Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.
Timeline of Mount Everest expeditions
The second British expedition, under General Charles Granville Bruce and climbing leader Lt-Col. Edward Lisle Strutt, and containing Mallory, returned for a full-scale attempt on the mountain. On May 22, they climbed to 8,170 m (26,800 ft) on the North Ridge before retreating. They were the first humans to climb above on a mountain. The scope of this accomplishment is reflected by the fact that there are only 14 mountains on earth—the eight-thousanders—that reach and exceed 8,000 metres. At that moment, Mallory and Strutt had exceeded the summit of all but five other mountains on the planet.