Adventure and politics on the slopes of Everest

Nearly three decades ago I was privileged to spend a few days with John Hunt. We were skiing, and he was as graceful, brave and strong on the slopes as he had been on the great mountains of the world. He was the most impressive human being I have ever come across, and I would gladly have entrusted my life to him, just as the climbers on his expeditions did. And one evening he told me this story.

In the early hours of May 29, 1953, Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had set off from their tiny camp above the south col of Everest to make their summit bid. They reached the top at about 11.30am: they shook hands, and Hillary took some pictures, including one of the most famous colour photographs of the last century, of Tenzing on the summit holding his ice axe aloft with the flags of Britain, the UN, Nepal, and India unfurled. More prosaically, he took a quick leak, and then the pair set off, making good time back down to the south col where they stayed overnight at Camp VIII.

The next day, May 30, Hunt emerged from his tent at Camp IV in the Western Cwm to see in the far distance two tiny figures plodding down the hill. As he moved towards them his spirits sank. Their heads were down and they were moving slowly: Hunt knew that if his top team, Hillary and Tenzing, had failed, this massive expedition, involving hundreds of people and years of planning, would have failed too. Hunt would have been next to make the summit bid, and, he told me, he knew he was not strong enough. He climbed up to console the climbers, but as he got close to Hillary the New Zealander suddenly lifted his face, his eyes blazing with happiness, and pointed his axe back to the summit of the mountain. "We did it," he said, and the two men fell into each other's arms, laughing and crying with joy. It had worked after all.

Hillary lifted his face, eyes blazing with happiness, and pointed to the summit

What had happened was that the BBC cameraman, Tom Stobart, had formed a cunning plan. Realizing that the pre-arranged signal for a successful ascent, crossed sleeping bags in the snow on the south col, could