Tenzing Norgay the Biography

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Born May, 1914
Kharta Valley, Tibet
Died 9 May 1986
Darjiling, India
Occupation mountaineer, tour guide
Spouse Dawa Phuti, Ang Lahmu, Dakku
Children Pem Pem, Nima, Jamling & Norbu

Tenzing Norgay, often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer. He & Edmund Hillary were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.

Early life
Tenzing came from a peasant family from Khumbu in Nepal, very near Mount Everest, which the Sherpas call Chomolungma. At the time he climbed Everest it was generally believed that he was born there, but in the 1990s it emerged that he was actually born & spent part of his early life in the Kharta Valley region in Tibet to the east of Mount Everest, but this had been kept secret for political reasons.

His exact date of birth is not known, but he knew it was in late May by the weather & the crops. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter.

He was originally called "Namgyal Wangdi", but as a child his name was changed on advice from the head lama & founder of the famous Rongbuk Monastery - Ngawang Tenzin Norbu. Tenzing Norgay translates as "wealthy-fortunate-follower-of-religion". His father, a yak herder, was Ghang La Mingma (who died in 1949) & his mother was Dokmo Kinzom (who lived to see him climb Everest); he was the 11th of 13 children, most of whom died young.

He ran away to Kathmandu twice as a boy, & , at age 19, eventually settled in the Sherpa community in Too Song Bhusti in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.

Mountaineering
He took part as a high-altitude porter in three official British attempts to climb Everest from the northern Tibetan side in the 1930s.

Tenzing also took part in other climbs in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, & for a time in the early 1940s he lived in what is now Pakistan; he said that the most difficult climb he ever took part in was on Nanda Devi East, where a number of people were killed.

In 1947, he took part in an unsuccessful summit attempt. An eccentric Englishman named Earl Denman, Ange Dawa Sherpa, & Tenzing entered Tibet illegally to attempt the mountain; the attempt ended when a strong storm at 22,000 ft pounded them. Denman admitted defeat & all three turned around & safely returned.

In 1952, he took part in two Swiss expeditions led by Raymond Lambert, the first serious attempts to climb Everest from the southern Nepalese side, during which he & Lambert reached the then record height of 8,599 m (28,215 ft).

Success on Mount Everest

In 1953, he took part in John Hunt's expedition, his own seventh expedition to Everest, in which he & Hillary became the first to reach the summit. Afterwards he was met with adulation in India & Nepal, & was even worshipped by some people who believed him to be an incarnation of Buddha or Shiva.

He was awarded the George Medal from the British Government for his efforts with the expedition.

"It has been a long road...From a mountain coolie, a bearer of loads, to a wearer of a coat with rows of medals who is carried about in planes & worries about income tax."—Tenzing Norgay

Tenzing & Hillary were the first people to conclusively set their feet on the summit of Mount Everest, but journalists were persistently repeating the question which of the two men had the right to the glory of being the first one, & who was merely the second, the follower. Tenzing stressed the unity of such teams & of their achievements. He shrugged off the allegation of ever being pulled by anyone, but disclosed that Hillary was the first to put his foot on the summit. He concluded: "If it is a shame to be the second man on Mount Everest, then I will have to live with this shame."

Another interesting aside of this ascent was that all the photos that existed of the mountaineers on the top showed only Tenzing. When asked why there were no photos featuring Hillary, Sir Edmund replied, "Tenzing did not know how to operate the camera & the Everest top was no place to start teaching him how to use it". In fact, Tenzing knew how to use a camera, but this was unknown to Hillary at the time Hillary & Tenzing remained on friendly terms throughout their life.

Family life
Tenzing was married three times. His first wife, Dawa Phuti, died young in 1944. With her he had a son, Nima Dorje, who died at the age of four, & two daughters: Pem Pem, who had a son Tashi Tenzing who climbed Everest, & Nima, who married a Filipino graphic designer, Noli Galang. His second wife was Ang Lahmu, a cousin of his first wife. They had no children, but she acted as stepmother to his daughters. His third wife was Dakku, whom he married while his second wife was still alive, as allowed by Sherpa custom, & with her he had his sons Norbu, Jamling & Dhamey. Other relatives include his nephews, Nawang Gombu & Topgay, who took part in the 1953 Everest expedition.

After Everest
Tenzing later became director of field training for the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. In 1978, he founded a company, Tenzing Norgay Adventures, that offers trekking in the Himalaya. As of 2003, the company was run by his son Jamling Tenzing Norgay, who himself reached the summit of Everest in 1996. Tenzing died of a bronchial condition in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India in 1986.

Tenzing House is a Primary Wing House at St Paul's School, Darjeeling in India, named in his honor.