Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first known ascent of Everest, the world's highest mountain, on May 29, 1953. News of the triumph appeared on the Manchester Guardian's front page a few days later on 2 June, the eve of the Queen's coronation.
The paper, after hailing this great achievement as a 'new, timely, and brilliant jewel in the Queen's diadem', concluded that the mountain 'is in its nature a terminal point...It is doubtful whether anyone will ever try to climb Everest again.'
Of course the ascent merely started a period of fierce competition in Himalayan climbing, one that continues to this day. At the time, though, the editorial echoed a sentiment felt by some that an era of exploration had come to an end and climbers could now get back to ascending mountains without the pressure of having to stick a flag on the top merely for national prestige.
The Guardian reported all the latest developments in the build-up to the ascent - the reconnaissance expedition of 1951 including the news that Yeti footprints had been photographed, John Hunt replacing Eric Shipton as leader, to the near success of the two Swiss Everest expeditions in 1952. It also looked at new advances in equipment, such as a 'special boot' (see left).
Although the Guardian couldn't match the exclusive dispatches of the Times' Jan Morris (then writing as James) who was actually with the 1953 expedition, the paper gave plenty of coverage after the event. This included editorials which dwelt on the treatment of Tenzing once the team were down from the mountain. Unlike Hillary and John Hunt who both received knighthoods, it was decided to give him the lesser George medal.
A few years later and Morris, now contributing to the Guardian, wrote a couple of Himalayan related pieces, including an elegiac essay Ten Years after Everest, in 1963. These can be read in The Guardian Book of Mountains.