The dramatic story of the British expedition that made the first ascent of Everest. Combining interviews with the surviving members of the 1953 British and 1952 Swiss attempt on Everest with rare archival material, this film tells the story of the race to climb Everest in the early 1950s and its climax in 1953.

The true story of Tenzing Norgay, a sherpa from Nepal, and his quest to climb Mount Everest, which he could view from his backyard while growing up. He eventually becomes part of the British crew to climb Everest, where he meets Edmund Hillary, his eventual New Zealander partner who he makes history with by becoming the first two men to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1953.

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay made history as the first people to reach the top of Everest. Now, 50 years later, three sons of Everest's most celebrated climbers return to the mountain to challenge it again. Join their journey as they brave the elements and face death to climb 29,000 feet of wind-blasted rock and ice. And, relive the dramatic history of Everest from great triumphs to deadly tragedies, enduring rivalries and the unsung role of the Sherpa people—as National Geographic exposes the untold stories that lurk in the mountain's epic shadow and takes you on the ultimate Everest experience.

May 25, 1996 - Bruce Herrod, a South African mountaineer reached the summit of Everest at 5 p.m. On the radio, we urge him to come down as soon as possible because the descent is dangerous in the middle of the night. A few hours later, no news from him. From this South African expedition which turned into a fiasco and another expedition carried out in parallel, the testimonies of the members of these expeditions show to what extent the thirst for climbing to the top of certain mountaineers, combined with the lack of oxygen , can alter the lucidity of climbers to the point of changing their relationship to death and thus lead them to neglect other expedition members in order to ensure their victory or save their own life.

A documentary of the first successful expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay climb Mount Everest in 1953.

Account of the French expedition to the Himalayan peak of Nanda Devi in 1951; includes shots of the relief expedition led by Sherpa Tensing and some Hindu ceremonies.