1953 Mount Everest Expedition © fotoVoyager/Getty Images

In Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, Mount Everest rises into view, calm and unmoved as evening settles in. But on 29 May, 1953, that stillness was broken. After years of planning and weeks of climbing, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay reached the summit. At more than 8,800 metres above sea level, they became the first people known to have stood at Earth"s highest point.