Conquering heroes

Back at Buckingham Palace, on the eve of the Queen's coronation, the royal couple were bracing themselves for a sleepless night, when word came through.

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing Norgay had successfully scaled the 29,028ft monster which had claimed and defeated so many other brave contenders.

The message had been brought back down the mountain by one of the 11-strong team Michael Westmacott and Times journalist James Morris, who had accompanied the expedition.

Carefully coded, to deceive hoards of information hungry pressmen waiting in Kathmandu, the two were charged with delivering the momentous breakthrough.

Michael Westmacott now lives in Staveley and James Morris has become Jan, following a sex change operation in Casablanca in 1972.

Half-a-century to the day after the conquest, Thursday night sees them reliving the epic in front of the Queen and Prince Philip in a Royal Gala Celebration at the Odeon, in Leicester Square. Most of the surviving members of the 1953 expedition will be there.

The event is expected to be a supercharged night of high emotion and raw nostalgia when one of the greatest adventure stories of all time will be told by the men who made it happen. Sir Edmund Hillary will be in Nepal for the anniversary.

His immortal words to fellow team member George Lowe, who had climbed to meet the two as they made their descent: "Hey George, we knocked the bastard off", are written into the legend that is Everest.

By May last year, 1,114 other climbers had reached the summit and 180 perished trying to achieve the ultimate goal.

It is almost surreal talking to one of the first people to see Hillary and Tensing as they appeared heading down towards Camp IV. George Lowe was with them and "did a bit of a dance, jabbing his ice axe into the ground".

"I knew then they had done it. John Hunt rushed forward and hugged them. I shook their hands. Even now, when I think about it, I get a lump in my throat.

"I think I said well done, Ed the expedition leader, well done, Tensing, nothing very remarkable.

"As I saw Ed walking towards me, he was rather stiff legged, otherwise in fine shape. We had some Indian Army rum. We used it to celebrate.

"James thought there might just be a chance to get the news back in time for the coronation. We set off back to base camp, it took about four hours and we didn't talk to a soul. A runner was sent to an army listening post, which contacted the Ambassador in Kathmandu, who telegraphed London.

"The King of Napal was only told the following morning."

Michael Westmacott relates the story in a matter-of-a-fact sort of way, devoid of the high drama which engulfed the team in the midst of its victory.

"We certainly didn't consider ourselves heroes," he explains. "Hero is a big word. We were climbers who enjoyed the mountains. It is quite stupid to consider yourself a hero."

When the Oxford mathematics graduate and team set off under the leadership of John Hunt, no one knew who would be chosen to make the final ascent. All were equal contenders at the beginning.

After New Zealand beekeeper Hillary and experienced Himalayan climber Tensing were selected as the two strongest candidates, Hunt's decision was unanimously backed.

By then, Michael, who had laboured hard to find and maintain a route up notorious 20,000ft Khumbu Ice Fall, the most dangerous western approach to Everest, was suffering two infections and had to recoup in the valley.

He had made it as far as 23,000ft Camp VI, two days from the summit, and was disappointed not be going on the final ascent.

"There was no choice. I was very tired, my pulse was down to 40. I had no option but to go back to the ice fall and keep working on it."

He regrets John Hunt, later Lord Hunt, is not given greater recognition for the expedition's success. Without him, the outcome could have been very different.

"He was a superb leader and good organiser."

Michael talks about the trek back to Kathmandu. Halfway, Ed heard he had been given a knighthood. He was amazed and said he would have to get some new overalls.

"We were met in Kathmandu by hoards of people - and unpleasant political experiences. We heard afterwards the culprits were left-wingers from Calcutta. People wanted to make out Tensing had reached the summit first.

"Cartoons appeared in the papers showing an exhausted Hillary being dragged to the top by Tensing."

Six of the team had been shipped out to India, but money was stumped up for flights home. They were all VIPs and had to be protected at Heathrow from ecstatic waiting crowds.

"We all went back to our respective homes and were reunited at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen presented us with Coronation Medals.

"She was very nice and polite. I can't remember exactly what she said.

"One of the nicest things I heard was from the Duke of Edinburgh at an Alpine Club dinner. He said after hearing the news, in so far as he and Queen had slept at all that night, it had helped them sleep easier.

"My memories of that time are clearer than events that took place a couple of months ago.

"The surviving members are still very much in touch, although I seldom see Ed. He's always travelling.

"We went back to Everest for the 25th and 40th anniversaries.

"The expedition was one of the most exciting experiences and, I think, changed the rest of all our lives a bit. We have always had the Everest tag attached."

May 22, 2003 15:00