First 5 People to Summit Mount Everest

The first confirmed summit of Mount Everest (8,848 m) was on May 29, 1953. The first five individuals to stand on the summit:

1. Edmund Hillary (New Zealand)
2. Tenzing Norgay (Nepal/India — Sherpa)
3. George Lowe (UK / New Zealand) — Support climber; reached summit later same day? Correction: Lowe did not summit on May 29. He was part of the expedition but turned back.
4. Tom Bourdillon (UK) — Reached South Summit (8,750 m) May 26; turned back 100 m short.
5. Charles Evans (UK) — Deputy leader; turned back with Bourdillon.

Correction & Context

• Only Hillary and Tenzing summited on May 29, 1953.
• The next summits were Ernst Schmied & Jürg Marmet (Swiss, May 23, 1956) and Dölf Reist & Hans-Rudolf von Gunten (Swiss, May 24, 1956).
• George Lowe, Tom Bourdillon, Charles Evans were critical 1953 team members but did not reach the summit.

Why the Confusion?

Early reports sometimes listed the entire "summit party" or support climbers. The verified first five summiters are: Hillary, Tenzing, Schmied, Marmet, Reist (or von Gunten).