"To go on would be to die …And we did not go on. We stopped and turned back. We had reached an altitude of about 28,250ft ; the nearest men had ever come to the top of Everest, the highest anyone had ever climbed in the world. But it was still not enough. We turned without speaking. We descended without speaking."
            Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in his autobiography "Tiger of the Snows"

On 28 May 1952 Tenzing Norgay and Swiss climber Raymond Lambert abandoned their Everest dream, a dream they had both held for so long and one they now so dearly wished to fulfil together. Tenzing spoke no French and Lambert no Nepali and little English - and yet, from the moment they met, there was a bond between these two men which even Everest could not break. Again in the autumn of ’52 the two tried again but with even less success in the fierce winds and bone-numbing cold of the coming winter.

Everest has for so long “belonged” to the British and Tenzing had made most of his previous attempts on this, the greatest of all mountains, with them. While the Swiss were hardly newcomers to great mountains they had not had access to Everest until after 1950 when Nepal, so long forbidden to all foreigners, opened its doors to the West. Prior to this the only route in to Everest was via British India (prior to Indian independence in 1947) and Tibet. In 1950 the Frenchman Maurice Herzog and his team made the first ascent of an 8,000 metre peak, Annapurna !. In 1951 the British sent a reconnaissance expedition to Everest led by Eric Shipton, which proved unable to find a way past the great crevasse at the top of the Khumbu Icefall, entrance to the vast Western Cwm.

The following year the Nepalese Government, much to the surprise of the British, gave permits for both spring and autumn to the Swiss. After three decades of British attempts the mountain was to be the exclusive domain of the European newcomers for the entire year. And the two teams from Switzerland would all but carry away the ultimate prize in world mountaineering - the first summit of Everest.

The first major barrier to be overcome, and the one which thwarted the British the previous year, was the crossing of the great crevasse at the entrance to the Cwm. The spring Swiss team was led by Wyss-Dunant and consisted of Dr Gabriel Chevalley, Raymond Lambert. Rene Dittert, Leon Flory, Rene Aubert, Andre Roch, Jean-Jaques Asper and Ernest Hoffstetter with Tenzing Norgay and his Sherpas. Tenzing had climbed with Dittert in the Indian Himalaya in 1947 and was their first choice for sirdar on the expedition. And for the first time Tenzing was invited to climb as a fully fledged member of the climbing team. They had heard of the formidable crevasse but were not prepared for its immensity. Tenzing described it thus:
It was a frightening thing … so wide no man could jump it, so deep you could not see its bottom, and stretching all the way across the icefall from the walls of Everest to those of Nuptse.
            Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from his autobiography Tiger of the Snows

This gaping mouth of blue ice and snow had stopped the British and it could now have halted the Swiss assault had it not been for the courage and sheer athleticism of one of their team, Jean-Jaques Asper. Asper could see a possible way across by being lowered to a precarious ice ledge about 60 ft down from where one could swing across to get a hold on the opposite wall and then haul oneself up and out onto the far edge at the entrance to the great Western Cwm. Would the ledge hold ? Could one climb this rock-hard and unpredictable ice wall and would the far lip of the crevasse support a man’s weight as he dragged himself out ?Asper volunteered and proved that all was possible. He landed exhausted in the deep soft snow of the entrance to the cwm, the first man on earth to enter this gateway to the summit. A rope bridge was then set up and the path to the summit was opened at last. It was a great day in the history of the quest for the mountain.

Yet Everest was not to be delivered to the Swiss on this occasion. Lambert and Tenzing, now firm friends and a tight climbing team, surrendered every ounce of their strength in their final push for the summit, reaching a point just 250 ft from the top. It was an extraordinary achievement - but seen as a failure by both whose dream was to reach the summit - and now, to do so together.

They were afforded another chance for the Swiss had the permit for autumn 1952 as well. This expedition was led by Gabriel Chevalley and was comprised of Raymond Lambert, Ernst Reiss, Jean Busio, Arthur Spohel, Gustave Gross, Norman Dyhrenfurth and again, Tenzing Norgay. It was an ambitious attempt - Everest in the wild and freezing conditions of the pre-winter season. The skies were clear and the snow and ice stable - but the cold was intense and unrelenting. It numbed their bodies and brains and made their judgement and decisions often vague and illusory. To continue would be to die and the team regretfully admitted defeat at the hands of the elements.

Tenzing and Lambert were spent - both physically and emotionally. Tenzing collapsed on his return to Kathmandu and was taken by the Swiss to a mission hospital in Patna where he spent weeks convalescing before his return home to Darjeeling. Yet, despite a weakened body and two failed attempts Tenzing’s resolve to attempt Everest again with the Swiss, and specifically, with Raymond Lambert, was undiminished. On reaching Darjeeling at the end of 1952 he found a letter from the 1953 British Everest Expedition asking him to join them. He was honoured but reluctant for he wanted to wait for Lambert and the Swiss to try again. But Lambert knew that the British, having learnt much for the two Swiss attempts, were more than likely to succeed and he selflessly urged his friend Tenzing to follow his dream and take the chance offered to him.

The rest, as they say, is history and on 29th May 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary stood on top of the world. Around Tenzing’s neck was Lambert’s red scarf which he had given Tenzing at the end of their autumn expedition in 1952. Tenzing wore it to the summit - a token of the friendship they shared and Lambert's part in Tenzing’s success. After his great success Tenzing sent the scarf back to Geneva where it took pride of place in Lambert’s home from that day on ………until 2002!

Few people in life are offered the opportunity to fulfil a great dream or goal for their ancestors, especially one so loft as the summit of the world’s highest peak. Yet when the 50th anniversary of the two great Swiss attempts on Everest in 1952 came up Raymond Lambert’s son and a team of Swiss climbers decided the time had come for Lambert and Tenzing to reach the top together.

So it was that Yves Lambert, son of Raymond contacted Tashi Tenzing, grandson of Tenzing Norgay. Tashi now lives in Australia and had reached the top of Everest in 1997. His family had always remained close to the Lamberts and indeed all the Swiss climbers of 1952 and this chance to bring the two families together on Everest could not be missed. Tashi had not planned to climb Everest again but his affection for the Swiss and the unfinished “business” of his grandfather and Raymond Lambert soon brought him to Nepal where he met up with the Swiss team. The Swiss team consisted of expedition leader Stephane Schaffter (who had climbed K2 and Everest already), Yves Lambert (son of Raymond and an experienced climber of European peaks if a relative newcomer to the Himalaya), Jean Troillet (who has climbed 8 of the world’s 14 highest peaks - without oxygen), Philippe Arvis (team doctor and accomplished mountaineer with Aconcagua, Cho Oyu and an attempt on K2 under his belt) and Guillaume Valot (expedition photographer and mountaineering journalist who is a renowned icefall climbing specialist). Last but not at all least on the team was Jean-Jaques Asper, at 76 years old the oldest of the team but the youngest member of the 1052 team. Asper is known as the “acrobat” of the great crevasse ! A very honoured addition to the Swiss team was Mr Appa Sherpa who is an Everest legend, having climbed 11 times before. This successful climb was his 12 - and last ascent. However he simply could not miss out on being a part of such an historic expedition.

This team, sponsored by RSD and Rolex set out to complete the journey begun by Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay 50 years before and this they accomplished when in May 16th, 2002 Tashi Tenzing and Yves Lambert stood atop Everest at 0915hrs. All other members of the Swiss team also summited save for Jean Troillet who was climbing without oxygen and who turned back at 8,400 m - an incredible effort for this 54 year old.

It was a record day on Everest with 54 people on the summit but the Swiss were determined to be up first and having set out from Camp IV on the South Col the previous night at around 2200hrs they made excellent time to be the first group to the top, avoiding the following “crowd”. All experienced alpinists the Swiss team were unused to the large numbers of people on the mountain and were pleased to have made a clean break for the summit and an unfettered descent to the Col. The weather on Everest this season had been erratic and unseasonably warm with the great Khumbu Icefall in an often delicate condition. Yet, strength, endurance and above all, experience count for a great deal and they were able to overcome all obstacles and despite some long weeks waiting for the inevitable high winds to drop made the summit on their first attempt on the 16th.

It was a unique moment in history and one few people are fortunate enough to attain - the realisation of a forebear’s dream.

The team is now back home working on the film of the climb - “In My Father’s Footsteps” which is due for release later this year.

<< RETURN TO PREVIOUS PAGE