New Zealand: Edmund Hillary Obituary - timeline
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Timeline
- October 2005. The People's Republic of China (PRC) surveying and mapping department measures the height above sea level of the peak of Mount Everest as 8,844.43 metres, compared with its own 1975 measurement of 8,848.13 metres. The new altitude is reported to have derived from the ability of modern instrumentation to measure the depth of the cap of snow and ice on the peak.
- May 2003. 50th anniversary of the ascent of Mount Everest.
- November 1998. Lord John Hunt, who led the first successful expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1953, dies at the age of 88.
- April 1995. Sir Edmund Hillary is awarded the Order of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II.
- May 1986. Tenzing Norgay dies of a cerebral haemorrhage, aged 71.
- May 1970. The summit of Mount Everest is reached by Teruo Matsuura and Nomi Uemura, the first successful Japanese expedition to ascend Everest.
- May 1965. Members of an Indian expedition make four ascents of Mount Everest. Captain A. S. Cheema of the Indian Army and Sherpa Nawang Gombu are the first of the expedition to reach the summit.
- May 1963. Two members of a US expedition, James Whittaker and Gombu, reach the summit of Everest. The ascent marks the first time that the world's highest peak has been climbed by US mountaineers.
- 1960. Hillary founds the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust.
- July 1961. 2,500 miles of coastline in New Zealand's Ross Sea Dependency are named after famous Antarctic explorers, including a section to be recognised as the "Hillary Coast".
- February 1961. During a state visit to Nepal, the plane of Queen Elizabeth II flies along the length of the Himalayas and circles 305 metres below the peak of Everest to enable Queen Elizabeth to trace the route followed by Hillary and Tenzing during their successful ascent of 1953.
- May 1960. The first successful ascent of Everest's northern face is carried out by a Chinese expedition led by Wang Fu-chou.
- January 1958. Hillary, leader of the New Zealand section of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, reaches the South Pole overland.
- December 1957. The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute is inaugurated near Darjeeling, India.
- July 1957. An 18-month worldwide co-ordinated study of natural phenomena begins; the New Zealand expedition is led by Hillary.
- March 1957. During a Commonwealth tour, the Duke of Edinburgh visits the Antarctic ship Endeavour in Lyttelton, New Zealand, and talks with Hillary.
- February 1957. The Nepalese authorities announce that all future expeditions to Everest or to the seven other highest peaks in the Himalayas (Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyn, Manaslu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, and Dhaulagiri) would be required to pay a royalty of 8,000 rupees to the Nepalese government before permission would be given to ascend.
- May 1956. An 11-man Swiss Himalayan Expedition, led by Albert Eggler successfully climbs Mount Lhotse (8,500 metres), the highest unclimbed peak in the world. Members of the expedition also reach the summit of Everest.
- January 1955. The Mount Everest Foundation is formed to encourage the exploration of the mountain regions of the earth.
- November 1954. The construction of India's Institute of Mountaineering begins. The board of the institute consists of nine members, including Tenzing as the institute's chief instructor.
- November 1953. The Ascent of Everest by Hunt is published, with a chapter on Hillary's final assault on the mountain.
- June 1952. The Chinese ministry of the interior circulates a declaration that Mount Everest has been renamed Chumulongma ("sacred mother of the waters"), the name it was given on a map published in 1717 during the reign of the Emperor Kang Hsi.
- September 1953. Several expeditions attempt to climb some of the highest peaks in the Himalayas. An unsuccessful attempt is made by a US expedition to climb Mount Godwin Austen (8,610 metres), the highest peak in the world after Everest.
- June 1953. The members of the UK Everest expedition arrive in England. The team are received at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II, who confers knighthoods on Hunt and Hillary, and presents Tenzing with the George Medal.
- May 1953. The summit of Mount Everest is successfully reached for the first time. Hillary and Tenzing, members of a UK expedition, ascend the peak.
- September 1932. The Mount Everest Committee receives the consent of the Dalai Lama for a UK Expedition to Mount Everest in 1933. The expedition will follow unsuccessful attempts to reach the summit in 1921, 1922, 1924, and 1925.
- July 1919. Hillary is born in Auckland, New Zealand.
