CONQUEROR OF EVEREST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27073, 23 June 1953, Page 10

CONQUEROR OF EVEREST

Controversy Over Honour

TENSING NOT AT RECEPTION

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) KATMANDU, June 22. Tensing Bhotia, the Sherpa porter who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary to the summit of Mount Everest, today refused to attend a reception to members of the Everest Expedition at the British Embassy in Katmandu.

Tensing protested against alleged derogatory remarks attributed in an Indian newspaper to Colonel Sir John Hunt, the leader of the expedition. The newspaper quoted Sir John Hunt as saying Tensing was a good climber within limits.

Tensing called reporters together, and commented: “Is there any other man who has been to Everest seven times?” Rejecting an alleged remark that he had at no time acted as the expedition’s guide, Tensing said he had helped to guide the party over the Khumbu glacier and over the icefall. Reuter’s correspondent in Katmandu says Tensing win not accompany the expedition to Britain, because of the controversy over who was the first man to step on the summit.

A later message says Teasing’s reason for not accompanying the expedition is believed to be a request by his wife who is said to be anxious for them to return to their home in Darjeeling.

Tensing yesterday signed a statement that he and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit “almost together.”

A violent controversy about who was actually the first man to reach the summit of Everest broke out soon after the Everest expedition had received a tumultuous welcome in Katmandu on Saturday. The question whether it was Sir Edmund Hillary or Tensing who first got to the summit has almost become a political issue. Groups of excited young men went out along the road to meet the returning expedition. They took prepared statements for Tensing to sign, saying that he reached the top first, and that he is a Nepali citizen (he was born 39 years ago in Nepal, but he now lives in Darjeeling, India). Tensing is reported to have signed two statements, one saying that he was first and the other saying that Sir Edmund Hillary was first. Sir Edmund Hillary said he was first on the summit by 10 feet. In an interview broadcast yesterday: by Radio Nepal, Tensing said he and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit “simultaneously” on May 29. He and Sir Edmund Hillary had alternated in the lead as they made their roped ascent.

“There was a brilliant sun. The winds were not fierce, and there were no clouds,” said Tensing. “I could view immense vistas of Tibet and Nepal, and I had a look at majestic Kanchenjunga and the Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet. I did hot remove my oxygen mask on the top. The flags of Nepal, Great Britain, India, and the United Nations were held by me on an ice axe and were photographed by Sir Edmund Hillary.' Asked how he felt at the top, Tensing said: “I did not feel so much elated. There were dangers in the descent. Onee in the lower camp, I was overwhelmed with joy.” Sir John Hunt yesterday strongly deprecated the controversy. “When two men are roped, they work together, and the question of who actually set foot first on the summit does not matter,” he said.

At a pi*ess conference when he first arrived at Katmandu, Sir John Hunt told questioners that Sir Edmund Hillary had led on the final lap. of the climb from the south summit. He made it clear that Sir Edmund Hillary reached the summit first. Pictures posted up along the road by which the expedition, travelled to Katmandu showed a figure, presumably Tensing, holding a Nepali flag, on the summit of Everest, with another figure, presumably Sir Edmund Hillary, sprawled on the end of a rope some way below. Tensing’s nationality is also causing a bitter controversy. Some Indian correspondents allege that they were threatened and manhandled by groups of Nepalis when on their way out to meet the expedition. They said they were called on to sign statements affirming that Tensing is a Nepali. One of the loudest cries heard along the processional route was “Long live Tensing, a son of Nepali soft.”

Tensing Signs Statement Tensing yesterday signed a statement in the presence of the Prime Minister* of Nepal (Mr P. Koirala) which said: “On May 29, when Everest was conquered, sometimes I was in the lead and sometimes Sir Edmund Hillary. We reached the summit almost together. I planted the flags of Nepal, Britain, 1 and India and the United Nations. Sir Edmund-Hillary took photographs.” Tensing’s statement was read at a mass public meeting at which he, Sir Edmund Hillary, Colonel Sir John Hunt, and other members of the expedition were present. The special correspondent of the “Daily Express” in Katmandu says that Sir Edmund Hillary made the following statement:— “I was leading on the 40ft rope as we cut steps to within 10ft of the top. There was a danger of the snow edges breaking off along the top ridge, and Tensing was ready to hold me. It happened that I was first on the top by about 10 feet. “But what does that matter? We were roped together; neither of us could have got anywhere without the other.”

Sir John Hunt called Tensing to a 15-minute meeting in a hut on Saturday. Later he said: “Tensing agrees that Sir Edmund Hillary did the last 10 feet first. Tensing says he will make a public announcement of the facts. He says he could not read the document he signed, but he thought it tallied with Sir Edmund Hillary’s account.”