The Failure Pledge

Mountaineering

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Tenzing Norgay

The bronze statue of Tenzing Norgay at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling.
The statue at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling.Colin Ashe. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What failed

He was rejected before he ever got on the mountain, then beaten by monsoons in 1936 and 1938, by a storm in 1947, and in 1952 by a faulty oxygen valve about two hundred and fifty metres below the summit.

What happened next

He went back in the autumn of the same year and failed again, lower. In May 1953, on his seventh Everest expedition, he reached the top with Edmund Hillary.

The point

Reaching 8,595 metres and turning round is, on the day, simply a failure. It was also the only reason the 1953 party knew where to go.

The sequence

6 documented failures, shown with the successes in between. Every entry carries its own source — the wins are part of the record, and leaving them out is how these stories get distorted.

  1. 1933

    As a teenager, he runs away to Darjeeling to be hired as a porter, and is not chosen.

    failureTenzing Norgay (EBSCO Research Starters)

  2. 1935

    Hired at last for the reconnaissance, after two other candidates failed their medicals and his friend Ang Tharkay put him forward.

    noteTenzing Norgay (Wikipedia)

  3. 1936

    The expedition turns back at the North Col.

    failure1936 British Mount Everest expedition (Wikipedia)

  4. 1938

    Beaten by an early monsoon.

    failure1938 British Mount Everest expedition (Wikipedia)

  5. 1939

    For his work high on Everest the year before, the Himalayan Club gives him one of its first Tiger Badges.

    noteTenzing Norgay (EBSCO Research Starters)

  6. 1947

    Crosses into Tibet illegally with Earl Denman and Ang Dawa. A storm at about 6,700 metres turns all three back.

    failureTenzing Norgay (Wikipedia)

  7. 1952

    With Raymond Lambert he reaches 8,595 metres, then spends a night at 8,400 without sleeping bags.

    failure1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition (Wikipedia)

  8. 1952

    Straight back up that autumn with the second Swiss team. Turned back lower.

    failure1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition (Wikipedia)

  9. 1953

    Summits Everest with Edmund Hillary on his seventh expedition, aged thirty-nine.

    successTenzing Norgay (EBSCO Research Starters)

Sources

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Others in sport, and nearby.

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