved today.
πΊοΈ Before the First Everest Expeditions
By the middle of the 19th century, surveyors working on the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India had established that the mountain then designated Peak XV was the highest known point on Earth.
It was later named Mount Everest in English after George Everest, a former Surveyor General of India. The mountain has long had local names, most notably Chomolungma or Qomolangma in Tibetan and SagarmΔthΔ in Nepali.
Knowing that Everest was the world’s highest mountain immediately made it an extraordinary objective for mountaineers. Reaching it, however, was another matter.
In the early 20th century, Nepal was generally closed to foreign climbing expeditions. British expeditions therefore approached Everest from Tibet and attempted the mountain from the north.
Before anyone could seriously attempt the summit, climbers first had to determine whether a practical route even existed.
π§ 1921: The First British Reconnaissance Expedition
The 1921 British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition was the first major expedition devoted to exploring possible climbing routes on Everest.
Led by Charles Howard-Bury, the expedition included George Mallory, who would become forever associated with the mountain.
This was primarily an exploration and mapping expedition rather than an all-out attempt to reach the summit. The team approached Everest from Tibet and investigated the valleys and glaciers surrounding its northern and eastern sides.
Mallory and Guy Bullock explored the East Rongbuk Glacier and the North Col area, helping establish that a route toward the upper mountain was possible.
The expedition reached approximately 23,000 feet and gathered invaluable information about the mountain’s terrain.
Although nobody came close to the summit in 1921, the expedition answered one of the most important questions in Everest history:
There was a plausible route upward.
That discovery made a dedicated summit attempt possible the following year.
π§ 1922: The First Serious Attempt to Climb Everest
The British returned in 1922 with the specific objective of reaching the summit.
This expedition represented an enormous step forward in high-altitude mountaineering. Climbers pushed above 8,000 metersβa level of elevation that humans had never previously reached during a documented mountain ascent.
The expedition also experimented with supplemental bottled oxygen, a technology that generated considerable debate among mountaineers at the time.
George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce used oxygen during one of the attempts and climbed to roughly 8,320 meters (27,300 feet), establishing a new altitude record.
But the expedition also produced the first major tragedy in Everest climbing history.
During another summit attempt, an avalanche struck a group climbing near the North Col. Seven Himalayan porters were killed.
Their deaths were an early reminder that the story of Everest was never solely about the famous European climbers whose names appeared in newspapers. Local and regional workers assumed enormous risks while carrying supplies, establishing camps, and supporting expeditions.
The 1922 expedition failed to reach the summit, but it demonstrated that humans could function above 8,000 meters and that supplemental oxygen could substantially improve performance at extreme altitude.
β 1924: George Mallory, Andrew Irvine & Everest’s Greatest Mystery
Two years later, another British expedition returned to Everest.
The 1924 expedition produced both a remarkable climbing achievement and one of the most enduring mysteries in exploration history.
Before Mallory and Irvine made their final attempt, expedition leader Edward Norton climbed exceptionally high without supplemental oxygen.
Norton reached approximately 8,573 meters (28,126 feet) before turning back. His altitude record would stand for decades.
Then came the expedition’s final summit attempt.
On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and 22-year-old Andrew “Sandy” Irvine climbed toward the summit using supplemental oxygen.
Fellow expedition member Noel Odell saw two figures high on the Northeast Ridge during a brief break in the clouds.
They disappeared from view.
Mallory and Irvine never returned.
Did Mallory and Irvine Reach the Summit?
Nobody knows.
If Mallory and Irvine reached the top before dying during their descent, they would have climbed Everest almost 29 years before Hillary and Tenzing.
No conclusive evidence has ever established that they did.
Mallory’s body was discovered on Everest in 1999, but the evidence found with him failed to settle the question.
One particularly intriguing missing object was the photograph of Mallory’s wife, Ruth. Mallory had reportedly intended to leave the photograph on the summit, yet it was not found among his possessions.
That absence is interesting but does not prove that he reached the top.
Another potentially decisive piece of evidenceβa camera believed to have been carried by Irvineβhas never been recovered.
A Major Discovery in 2024
The Mallory-Irvine mystery took another remarkable turn a century after their disappearance.
In 2024, a National Geographic expedition led by Jimmy Chin discovered a boot, sock, and partial human remains emerging from the Central Rongbuk Glacier.
The sock was labeled “A.C. IRVINE.”
The remains are believed to belong to Andrew Irvine. The discovery provided an important clue about his fate, although it still did not reveal whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit.
Until evidence such as Irvine’s missing camera is recoveredβor some other definitive proof emergesβthe 1924 ascent remains unconfirmed.
For that reason, Hillary and Tenzing retain recognition for the first confirmed successful ascent of Mount Everest.
ποΈ The Expeditions Between 1924 and 1953
The disappearance of Mallory and Irvine did not end attempts to climb Everest.
British teams returned during the 1930s, including major expeditions in 1933, 1936, and 1938. Climbers continued exploring the northern route, improving their understanding of acclimatization, weather, equipment, and high-altitude logistics.
None reached the summit.
World War II interrupted major Himalayan expeditions.
After the war, the geopolitical situation surrounding Everest changed dramatically.
Tibet became increasingly inaccessible to foreign expeditions, while Nepal began allowing foreign climbers into the country.
That opened an entirely different approach to Everestβfrom the south.
π§ 1951: Finding the Southern Route
A British reconnaissance expedition led by Eric Shipton explored Everest from Nepal in 1951.
Its members investigated the intimidating Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm, and the route toward the South Col.
The reconnaissance demonstrated that a route through the Khumbu and onto Everest’s Southeast Ridge might be possible.
This basic line would eventually become the route used for the first confirmed ascentβand remains the foundation of Everest’s standard southern climbing route today.
The approach passes beneath neighboring Himalayan giants including Nuptse and Lhotse.
π¨π 1952: Tenzing Norgay and the Swiss Come Close
Switzerland received permission to attempt Everest from Nepal in 1952.
During the spring expedition, Swiss climber Raymond Lambert and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay climbed extraordinarily high on the Southeast Ridge.
They reached approximately 8,600 meters before exhaustion, oxygen problems, and worsening conditions forced them to retreat.
The Swiss had not reached the summit, but they had proven that the southern route worked.
Tenzing also gained invaluable experience high on Everest.
One year later, he would return.
π₯ 1953: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Reach the Summit
The 1953 British Everest Expedition was led by Colonel John Hunt.
It was a large and carefully organized operation involving climbers, scientists, Sherpa mountaineers, porters, and extensive supplies.
The expedition established a chain of camps through the Khumbu Icefall, Western Cwm, Lhotse Face, South Col, and upper Southeast Ridge.
Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon made the first major summit attempt.
On May 26, 1953, they reached Everest’s South Summit but were forced to retreat.
The next summit team consisted of Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer and beekeeper, and Tenzing Norgay, one of the most experienced Himalayan climbers of his generation.
They left their high camp early on May 29.
Near the summit, Hillary climbed a steep rock-and-ice obstacle that would later become famous as the Hillary Step.
At approximately 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Hillary and Tenzing stood together on the summit of Mount Everest.
They became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the highest point on Earth.
Tenzing left offerings on the summit while Hillary took photographs. After spending only a short period at the top, they began the dangerous descent.
Their successful return established the first confirmed ascent of Everest.
π€ Why the 1953 Ascent Was a Team Achievement
The names Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay are rightly inseparable from the first Everest ascent, but their success depended on an enormous supporting effort.
Expedition members had to:
- Establish and supply a series of high camps
- Find safe passages through the Khumbu Icefall
- Fix routes through difficult terrain
- Carry oxygen and climbing equipment
- Transport food and tents
- Evaluate weather and snow conditions
- Support successive summit teams
Sherpa climbers performed a particularly important share of the high-altitude work.
The first ascent was therefore not simply the achievement of two climbers. Hillary and Tenzing were the final summit pair in a large expedition whose combined efforts made May 29 possible.
π¨π³ 1960: Everest Is Climbed From the North
The next major route milestone came in 1960.
A Chinese expedition reported reaching the summit via Everest’s North Ridge, the side of the mountain attempted by the early British expeditions.
Wang Fuzhou, Qu Yinhua, and Gonpo are generally credited with making the first successful ascent of Everest from the north.
The ascent was historically controversial because little photographic evidence was available from the summit, but it eventually became widely accepted within Everest’s climbing chronology.
The achievement demonstrated that the formidable northern route could be climbed successfully.
πΊπΈ 1963: First American Summit and the West Ridge
Everest climbing changed again during the 1963 American expedition.
On May 1, Jim Whittaker and Nawang Gombu reached the summit by the Southeast Ridge. Whittaker became the first American to summit Everest.
Later that month, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld accomplished something even more innovative.
Instead of following the established Southeast Ridge route, they climbed Everest’s difficult West Ridge.
They reached the summit on May 22 and then descended by the Southeast Ridge, completing the first traverse of Mount Everest.
Their climb demonstrated that the mountain could be approached as more than a single expeditionary route to the summit. Everest was becoming a venue for increasingly difficult and creative mountaineering objectives.
π© 1975: Junko Tabei Becomes the First Woman to Summit Everest
Everest history reached another milestone on May 16, 1975, when Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit.
Tabei was part of the Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition.
The team’s climb nearly ended in disaster when an avalanche struck their camp. Tabei was buried and temporarily lost consciousness but survived.
She recovered and continued climbing.
Her successful ascent challenged longstanding assumptions about women in high-altitude mountaineering and became one of the most significant achievements in climbing history.
Tabei later became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits.
π« 1978: Everest Without Supplemental Oxygen
For decades, climbers and physiologists debated whether humans could reach Everest’s summit without supplemental oxygen.
The summit lies deep within the so-called death zone, generally considered the region above 8,000 meters, where atmospheric pressure is so low that the human body cannot adequately acclimatize for extended periods.
On May 8, 1978, Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria answered the question.
They reached the summit without using supplemental oxygen.
Their ascent fundamentally changed perceptions of what humans could accomplish at extreme altitude.
Messner was not finished.
βοΈ 1980: First Winter Ascent
Everest’s winter conditions are even more severe than those encountered during the traditional spring climbing season.
On February 17, 1980, Polish climbers Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy reached the summit.
They completed the first winter ascent of Mount Everestβand the first winter ascent of any 8,000-meter mountain.
Polish climbers would go on to become famous for pioneering winter ascents throughout the Himalayas and Karakoram.
π§ 1980: Reinhold Messner’s Solo Ascent
Only months after the first winter ascent, Reinhold Messner returned to Everest.
On August 20, 1980, Messner reached the summit alone from the Tibetan side.
He climbed without supplemental oxygen.
His ascent was the first solo climb of Mount Everest and became one of the landmark achievements of high-altitude mountaineering.
By this point, the goal on Everest was no longer simply to reach the summit.
Climbers increasingly sought new routes, lighter expedition styles, winter ascents, oxygen-free climbs, traverses, and other more demanding objectives.
ποΈ The Rise of Commercial Everest Expeditions
The character of Everest changed significantly during the late 20th century.
Professional guiding companies began organizing expeditions in which clients paid for logistical support, guides, established camps, fixed ropes, supplemental oxygen, and assistance from high-altitude workers.
Commercial expeditions helped make Everest accessible to a wider range of experienced climbers who lacked the resources to organize national-scale expeditions of their own.
But commercialization also introduced new questions.
How experienced should an Everest climber be?
How much responsibility should guides assume for clients?
How many climbers can safely move through narrow sections of the route?
What risks should high-altitude workers be expected to take on behalf of paying clients?
These questions became particularly prominent after one of Everest’s most famous disasters.
β οΈ 1996: Disaster on Everest
On May 10, 1996, numerous climbers from several expeditions attempted to reach the summit.
Delays accumulated during the ascent, leaving climbers high on the mountain later than planned.
A violent storm then swept across Everest.
Eight climbers died during the disaster, including prominent expedition leaders Rob Hall and Scott Fischer.
The tragedy attracted worldwide attention and became one of the defining events in modern Everest history.
Jon Krakauer, who had been climbing with Rob Hall’s Adventure Consultants expedition while reporting for Outside magazine, later chronicled the experience in his bestselling book Into Thin Air.
The disaster prompted lasting debate about commercial guiding, turnaround times, overcrowding, decision-making, and acceptable levels of risk on Everest.
π§βπ€βπ§ The Essential Role of Sherpa Climbers
No accurate history of Everest can be written without recognizing the enormous contribution of Sherpa climbers.
Sherpa is the name of an ethnic group with deep roots in the Himalayan regionβit is not simply another word for mountain guide.
From the earliest expeditions onward, Sherpas and other Himalayan workers have performed vital expedition roles.
Their work has included:
- Carrying loads to high camps
- Establishing camps
- Fixing ropes
- Crossing and maintaining routes through the Khumbu Icefall
- Transporting oxygen
- Guiding climbers
- Conducting rescues
- Supporting injured or exhausted expedition members
- Repeatedly traveling through hazardous sections of the mountain
Tenzing Norgay became the most internationally famous Sherpa mountaineer after the 1953 ascent, but he represents only one part of a much larger history.
Nawang Gombu, Ang Rita Sherpa, Apa Sherpa, Lhakpa Sherpa, Kami Rita Sherpa, and many others have established extraordinary records on Everest.
Modern accounts of the mountain increasingly recognize something that older narratives often minimized: much of Everest’s climbing infrastructure has been built and maintained by Nepali high-altitude workers.
π 2014: Disaster in the Khumbu Icefall
The risks faced by those workers became devastatingly clear on April 18, 2014.
A massive serac collapse sent ice sweeping through the Khumbu Icefall.
Sixteen Nepali mountain workers were killed.
They had been moving through the Icefall early in the morning while preparing and supplying the climbing route.
The disaster was, at the time, the deadliest single accident in Everest’s climbing history.
It also triggered renewed discussion about the risks taken by Nepali workers, compensation for their families, working conditions, and the unequal distribution of danger within the commercial Everest industry.
Most south-side expeditions ended their season soon afterward.
π 2015: Earthquake and Avalanche at Everest Base Camp
Another catastrophe struck Everest the following year.
On April 25, 2015, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake devastated large areas of Nepal.
The earthquake triggered an enormous avalanche that swept into Everest Base Camp from the direction of Pumori.
At least 18 people were killed at Base Camp.
Hundreds of climbers were also stranded higher on the mountain because the earthquake and avalanche destroyed sections of the route through the Khumbu Icefall.
Everest climbing was effectively halted for the season.
The disaster was part of a far greater national tragedy in Nepal, where thousands of people lost their lives.
ποΈ Everest in the Modern Era
Modern Everest expeditions look very different from those of Mallory, Irvine, Hillary, or Tenzing.
Satellite communications allow teams to receive sophisticated weather forecasts.
Modern down suits provide dramatically better insulation.
Climbing boots are lighter and warmer.
Supplemental oxygen systems are more efficient.
Fixed ropes are established along major sections of the standard routes.
Ladders help climbers cross crevasses in the Khumbu Icefall.
Professional guides, expedition doctors, helicopter services, communications teams, and large logistical operations support the climbing industry.
None of those developments make Everest safe.
Climbers still face:
- Extreme altitude
- Hypoxia
- Frostbite
- High-altitude cerebral edema
- High-altitude pulmonary edema
- Avalanches
- Falling ice and seracs
- Crevasses
- Severe cold
- High winds
- Exhaustion
- Sudden storms
- Falls
- Crowding and delays
The mountain remains an extreme high-altitude expedition even when following an established route.
ποΈ Field Guide Tip: Reading about early Everest expeditions is fascinating, but their equipment, oxygen practices, acclimatization methods, and attitudes toward risk should not be treated as modern climbing guidance. Anyone considering high-altitude mountaineering should rely on current professional instruction, medical guidance, regulations, and mountain conditions.
π Mount Everest Climbing History Timeline
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1921 | First major British reconnaissance expedition explores a possible route from Tibet |
| 1922 | First serious summit attempts; climbers exceed 8,000 meters; supplemental oxygen is used; seven Himalayan porters die in an avalanche |
| 1924 | Edward Norton reaches about 8,573 m without oxygen; George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappear during their summit attempt |
| 1933 | British expedition returns to Everest but fails to reach the summit |
| 1951 | Eric Shipton’s reconnaissance helps establish the southern route through the Khumbu |
| 1952 | Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay climb to roughly 8,600 m during a Swiss expedition |
| 1953 | Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay complete the first confirmed ascent on May 29 |
| 1960 | Chinese climbers make the first generally recognized ascent from the north |
| 1963 | Jim Whittaker becomes the first American to summit; Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld climb the West Ridge and complete the first Everest traverse |
| 1975 | Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to summit Everest |
| 1978 | Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make the first ascent without supplemental oxygen |
| 1980 | Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy complete the first winter ascent |
| 1980 | Reinhold Messner completes the first solo ascent, without supplemental oxygen |
| 1996 | Eight climbers die during the famous May storm disaster |
| 1999 | George Mallory’s body is discovered on the North Face |
| 2014 | Sixteen Nepali mountain workers die in the Khumbu Icefall |
| 2015 | An earthquake-triggered avalanche kills at least 18 people at Everest Base Camp |
| 2024 | Partial remains believed to belong to Andrew Irvine are discovered on the Central Rongbuk Glacier |
π‘ Why Everest Climbing History Matters
Everest’s history is sometimes presented as a succession of records: first summit, first woman, first oxygen-free ascent, first winter ascent, first solo ascent.
But the fuller story is considerably more complicated.
It includes scientific exploration, technological innovation, national ambition, personal obsession, colonial-era expeditions, extraordinary teamwork, tragedy, commercial tourism, and generations of Himalayan climbers and workers whose contributions were not always given the recognition they deserved.
It also demonstrates how dramatically mountaineering has changed.
The 1921 team did not even know whether a practical route existed.
By 1953, large expedition teams had developed sophisticated systems for moving climbers and supplies into the death zone.
By the 1970s and 1980s, mountaineers were deliberately stripping away some of that support in pursuit of oxygen-free, winter, solo, and technically difficult ascents.
Today, Everest combines elements of all those eras.
It remains both a serious mountaineering objective and the center of a large international climbing industry.
More than a century after the first reconnaissance expedition, the world’s highest mountain continues to test how humans approach altitude, risk, ambition, teamwork, and exploration.
β Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first person to climb Mount Everest?
The first confirmed successful ascent was completed jointly by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.
They reached the summit via the South Col and Southeast Ridge.
Did George Mallory reach the summit before Hillary?
It is possible, but there is no proof that George Mallory and Andrew Irvine reached the summit during their 1924 expedition.
They disappeared high on Everest on June 8, 1924.
Mallory’s body was found in 1999, while partial remains believed to belong to Irvine were discovered in 2024. Neither discovery has provided conclusive evidence that they reached the summit.
Who was the first woman to climb Mount Everest?
Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit on May 16, 1975.
Who first climbed Everest without oxygen?
Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler completed the first confirmed ascent without supplemental oxygen on May 8, 1978.
Their achievement proved that humans could reach Earth’s highest summit breathing only the extremely thin ambient air.
Who was the first person to climb Everest alone?
Reinhold Messner completed the first solo ascent of Everest on August 20, 1980.
He also climbed without supplemental oxygen.
Who made the first winter ascent of Everest?
Polish climbers Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy reached the summit on February 17, 1980, completing the first winter ascent.
Why did early Everest expeditions climb from Tibet?
Nepal was generally closed to foreign climbing expeditions during the early 20th century.
British teams therefore obtained permission to approach Everest from Tibet and explored the northern side of the mountain.
After Nepal opened to foreign expeditions around the middle of the century, attention shifted to the southern route through the Khumbu.
How high is Mount Everest?
Mount Everest has an officially recognized elevation of 8,848.86 meters, or approximately 29,032 feet, above sea level.
It is the highest mountain on Earth by elevation above mean sea level and ranks first on Mountain Field Guide’s Top 30 Tallest Mountain Peaks in the World.
π Related Articles
π Sources
- Royal Geographical Society β Everest: A Reconnaissance and Everest Through the Lens
- American Alpine Club β Mount Everest, 1952 and 1963 Everest West Ridge Traverse
- New Zealand History β Ministry for Culture and Heritage β Hillary and Tenzing Reach Summit of Everest
- Guinness World Records β Historic Everest Climbing Facts and Records
- National Geographic β Sandy Irvine Remains Discovery, 1996 Everest Disaster, and 2014β2015 Everest Disasters
