Mount Everest summit, Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal

A 'peak' into history. 1953 Mount Everest Expedition

In Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, Mount Everest rises into view, calm and unmoved as evening settles in. But on 29 May, 1953, that stillness was broken. After years of planning and weeks of climbing, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay reached the summit. At more than 8,800 metres above sea level, they became the first people known to have stood at Earth's highest point.

That moment became part of a much older story. Long before modern expeditions arrived, local communities honoured the mountain as sacred. They lived in its shadow, reading its moods with knowledge refined over generations. Such understanding proved essential in a place shaped by thin air, sudden storms and unforgiving routes.

The 1953 ascent showed what cooperation could unlock: British logistics, Sherpa expertise and a broad support team came together on one ridge. As daylight fades across Everest, the glow along its peak recalls a spring day when curiosity and courage lifted humans to the very edge of the sky.