50 Fun Facts About Tenzing Norgay

After the pair shook hands on Everest's summit, what did an overjoyed Tenzing do next?

Threw his arms around Hillary is how both men told it: they thumped each other on the back until, even on bottled oxygen, they were almost breathless.

What did Tenzing choose to celebrate each year on the anniversary of reaching Everest's summit?

His birthday: Sherpas kept no birth records, and he knew only from the weather and the crops that he was born in late May, so 29 May, the day he reached the top, served for the rest of his life.

By Tenzing's own account, what does the name Tenzing Norgay mean?

Wealthy-fortunate follower of religion was his translation; he got the name as a small boy, after he was judged to be the reincarnation of a rich man who had recently died.

Which US weekly named Tenzing one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century?

Time gave the two climbers a joint entry in 1999 and had it written by Jan Morris, the reporter who had sent the first news of the climb to London in 1953.

For traces of which two lost climbers did Tenzing and Hillary look around on the summit of Everest?

Mallory and Irvine had vanished high on the mountain in 1924, so the pair checked for any sign that the summit had been reached 29 years before them, and saw nothing.

To which capital city did the 13-year-old Tenzing run away from home, only to return within weeks?

Kathmandu was his first city, but he grew homesick and went back to his village after about six weeks; five years passed before he left again, that time for good.

Which English sweet did Tenzing and Hillary nibble on the summit of Everest?

Kendal mint cake proved the most popular item in the high-altitude rations, one of the team wrote to its makers afterwards; their only criticism was that they had not taken enough of it.

Which organisation's flag flew topmost on Tenzing's ice axe in the famous Everest summit photograph?

The United Nations flag sat above those of Britain, Nepal and India; Tenzing said he had not planned the order but was glad of it, because the climb felt like a victory for all men everywhere.

Which British climber picked the untried Tenzing as a porter for the 1935 Everest reconnaissance?

Eric Shipton found he needed a couple more porters and took the newcomer, who had never been on an expedition, largely, by Shipton's own telling, because of his attractive grin.

Which Himalayan Club award did Tenzing earn for carrying loads high on Everest in 1938?

The Tiger Medal made official a nickname British climbers had used since the 1920s for the Sherpas who carried highest, and his autobiography later appeared in America as Tiger of the Snows.

How did Tenzing ride home across India by train without paying?

Wearing an old army officer's uniform, a gift from the major he had worked for, he boarded a military train with his two small daughters and rode most of the way across India unchallenged.

With which Canadian-born climber did Tenzing sneak into Tibet for a 1947 Everest attempt?

Earl Denman had no permit, very little money and almost no Himalayan experience, yet Tenzing went anyway; a storm at about 22,000 feet ended the attempt and all three men got down safely.

Which nation's 1952 expeditions first seriously attempted Everest from the Nepalese side?

Switzerland held Nepal's Everest permit for 1952, and its climbers made Tenzing a full member of the climbing team for the first time, which he called the greatest honour ever paid him.

With which climber did Tenzing set an altitude record high on Everest's southeast ridge in May 1952?

Raymond Lambert had lost every toe to frostbite in an Alpine storm years earlier, yet he climbed with Tenzing to within about 250 metres of the top, higher than anyone was known to have climbed.

Tenzing's actor grandson Tenzing Trainor voiced a lead role in which 2019 animated film about a journey to Everest?

Abominable cast him as Jin, one of the friends who escort a lost young yeti from Shanghai back to the mountain his grandfather was first to climb; Yi, the girl who finds him, names the creature Everest.

What did Tenzing do in 1953 that made Hillary want him as a summit partner?

Tenzing saved him in a crevasse fall: when the snow gave way under Hillary in the icefall, he rammed his ice axe into the slope and held the rope before Hillary could hit the bottom.

Roughly how many porters carried the 1953 Everest expedition's baggage?

About 350 porters were hired, so many that John Hunt sent them off in two caravans a day apart: the track was single file, and one long column would have taken far too long to get away each morning.

Which pair turned back 300 feet below the summit on 26 May 1953 when an oxygen set failed?

Bourdillon and Evans made the first ascent of the South Summit, but Evans's experimental closed-circuit oxygen set gave trouble and they turned back, leaving the final ridge to the second pair.

What problem held up Tenzing and his partner on the morning of their summit climb?

Hillary's boots had frozen solid after he took them off damp for the night, so he cooked them over the stove's flame, through a strong smell of burning leather, until they were soft enough to wear.

What name was later given to the 40-foot rock face on Everest's final summit ridge?

The Hillary Step was climbed by its namesake jamming himself into a crack between the rock and a wall of ice and wriggling up, with Tenzing following on the rope.

About how long did Tenzing and Hillary stay on the summit of Everest?

15 minutes was all their oxygen allowed: Hillary checked the bottles, worked out how long the supply would last, and the two turned to go down.

By Tenzing's own account, why is there no summit photograph of Hillary?

Hillary turned him down with a shake of the head, Tenzing wrote, and went on photographing the ridges below instead, which is why the only summit portraits show Tenzing holding up his ice axe.

What did Tenzing leave on the summit of Everest as an offering?

Chocolates, biscuits and sweets went into a small hole he scraped in the snow, a Buddhist's gift to the gods believed to live on the summit; at home, he said, sweets are offered to those near and dear.

Who climbed up to meet Tenzing and Hillary with hot soup as they came down from the summit?

George Lowe, Hillary's fellow New Zealander, was the first to hear the news, in the words 'Well, George, we knocked the bastard off.'

What coded phrase did Times reporter Jan Morris use to signal that Everest's summit had been reached?

'Snow conditions bad' opened a message that read like a setback; 'advanced base abandoned' and 'awaiting improvement' named Hillary and Tenzing, and a runner carried it to the nearest radio post.

On the morning of which event did news of the Everest ascent reach the British public?

Queen Elizabeth II's coronation came four days after the climb; the news began its journey on foot, carried from base camp by a runner, and was given to the Queen at Buckingham Palace the night before.

Which honour did Tenzing receive from the Queen while Hillary and Hunt were knighted?

The George Medal is Britain's award for civilian bravery; Tenzing called the fuss over it foolish, since independent India did not allow its citizens to accept foreign titles such as a knighthood.

Which Indian prime minister did Tenzing say was like a father to him?

Jawaharlal Nehru did more than befriend him: it was the prime minister's push that set up the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, where Tenzing worked for the next two decades.

Which long-running argument did Tenzing's 1955 autobiography settle?

Who stepped first onto the summit had been argued over since 1953, and the pair's signed statement said only 'almost together'; Tenzing's book stated plainly that Hillary stepped up first and he followed.

Which American writer ghost-wrote Tenzing's autobiography?

James Ramsey Ullman joined the 1963 American Everest expedition as its official historian, but illness kept him from following the climbers to the mountain; he wrote the official account all the same.

Which actor plays Edmund Hillary opposite Genden Phuntsok's Tenzing in the 2026 film Tenzing?

Tom Hiddleston plays the New Zealander in a film that director Jennifer Peedom built around Tenzing's own life, to correct decades of tellings in which the Sherpa merely came along.

What post did Tenzing take when the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute opened in 1954?

Director of Field Training was a post made for him: his Everest climb had prompted India to found the school, and he ran its practical climbing courses until he retired in the 1970s.

Tenzing called which Indian peak, climbed in 1951, the hardest and most dangerous climb of his life?

Nanda Devi East was climbed as a search: two French climbers had vanished trying to traverse the ridge between the twin summits, and Tenzing went up after them with Louis Dubost.

What Soviet title did Tenzing become the first foreigner to receive, in 1963?

India had given him its third-highest civilian award in 1959.

Which national honour did India give Tenzing in 1959?

Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, went to a man born outside the country: he had made his home in India since his teens and taken its citizenship.

On which dwarf planet is the highest mountain range named Tenzing Montes?

Pluto's icy peaks were first seen by New Horizons in July 2015; the mission team called the range Norgay Montes at first, then switched to his first name, and the range beside it honours Hillary.

Which airport, gateway to Everest treks, was renamed for Tenzing and Hillary in 2008?

Lukla, where most Everest trekkers land on a short runway that slopes steeply up the mountainside, took the two climbers' names in February 2008, a month after Hillary's death.

Which son of Tenzing summited Everest in 1996 with the IMAX expedition?

Jamling reached the top with the IMAX film team in the storm-struck spring of 1996, and after what he saw that season he vowed never to try for the summit again.

Which organisation sent the sons of Tenzing and Hillary to Everest together in 2002?

National Geographic sent them for the 50th anniversary and found a changed mountain: where the fathers had stood alone, Peter Hillary reached the top on a day when dozens of other climbers did too.

What trade did Tenzing's summit partner Edmund Hillary follow at home in New Zealand?

Beekeeper was his father's trade too, and for many years after the climb made him world famous Hillary went on listing it as his occupation.

In which Indian hill town did Tenzing make his home and die in May 1986?

Darjeeling had drawn him as a teenager because that was where Everest expeditions hired their Sherpas; he was cremated there at the mountaineering institute he had served.

In 2003 India renamed its highest adventure sports honour after Tenzing; what did the year mark?

The golden jubilee of the ascent was marked in New Delhi with Hillary in the audience, as India's prime minister handed out the first awards to carry Tenzing's name.

What do Tibetans and Sherpas call Everest, usually translated as 'Goddess Mother of the World'?

Chomolungma meant something else in his boyhood, he recalled: Sherpa mothers, his own among them, told their children it was 'the mountain so high no bird can fly over it'.

At which spot, nearly 26,000 feet up, did the 1953 Everest expedition pitch its second-highest camp?

The South Col, a windswept saddle between Everest and Lhotse, held Camp VIII; wind pinned Tenzing and Hillary there before they could start for the top.

What role did Tenzing hold for the first time on the 1947 expedition that climbed Kedarnath?

Sirdar, the head of an expedition's Sherpas and porters, became his job when the man who held it, Wangdi Norbu, was badly hurt in a fall and Tenzing had helped to rescue him.

On whose advice was the young Namgyal Wangdi renamed Tenzing Norgay?

The head lama of Rongbuk Monastery, Ngawang Tenzin Norbu, in effect gave the boy part of his own name, one that many lamas had borne before him.

What was the occupation of Tenzing's father, Ghang La Mingma?

Yak herder was nearly Tenzing's life too: as a boy he grazed the family's animals on the high pastures, and it was there, he said, that his dream of climbing Everest took shape.

Why did Tenzing need a collaborator to produce his 1955 autobiography?

He could not read or write, though he spoke half a dozen languages: there was no school in the Sherpa country of his boyhood, and Sherpa itself has no written form.

Tenzing's nephew Nawang Gombu, a young porter on the 1953 climb, became the first person to do what in 1965?

Climb Everest twice: he reached the top with the American Jim Whittaker in 1963 and again with an Indian team two years later, whereas his uncle never went back after 1953.

In what role was Hillary living in India when Tenzing died there in 1986?

Diplomat: Hillary had been New Zealand's high commissioner in New Delhi since 1985, and from there he called the news an unexpected shock and said that a good friend was lost.