International Everest Day is celebrated every year on May 29 in memory of the first summit of Mount Everest on this day by New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. They battled snow storms and extreme weather conditions to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain.

The day is celebrated across Nepal and New Zealand and marks an important event for tourism in Nepal.

History and significance

The day was first observed in 2008, the year Edmund Hillary died. Since then, Nepal decided to celebrate International Everest Day every year on May 29 to commemorate Edmund Hillary and Tenzin Norgay’s achievement.

The Mount Everest Day celebration is a special event for the promotion of Nepal's tourism. A series of memorial events and processions take place in Nepal's capital Kathmandu and the Everest region on this day. Various ministers, climbers, tourism entrepreneurs and government officials attend these events.

This year, the International Everest Day will be celebrated in grand style around Nepal and New Zealand as well. Everest Day 2022 events will be held from May 28-31 at six different venues around New Zealand.

The historic climb

New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were a part of a British expedition that set out to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which stands at 29,035 feet above the sea level. However, before the final climb, most of the members were forced to return to base camp and the pre-selected team of Norgay and Hillary was sent to attempt the final climb.

They approached the south summit on May 28 and set up camp at 27,900 feet during the night. They resumed their trek in the morning at 6.30 am and began the final trek. T

hey braved snow storms, rocks, ice and extreme weather and lastly, they had to climb up a 40-foot ice face, which is now known as Hillary Step (one of the most formidable obstacles on the ridge). The duo reached the peak at around 11.30 am on May 29, 1953, and became the first humans to scale the height of Mount Everest.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)