National Geographic: Return To Everest Page #2

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below the summit.

Now, exhausted and frozen,

they were somber evidence of

the tests that lay ahead.

But storm intervened.

Only after a night wracked by

winds could Hillary and Tenzing

at last climb the icy blade

to the summit.

There they left in the snow

a bar of chocolate and

some biscuits.

At a lower camp, the main party

waited in growing suspense

while leader John Hunt scanned

the ridges and icefalls above.

Then at last

the returning climbers appeared,

led by a teammate lifting

his thumb in a sign of triumph.

Briefly the triumph was shared

only with comrades.

Then word flashed to the world.

"This is the BBC Home Service.

Here is the news.

Mount Everest has been conquered

by members of the British Expedition

The news reached London

in a message to the Times.

It said that Mr. E.P. Hillary,

a New Zealander,

and Tenzing Bhotia, a Sherpa,

had reached the summit

last Friday, May 29th.

The message added, 'All is well."'

In London the coronation of

the Queen now was marked

by a fitting tribute.

For a new Queen Elizabeth,

an obscure New Zealand beekeeper

had set a flag in high, thin air,

passed a boundary

never crossed by man.

Quickly knighted by the Queen,

Sir Edmund soon pledged loyalty

to another lady - Louise,

the young musician

who became his wife.

Yet domestic bliss soon

would be exchanged

for the wintry wastes of Antarctica.

There, Hillary would lead

a caravan of modified farm

tractors to the South Pole,

setting up supply depots for

the first Antarctic crossing.

Hero to the world,

symbol of high adventure,

his life would become

a continuing odyssey,

seeking new challenges

around the globe.

Sometimes,

with the indomitable Louise

on less spectacular expeditions

in New Zealand or

the Alaskan wilderness,

he discovered the new adventure

of watching his children grow.

But always Hillary

came back to Nepal.

Long a forbidden kingdom

locked from the world,

Nepal had barely 200 miles of road

when at last opened to

foreigners in 1949.

Its few vehicles, machines,

and even grand pianos were brought

over the southern ridges

on the backs of men.

Its terraced uplands,

built by the labor of centuries,

were joined by a labyrinth

of trails on which

astonishing burdens were carried

by the hardy hill folk or

their caravans of yaks.

Later each return of the family

would become a journey

of discovery,

particularly for Louise

whose lighthearted accounts

of their travels soon

became best-selling books.

Learning the country

by climbing it,

the children were taken by

their father to seethe great peak

that changed his destiny and theirs

For the first time 12-year-old

Peter would glimpse the mountain

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