The news about a forthcoming book by British author Mick Conefrey that tries to establish that Edmund Hillary was the first man to scale Everest during the 1953 expedition, and which received wide coverage in the international media, has left Kerala author and veteran sports journalist Sanil P. Thomas with a feeling of déja vu. “This is no great new revelation,” says Sanil, who has written around 30 books on sports.
He points out that he had established the same point in his book Everest Arohanam, Chila Charitra Satyangal (Everest Ascent, a Few Historical Facts), whose first edition came out in 2007 and the next in December 2009. The third chapter is titled Adyam Hillary Pinne Tenzing (First Hillary, then Tenzing), where he has unearthed textual evidence to back his claim. “While Indians always say that Tenzing Norway and Edmund Hillary were the first to climb Mt Everest, those abroad reverse the order,” says Sanil.
He points out that in the Guinness Book of World Records, Hillary’s name is given first. “In Melville De Mellow’s book, Reaching for Excellence, he has quoted Tenzing extensively but never does the Nepali mountaineer ever say that he was ahead.
James Morrison who accompanied the team in his account described them as ‘Conqueror Hillary and Tenzing’” says Sanil. He goes on to add how Hillary in his autobiography said that he shook hands with Tenzing in Anglo-Saxon style while his friend hugged him. “One gets the sense that Hillary was the first,” Sanil argues.
Sanil also refers to a newspaper interview where Hillary is quoted as saying that it was he who controlled the rope and carved steps to the summit. He told the journalist that ‘Tenzing joined me’.
In Tiger of the Snows, Tenzing’s autobiography, Sanil points out, he describes how it was he who kept the loose end of the 30-feet rope, with six feet separating them. Tenzing was quoted as saying that ‘it did not bother me who was first or second and I did not want to push Hillary away to claim the golden apple. He climbed first and I followed.’