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1 / 20In this photograph taken on May 23, 2013 unidentified mountaineers look out from the summit of Mount Everest. Nepal marked 60 years since the first ascent of Everest May 29, celebrating the summiteers whose success has bred an industry that many climbers now fear is ruining the world's highest peak.AFP
2 / 20Statues of Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa (R), the first climbers to conquer Mount Everest in 1953, are decorated with garlands during the 60th anniversary of their ascent, in Kathmandu.Reuters
3 / 20On May 29, 2013, it will be 60 years since Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest on the Nepal-Tibet border. The pair reached the peak, 29,028 feet up, after an exhausting climb up the southern face. The victorious Mount Everest climbing team arrive at London Airport. Colonel John Hunt waves the flag, on his left is Tenzing Norgay, better known as Sherpa Tensing, and on his right is Edmund Hillary.Getty Images
4 / 20Image dated 17th July 1953: Members of the successful Everest expedition at a reception at Lancaster House, (from left) Conservative politician Lord Woolton, Sir Edmund Hillary, the Duke of Edinburgh, Sherpa Tensing and Sir John Hunt.Getty Images
5 / 20New Zealand mountain climber, Edmund Hillary, with (Sherpa Tensing) Tenzing Norkay, in London after becoming the first men to climb the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
6 / 203rd July 1953: From left to right, Colonel John Hunt, Tenzing Norgay (better known as Sherpa Tensing), and Edmund Hillary make a jubilant return to Britain after becoming the first men to scale Mount Everest.George W. Hales/Getty Images
7 / 203rd July 1953: With the aid of a model, mountaineers Edmund Hillary, Colonel John Hunt and Sherpa Tensing Norgay present an account of their ascent of Mount Everest at a press conference at the Royal Geographical Society, Kensington, London.Fred Ramage / Getty Images
8 / 20In this file photograph taken on May 19, 2009, unidentified mountaineers walk past the Hillary Step while pushing for the summit of Everest as they climb the south face from Nepal. Nepal marked 60 years since the first ascent of Everest on May 29, 2013, celebrating the summiteers whose success has bred an industry that many climbers now fear is ruining the world's highest peak.PEMBA DORJE SHERPA/AFP
9 / 20In this May 31, 2008 file photo, Min Bahadur Sherchan, center, who became the oldest person to climb Mount Everest on May 25, 2008, shakes hands on his arrival in Katmandu, Nepal. The 81-year-old Nepalese man has abandoned his attempt to climb Mount Everest, leaving Japanese mountaineer Yuichiro Miura with the record as the oldest person to scale the world's highest mountain. Team member Dame said Wednesday, May 29, 2013 that Sherchan returned from Everest because weather conditions were worsening late in the spring climbing season for the Himalayas. Sherchan had held the record until last week when 80-year-old Japanese climber Miura scaled the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) mountain.Binod Joshi/AP
10 / 20Amelia Rose Hillary (wearing sunglasses), granddaughter of Sir Edmund Hillary, sits on a horse-drawn carriage with a relative during a parade marking the 60th anniversary of her grandfather's conquest of Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, in Kathmandu May 29, 2013.Reuters
11 / 20Amelia Rose Hillary, granddaughter of Sir Edmund Hillary, sits on a horse-drawn carriage during a parade marking the 60th anniversary of her grandfather's conquest of Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, in Kathmandu May 29, 2013.Reuters
12 / 20A woman wearing traditional ornaments participates in a parade marking the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa's conquest of Mount Everest, in Kathmandu May 29, 2013.Reuters
13 / 20Members of the police brass band perform during an event marking the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa's conquest of Mount Everest, in Kathmandu.Reuters
14 / 20Media film the statues of Edmund Hillary, left, and Tenzing Norgay during a function to mark the 60th anniversary of successful ascent of Mount Everest, in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Hillary and Norgay were the first people to set foot on the peak of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.AP
15 / 20Tashi Tenzing, grandson of mountaineer Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, offer garlands to the statues of Tenzing and Edmund Hillary during the Mount Everest Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Kathmandu on May 29, 2013.AFP
16 / 20Kancha Sherpa, a team member of the 1953 Mount Everest expedition that placed Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on the summit of the world's highest mountain, gestures after offering garlands over the statues of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary during the Mount Everest Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Kathmandu.AFP
17 / 20Kancha Sherpa, a team member of the 1953 Mount Everest expedition that placed Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on the summit of the world's highest mountain, and Amelia Rose Hillary (2nd R), granddaughter of New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary, waves to well-wishers from a horse-drawn carriage during a procession for Everest Summitteers during the Mount Everest Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Kathmandu on May 29, 2013. Nepal marked 60 years since the first ascent of Everest May 29, celebrating the summiteers whose success has bred an industry that many climbers now fear is ruining the world's highest peak.AFP
18 / 20Kancha Sherpa, left, the only survivor of the first successful expedition to Mount Everest participates in a function to mark the 60th anniversary of successful ascent of Mount Everest, in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to set foot on the peak of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953.Niranjan Shrestha
19 / 20In this handout photograph released by Himex, the organisers of the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon on May 29, 2013, participatants of the marathon are flagged off at Everest Base Camp in Nepal's Solukhumbu district. The Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, the world?s highest marathon, starts near the famous Khumbu Ice Fall at Qomolangma Base Camp (5,364 meters above sea level) and finishes at Namche Bazar (3,440 meters above sea level). Nepali athlete Ram Kumar Rajbhandari (31) clinched the title of the 11th Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon, completing the 42.19 km race in 3 hour 59 minute 45 second on Wednesday as Nepali athletes continued their dominance in the highest altitude marathon claiming all top ten positions.HIMEX/AFP
20 / 20Amelia Rose Hillary, granddaughter of Edmund Hillary,?participates in a function to mark the 60th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest at the British Embassy, in Katmandu, Nepal,AP
"Well, George, we knocked the bastard off!"
It was with these irreverent words 60 years ago today that Sir Edmund Hillary announced to climber George Lowe that he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had successfully climbed Mount Everest.
This year's diamond anniversary of that first ascent is especially poignant following the death of the last surviving direct member of the 1953 expedition – Hillary's lifelong friend, Lowe – earlier in the year.
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay return to the advance base after ascending Everest.
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Now only Jan Morris (then James Morris), the correspondent for The Times and acclaimed travel writer who broke the story on the successful climb by Hillary and Tenzing, survives.
It is left to Everest veterans such as Australian Greg Mortimer to continue the Everest tradition.
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"It was a stepping-on-the-moon-type moment," says Mortimer, who, along with Tim Macartney-Snape, became in 1984 one of the first two Australians to reach the summit of Everest.
"[Hillary's success] was a really big deal because the medical graphs of the day showed that it wasn't physically possible. There had been various attempts from some very talented mountaineers, so the myth of it grew. It was a major turning point."
Much of it was to do with attitude, says Mortimer.
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"They were quite relaxed in a way," he says. "Despite being a big expedition with a formal structure they had a fairly commonsense attitude and were able to look at the mountain with fairly clear sight, rather than battle against it. That easygoing streak that is so lovely in Kiwis came to the fore.
"Time and time again expeditions that have gone to conquer have failed. That's the delightful thing about the mountain. It knocks them down to size."
Mortimer was speaking in the Himalayan village of Namche Bazaar, ahead of ascending to Tengboche for a gala dinner to celebrate the achievement of Hillary and Tenzing.
Even 60 years on, both men remain venerated around the Everest region and preparations for the anniversary could be seen everywhere in the run-up to May 29.
The date is specially significant for the pupils of Khumjung School, which was established by Hillary as part of his extensive philanthropic work in the region.
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Earlier this week, pupils there were practising their marching for a ceremony and the extensive campus was being spruced up for the big day.
Headmaster Mahendra Khatet said Hillary was a pivotal figure in the region.
"Sir Edmund was a philanthropist and because of his work the people of the region have gained a lot. With Tenzing Norgay he made the region famous."
Nowadays, hundreds of well-heeled climbers make it to the summit each climbing season, swarming up fixed ropes set by hundreds of Sherpas.
The numbers are so great there are often queues along the route as the expedition teams take advantage of narrow weather conditions.
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These modern exhibitions hold no interest for Mortimer.
"I just happened to be one of the lucky ones there at a golden time," he says. "I have a feeling that the time has come for some limitation on numbers.
"But at the same time I feel it is very feasible for anyone with decent health and the will to do it to have a go at climbing Everest. I feel that quite strongly. The experience is very valuable."
Nick Galvin travelled to Nepal with World Expeditions.
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Nick Galvin is Arts Editor of The Sydney Morning HeraldConnect via X or email.