The news of the ascent reached Britain on the day of the Queen's coronation and, as Hillary was a New Zealander and as a result a citizen
of the Commonwealth, Britishers celebrated his win. Edmund Hillary was
also knighted for his achievement.
During the next two decades, the adventurer climbed ten other peaks in the
Himalayas and also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth's
Trans-Antarctic expedition. He also led a jet boat expedition from the
mouth of the Ganga to its source in 1977.
Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Caption: Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first two men to climb Mount Everest, waves to the public during a procession through the streets of Kathmandu in May 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ascent of the world's highest peak. Hillary and Nepali Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, climbed the 29,035-foot Everest summit on May 29, 1953.
Also read: 'Everest' Scales Down to Small Screen
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