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It has been truly said – “Make a career of what you love doing. Success will follow”. And that’s exactly what these five mountaineers of the world did. They followed their heart and conquered the highest peaks.
1. Sir Edmund Hillary
Without doubt, Sir Edmund Hillary bags the top spot and is an icon to reckon with. Born in 1919 and eking a living as a beekeeper, Hillary kept his hobby of conquering peaks alive by climbing the slopes of mountains in New Zealand and Swiss Alps. His quest found him in the Himalayas where he conquered 11 peaks before deciding to climb Mount Everest.
Hillary joined the Everest reconnaissance expeditions on 1951 and 1952. Finally, he decided to go all the way in 1953. The expedition reached the South Peak in May 1953, after which all but Hillary and his counterpart, Tenzing Norgay, went ahead and reached the summit at 11:30 am on May 29. Standing at 29,028 feet above sea level, Hillary not only made his nation, but the world proud.
Did you know that the Himalayan mountain system stretches across six different countries: Bhutan, Tibet, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan?
After peaking the Everest, Hillary went on to explore Antarctica from 1955-58. He then organized several mountaineering expeditions, but his concern lay on the welfare of the Nepalese. In the 1960s, Hillary returned to Nepal to aid the society’s development. He built 17 schools, clinics and hospitals. Two airstrips were constructed that brought in more mountaineers and tourists – all at the cost of deforestation. A concerned Hillary then persuaded the New Zealand government to help Nepal protect its pristine forests.
Though Hillary lost his wife and daughter to an air crash in 1975, he continued to occupy himself with humanitarian and environmental causes in Nepal. He died at the age of 88 in New Zealand as a brave a just human.
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2. Tenzing Norgay
‘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 and worries about income tax’ – Tenzing Norgay
Born Namgyal Wangdi in 1914, Tenzing Norgay was a Nepali Indian Sherpa mountaineer who reached the Everest summit just behind Sir Edmund Hillary. A born mountain lover, at 19 years, Tenzing’s charming smile won him a spot in the 1935 Everest reconnaissance expedition under the leadership of Eric Shipton. There on, he participated in several expeditions from various paths of the Indian subcontinent, including one in 1947 where he, Ange Dawa Sherpa and Canadian-born Earl Denman attempted an unsuccessful and illegal attempt from Tibet but were forced back by a strong storm at 22,000 feet.
Success landed in his lap on May 29, 1953. But what made Tenzing all the more dear was his quick action during the climb that saved Hillary from a nearly-fatal fall into a crevasse. What’s most interesting is that though Hillary is said to have reached the peak first, all pictures of the victory only show Tenzing, to which Hillary jocularly said that Tenzing didn’t know how to operate the camera.
Soon after, he became the director of field training for the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, his favourite haunt where he was cremated in 1986. He also founded Tenzing Norgay Adventures to encourage like-minded people.
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3. Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli
After Everest, the second highest peak to be conquered was the K2 by Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli on July 31, 1954. After this, the summit was only reached in 1977. Though running through controversies with co-climbers after the duo reached the summit, Compagnoni and Lacedelli deserve a resounding applause as the K2 offers one of the most difficult climbs even for seasoned mountaineers, and these two made it possible.
Born on December 4, 1925, Lacedelli began his career as a young teenager and came under the tutelage of Luigi ‘Bibi’ Ghendina, the popular Dolomite rock climber. Though he conquered several peaks, it was his achievement of Bonnati-Ghigo in just 18 hours, weeks after the four day successful first attempt that won him international acclaim. In 2005, he was awarded Italy’s highest honour of Knight of the Grand Cross.
On September 26, 1914, was born a man to make history, Achille Compagnoni. The first to reach the K2 summit, followed by Lacedelli, Compagnoni was honoured with the Knight Grand Cross title. However, history seems to have placed him in a different light altogether. His controversy with co-mountaineer Walter Bonnati on playing foul during the climb, resulting in Bonnati’s unsuccessful climb and another camper, Mahdi, losing half of his feet to frostbite, placed him under scrutinous eyes till his death.
Long after the successful 1954 expedition, it was still wrapped in a shroud of mystery and controversy over the accusations and counter-accusations between Compagnoni and co-mountaineer Walter Bonatti. While several court cases followed suit, an old Lacedelli spoke out the events of the night in his 2004 book, K2: The Price of Conquest, where he confirmed Bonatti’s version.
Both mountaineers breathed their last in 2009.
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4. Junko Tabei
The first woman to reach the Mount Everest on May 16, 1975, Junko Tabei from Japan is one of the most revered and respected mountaineers in the world.
Tabei braved all odds, got buried in an avalanche, lost consciousness for six minutes, came out alive from under the rubble, and 12 days later reached the summit of the Everest to make history. Tabei not only became the first woman to conquer the Seven Summits in 1992, she also climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan and Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. A braveheart, she formed the Ladies Climbing Club, Japan in 1969 to encourage women mountaineers.
Although Tabei wants to conquer the highest peak in every country, she is actively working in preserving the ecology as well. She heads the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan as the director and works on a global level to preserve mountain ecology.
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5. Reinhold Messner
He fell in love with the Alps and climbed his first summit at the age of five, and in his early twenties, Reinhold Messner was a renowned mountaineer in Europe. Making the first solo attempt successfully in reaching the Everest summit without any supplemental oxygen, Reinhold Messner is a mountaineer to reckon with.
Born on September 17, 1944, this Italian mountaineer holds the record to have climbed all fourteen 8,000-feet high peaks without supplemental oxygen, besides skiing across Antarctica.
Messner would have been a mountaineer like anyone else if it wasn’t for Hermann Buhl. Buhl was the first supporter of alpine-style mountaineering in the Himalayas with minimal external help and equipment. Messner believed that any external aid was a disrespect to the mountains and hence, made the climb with no supplementary oxygen.
Having written over 60 books on mountains, in 1984, Messner was featured by Werner Herzog in the film The Dark Glow of the Mountains. A political official and founder of the Mountain Wilderness, an NGO dedicated to protecting mountains, Messner has now totally dedicated himself to the Messner Mountain Museum.
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4 Comments
Thrillchimp
We completely agree! These guys reached great heights but there would have had so many people who supported them in one way or the other. They deserve a lot of credit as well.
susheel ananda
and I have all the respect for alpine style expeditions in trekking
susheel ananda
please don’t forget all the people involved on the background in these expeditions, especially the porters and guides who make all this possible.
anushka
wonderful……….