EverestHistory.com: Time Line

1841: Sir George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, records the location of Everest.

1848: Peak b is surveyed the British, which ruled India; The height is calculated at 30,200 feet from measurements taken 110 miles away. 

1852: The Great Trigonmetrical Survey of India determines the Peak XV is the highest mountain in the world.

1854: Peak b renamed Peak XV.

1856: Surveyor Andrew Waugh completes the first height measurement, declaring Everest to be 8840 meters high. (29,002 feet).

1865: Peak XV re-named Mt. Everest to honor Sir George Everest, the Surveyor General of India. Everest called Chomolungma in Tibet and Sagarmatha in Nepal.

1903: Sir Francis Younghusband leads a British army Expedition to Lhasa.

1904: Everest is photographed for the first time from a Tibetan village 94 miles away. 

1913: Captain John Noel, a British military captian, travels to Tibet in disguise to find the best way to approach Everest. He comes within 40 miles of Everest, after finding the mountain range unexpectly. At the time foreigners were forbidden in Tibet.

1920: The Dalai Lama opens Tibet to outsiders. A British party explores a route to Everest from the North.

1921: First Attempt to climb Everest by the British expedition: None reach the summit.

1922: 7 Sherpa climbers die in an avalanche. The first reported deaths on Everest.

1924: British team with Lt. Col. Norton reaches 8580 meters (28150 feet) without oxygen. George Mallory and Andrew Irvine are seen somewhere above Camp 1. They never return. It is reported they "were going strong for the top". The mystery of Everest and the press begins!

More Detailed Timeline: 1900-1925

1931: The Mount Everest Committee is re-established with Sir William Goodenough as Chair.

1933: April 3: First flight over Mount Everest by two British Westland biplanes powered by turbocharged Pegasus engines.

1933: The 4th British Expedition is unsuccessful.

1934: Maurice Wilson attempts to solo Everest - his body is later found at 6400 meters. How far did he get? No one knows.

1935: Fifth British Expedition (Reconnaissance). A small post-monsoon expedition led by Eric Shipton, that was Tenzing Norgay's first trip to the mountain as a young porter.

1936: Sixth British Expedition with Hugh Ruttledge returning as Leader.

1938: Seventh British Expedition. Led by Bill Tilman

1947: Canadian-born Brit Earl Denman attempts to illegally climb Everest from the North along with Sherpas Ang Dawa and Tenzing Norgay

1949: Nepal allows foreign Expeditions to climb for the first time.

1950: The Chinese invade Tibet, and Tibet falls under Chinese rule. Everest  expeditions are closed. Nepal allows expeditions from the south.

More Detailed Timeline: 1925-1950

1951: Without official permission from Nepal, and only a few months after the 1950 Anglo-American Nepal Reconnaissance, the Dane Klavs Becker-Larsen attempts to climb the Northern pre-war Everest route but via a southern approach.

1951: British Reconnaissance supported by the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographic Society. A post-monsoon exploration led by Eric Shipton

1952: Swiss Expeditions sponsored by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research including Tenzing Norgay and Raymond Lambert attempt Everest via the South-East Ridge Route turning around very high but before the South Summit. The expedition lays the ground work for 1953. 

1953: First Summit: Tenzing Norgay & Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (New Zealand) 5/29/53 via the South-East Ridge Route

1955: The height of Everest is adjusted by 26 feet to 29,028 feet or 8848 meters.

1956: Swiss Everest/Lhotse Expedition led by A. Eggler 

1958: Joint Chinese/Russian reconnaissance from the North that reaches 21,000 feet (6,400 meters) below the North Col.

1960: Chinese and Tibetan team of 214 men and women, led by Shih Chan- chun, makes the first summit of Everest via the North Col and Northeast Ridge.

1962: Illegal four-man expedition led by the American Woodrow Wilson Sayre following the pre-war British route up the North Col and NE Ridge.

1962: Second Indian Expedition with Major John Dias as leader.

1963: James Whittaker reaches the Summit of Everest becoming the first American.

1963: The first ascent of the Everest West Ridge, actually the West Ridge/North Face by Willi Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein on 5/22/63. Also the first traverse as they descended the South East Ridge/ South Col.

1965: Third Indian Expedition, with Commander M.S Kohli as leader. On May 20, 1965: Nawang Gombu becomes the first person to Summit Everest twice. Both of this Summits were via the South east ridge, his first as a member of Jim Whittaker's American Expedition were he became the 11th person the Summit Everest. Out of the first seventeen summits of Everest, Nawang had two of them!

1966-1969: Nepal is closed to mountaineering during this politically tense period involving antagonists India and China.

1969: Japanese SW Face Reconnaissance Expeditions. 

1970: Japanese SW Face Expedition led by the seventy-year old veteran Saburo Matsukata.

1970: Japanese Ski Expedition.

1971: International Expedition. Norman Dyhrenfurth leads an expedition with thirty climbers from thirteen different countries

1973: Sambhu Tamang of Nepal, summits at what is reported to be 16 years old. It is later believed that Sambhu was 18 ! So is Everest climbing.

1973: Japanese Expedition. Led by Michio Yuasa, this large forty- eight man expedition attempted both the SW Face and South Col route. The SW Face party reaches 27,200 feet (8,300 meters) before giving up. Success is achieved on the South Col route when Hisahi Ishiguro and Yasuo Kato reach the summit, the first post-monsoon success on the mountain.

1975: Japanese Ladies Expedition led by Mrs Eiko Hisana. On May 16 Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to reach the summit via the South-East Ridge.

1975: A Tibetan woman, Phantog, reaches the Summit only a few days after Junko on 5/27/75. Becoming he second woman to summit Everest and the first woman to summit from the North (Tibet) side.

1975: Dougal Haston and Doug Scott Summit via the South west face.

More Detailed Timeline: 1950-1975

1978: First Ascent without bottled oxygen: Peter Habeler (Austria) and Reinhold Messner (Italy) 5/8/78 via the South-East Ridge

1978: The first European woman and the third woman to summit Everest, Wanda Rutkiewicz, reaches the top. Wanda goes on to become known as the greatest woman climber ever.

1979: The first woman, Hannelore Schmatz, dies on Everest descending from the Summit after becoming only the 4th woman to Summit Everest.

1979: China opens up the north side (Tibet) again to western climbers.

1979: Andrej Stremfeli and Nejc Zaplotnik Summit via the true West ridge and descend via the Hornbein Couloir on 5/13/79.

1980: First Winter ascent Krzysztof Wielicki (Poland) 2/17/80

1980: Solo: Reinhold Messner (Italy) 8/20/80 via the North Col to the North Face and the Great Couloir. He climbed for three days entirely alone from his base camp at 6500 meters without the use of artificial oxygen via the North Col/North Face route.

1982: Laurie Skreslet first Canadian to reach the Summit.

1983: Lou Reichardt, Kim Momb, and Carlos Buhler reached the Summit via the East or Kangshung face on 10/8/83.

1984: Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer reached the Summit via the North Couloir.

1988: Marc Batard, a Frenchman, sets the speed record on Everest on the South East ridge route from EBC to the Summit in 22.5 hours.

1988: The First American Woman, Stacey Allison reaches the Summit of Everest.

1990: First Married Couple to summit together: Andrej & Marija Stremfelj (Slovenia), 10/7/90.

1990: First Son of a summiter to Summit Everest: Peter Hillary (New Zealand) 5/10/90

1990: First father and son to summit together: Jean Noel Roche and his son Roche Bertrand aka Zebulon. They flew together on a tandem paraglider from the south Col. They landed at base camp on the 7th of October 1990. Roche Bertrand was 17 at the time and became the youngest person to ever climb Everest at the time.

1992: First case of two brothers to reach the Summit together: Alberto and Felix Inurrategui September 25, 1992.

1993: The first Nepalese woman, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, summits Everest but dies descending from the Summit on 4/23/93.

1995: The first ascent of the Northeast Ridge, completed by Kiyoshi Furuno (Japan), Shigeki Imoto (Japan), Dawa Tshering Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, and Nima Sherpa.

1995: George Mallory, grandson of George Leigh Mallory, reaches the Summit of Everest.

1996: 15 die on Everest, the most in a single year, including the most successful guide of his time, the great climber Rob Hall. 

1996: Ang Rita Sherpa (born 1947), Summits Everest for the 10th time. (1983,1984,1985,1987,1988,1990,1992,1993,1995,and 1996 all ascents without bottled oxygen.)

1996: The first ascent of the North-Northeast couloir by Peter Kuznetzov, Valeri Kohanov and Grigori Semikolenkov on 5/20/96.

1996: North Side: Fastest Ascent via the standard North Col-north ridge-north face Route: Hans Kammerlander (Italian) 5/24/96, 16 hours 45 minutes from base camp. He left BC at 6400 meters at 5pm on May 23, 1996 and was on the Summit 16 hours 45 minutes later at 9:45am the next day. He descended most of the route on skis.

1999: On May 12, 1999: Lev Sarkisov (2/12/38) became the oldest man to summit Everest. His record was later broken, but Lev is a special person. Lev, from Georgia, was 60years, 161 days young when he reached the Summit.

1999: May 6, 1999: Babu Chiri Sherpa spent 21 hours and 30 minutes on the Summit of Everest.

1999: George Mallory's body is found by and expedition lead by Eric Simonson. The mystery remains unanswered. 

1999: The National Geographic Society revised the elevation of Everest to 29,035 feet (8850 meters). Nepal does not accept the revised elevation. 

2000: New Speed Record Nepal Side: Babu Chiri Sherpa; from Everest base camp to the Summit via the South East ridge in 16 hours and 56 minutes on May 21st, 2000. 

2000: Apa Sherpa Summits for the 11th time.

2000: Oldest woman: Anna Czerwinska (born 7/10/49) climbed Everest from Nepal side on 5/22/2000.

2000: First true Ski descent: Davo Karnicar

2001: Roche Bertrand and his wife Claire Bernier Roche flew together on a tandem paraglider from the North side Summit of Everest. The paraglider arrived at ABC 8 minutes later...This first husband and wife to fly from the Summit together !

2001: Stefan Gatt the first to Snowboard from the Summit of Everest.

2001: Marco Siffredi on his Snowboard completed the first-ever descent of Everest on a snowboard from the Summit to ABC.

2001: At 16 Temba Tsheri Sherpa  become the youngest person to Summit Everest.

2001: American Sherman Bull, at age 64, is the oldest person to summit Mount Everest.

2001: American Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first ever blind person to Summit Everest. 

Much more to be added here in the coming weeks... 

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