How the climb up Mount Everest has changed in 70 years

70 years ago, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made history by climbing the world’s highest peak, forever changing the passage to Mount Everest.

It is June 2, 1953. Two historic headlines jostle for space on front pages. “Elizabeth II is crowned”, reads one, next to a splendid portrait of the British coronation ceremony. The other headline comes from 7,331 kilometres away, with an equally splendid silhouette of the world’s highest peak: “Everest is Conquered: Hillary and Tenzing reach the summit”. On May 29, New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal’s Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made their historic ascent of Mount Everest, reaching the peak at 29,032 feet. Their outstanding story travelled down the mountain on foot to a telegraph station in Kathmandu’s Namche Bazaar, from where it was sent to the British Embassy and was typed into history four days later. Mount Everest has never been the same after that.

Sir Edmund Hillary later said in an interview: “The climb at Everest really was a beginning rather than an end.”

The ascent demystified a peak notorious for its harsh climate, roused ambitions among amateur mountaineers and led to new technologies and routes. Commercially guided expeditions transformed Everest into a tourist “bucket-list” destination, selling convenience and adventure, studded with massage centres, 5G connection, and recreational activities. As of 2019, the mountain had been climbed more than 10,000 times.

As the tourism industry refashioned the tallest mountain on Earth into an experience for thrill-seekers, new challenges have emerged: inexperienced climbers vulnerable to accidents and fatalities, overcrowding, pollution, and increased activity on the mountain that risks destabilising the core. 2023 is likely to be the deadliest year on record for Everest climbers, experts say, as changing weather conditions is altering slopes and making the ascent more treacherous.

Until 1953, there were two known routes to the top of the world: the North Ridge from Tibet, from where British mountaineer George Mallory attempted a climb but disappeared in 1924; and the Southeast Ridge from Nepal, the line Tenzing and Sir Edmund traversed. While these are still the preferred routes, 15 other pathways have been identified since. The journey to the Everest Base Camp, which once took months, was reduced to eight days when a small mountain airstrip was built through Lukla in 1964.

In his autobiography Tiger of the Snows (1955), Tenzing Sherpa describes setting up base camps at 17,900 ft: “We were issued special clothes and boots and goggles. We ate strange foods out of tin cans. We used pressure stoves and sleeping bags and all sorts of other equipment I had never seen before.” Today, trek companies have advertised it as one of the few treks with “world-class amenities”, dotted with tea houses, massage corners, pubs, bakeries, continental meals, internet and telephone connectivity. Helicopter evacuation is also available for $500-$800 per person.

While once upon a time news of successful ascents had to physically travel, the medium of transmission has now drastically changed: when British climber Kenton Cool reached the summit for the ninth time in 2011, he sent out a tweet. In 2020, China announced 5G connectivity was in operation at the Everest summit.