On the 1963 American Mount Everest expedition, Jim Whittaker and Sherpa Nawang Gombu reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 1, 1963, using the conventional route via the South Col. This was the first time the summit had been reached by an American. However, on May 22 two other team members also reached the summit, this time taking a route that traversed the mountain by ascending the West Ridge and moving onto the North Face to attain the summit before descending via the Southeast Ridge and the South Col. Everest had never been traversed before.
Back home in the United States, the main cause for celebration by press, politicians and the public was Whittaker's achievement. Worldwide, however, the mountaineering establishment and enthusiasts regarded the traverse via the West Ridge by the Americans Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld as the greater achievement. In any case, the expedition led to a burgeoning of mountaineering in the United States over the following decades.
The leader of the expedition was Norman Dyhrenfurth who had been the photographer on the 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition. At a White House reception for the team when they returned to the United States, he accepted the Hubbard Medal from president John F. Kennedy on behalf of the whole team.
Background Climbing on Everest prior to 1963 After the 1921 British reconnaissance, attempts to climb Everest had been from Tibet because Nepal was closed to foreign climbers. Then, in 1950, Tibet's borders were closed when it was occupied by the People's Republic of China and by that time no expedition had been able to reach the summit. Partly on account of the political situation in Tibet, Nepal started allowing climbers entry in 1950. After the reconnaissance expedition of 1951, the Swiss attempts of 1952 nearly reached the summit via the Khumbu Icefall, Western Cwm, Geneva Spur, South Col and Southeast ridge. In 1953 the British reached the summit for the first time, largely following the Swiss route. The Swiss again succeeded in 1956 and China did so from the north on the 1960 Chinese expedition using a route over the North Col.
American involvement John F. Kennedy's election as president of the United States brought in a marked change of rhetoric from that of the aging, conservative Eisenhower administration. America was to seek a "New Frontier" and in the Cold War would "pay any price, bear any burden ... to assure ... the success of liberty". The Green Berets and the Peace Corps extended their influence into Nepal, described in a recruitment advertisement as "The Land of Yeti and Everest".
Norman Dyhrenfurth thought this political situation might provide a good opportunity for progressing a long held ambition. Dyhrenfurth had emigrated from Switzerland to the United States in 1937, shortly before World War II, and he was, like his father Gunther Dyhrenfurth, an amateur mountaineer. From the time in 1952 when he had been the official photographer on the Swiss Mount Everest expedition he had held an ambition to lead his own expedition up the mountain. Based on the experience of previous Everest expeditions, he would need to raise several hundred thousand dollars, an amount previously unachievable in the United States. Bolstered by the Chinese claim to have left a bust of Mao Zedong on the summit during their 1960 expedition, he took a clearly political approach claiming that a successful ascent would help towards "winning new friends in many places". He wrote seeking a meeting with Kennedy and took the reply from Jerome Wiesner merely offering Kennedy's "best wishes" as being the president's strong endorsement for an expedition in 1963.
Dyhrenfurth's seemingly extravagant appeal for $186,000 (equivalent to $ million in prices) appalled the American mountaineering establishment with Charles Houston, who had led the 1938 American K2 expedition, claiming that such a large expedition violated the true spirit of mountain climbing. However, the resulting controversy in the press, together with Kennedy's earlier rhetoric, helped the cause with major support coming from the National Geographic Society which provided $114,000 ($ million in prices) but only if there was a scientific component to the venture. Dyhrenfurth had anticipated this and arranged scientific work that would only involve the climbing of the mountain and that nearly all the scientists would be mountaineers. The eventual cost was $400,000 ($ million in prices).
Preparations To emphasize the expedition's scientific credentials, Dyhrenfurth selected an academic team – five had doctorates, eight held master's degrees and only two were non-graduates. The team's deputy was Will Siri, a physiologist, who coordinated the scientific program. He had been on (and led) several oversees expeditions, including to Nepal. James Ramsey Ullman was to write the official account of the expedition but he did not get far beyond Kathmandu because of illness. All were American except Jimmy Roberts, the transport officer, who was British and lived in Nepal.
+ Team members and notable Sherpas Name role onexpedition age profession educationClimbers Al Auten radiocommunications 36 editor BS Physical Sciences Barry Bishop still photography 31 photographer forNational Geographic BS Geology MS Geography Jake Breitenbach 27 mountain guide BS Mathematics Barry Corbet 26 mountain guide andski instructor Geology Major Dave Dingman doctor 26 physician MD Dan Doody cinematography 29 film maker BS AgriculturalMechanics Norman Dyhrenfurth leader,cinematography 44 film producer-director,explorer Fulbright Scholar Tom Hornbein oxygen 32 anesthesiologist MD Lute Jerstad 26 speech instructor,mountain guide MA Speech Jim Lester psychology ofclimbers 35 clinical psychologist PhD Maynard Miller geology andglaciology 41 professor of geology BS, MA GeologyPhD Dick Pownall food planning 35 math & PE instructor BS, MA Barry Prather geologist,radio 23 aeronautics engineer BS Physics Gil Roberts doctor 28 physician MD Jimmy Roberts transportand Sherpas 45 lieutenant colonel,British Army (retired) Will Siri deputy leader,science coordinator 44 physicist PhD Jim Ullman expeditionauthor 55 writer aboutmountaineering BA Willi Unsoeld 36 professor, directorPeace Corps, Nepal BS PhysicsPhD Philosophy Jim Whittaker clothing andequipment planning 34 outdoor recreationstore manager BS BiologySherpas Chotari assistant sirdar Ang Dawa Sherpa forDyhrenfurth 38 Girmi Dorje Sherpa forWhittaker Phu Dorje assistant sirdar Nawang Gombu Sherpa &interpreter ≈30 Passang Phutar sirdar
Trek from Kathmandu The expedition left Kathmandu on February 20, traveling by jeep the first to Banepa before starting a trek to Namche Bazaar just south of Everest. There were 37 Sherpas and 909 porters carrying loads – in all 29 tons () of equipment and supplies. In trying to help in fund raising, Dyhrenfurth had suggested they might attempt the "Grand Slam" of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse but when this was discussed in detail during the walk-in the mountaineers were unenthusiastic. He had also considered Everest by its West Ridge after an ascent via the South Col but the idea then developed that the greater achievement (which would also be safer) would be to Everest by its West Ridge.
Hornbein strongly favored making this the main target, along with abandoning a climb by the conventional South Col route. In the end it was agreed to send a four-man team up via the South Col to attempt the summit and to separately, and secondarily, reconnoiter the West Ridge which would at least provide photographs of the Tibetan side of the mountain. If the reconnaissance was successful a traverse of Everest could be attempted. The expedition would also attempt Lhotse.
Eventual camps established on climbs + Camps on routes to summit Southeast Ridgeroute elevationfeet (meters) established(1963) West Ridgeroute elevationfeet (meters) established(1963) Base Camp March 21 stores dump March 26 Camp I March 28 Advance Base Camp March 31 Camp III April 14 Camp 3W April 9 West Shoulder Camp IV April 14 Camp 4W May 15 Camp V (South Col) April 29 Camp 5W May 21 Camp VI April 30 summit May 1 & 22 May 22
Preparations for summit attempts Advance Base Camp in Western Cwm On March 21 the party reached Base Camp and over the next two days they started setting a route up the Khumbu Icefall. Meanwhile, some of the West Ridge enthusiasts climbed to get a better view of the Ridge and it gave a very daunting impression with its line of steep rock scarcely covered with any snow. However, this also made it a more alluring challenge. On March 23, an ice cliff on the Icefall collapsed without warning, burying Breitenbach, whose body could not be recovered from under tons of ice. The climbers considered giving up the expedition, or the West Ridge aspect, but they decided to carry on and reached the Western Cwm where on March 30 Camp I was established. Camp II, established at on April 2, was to become Advance Base Camp at the point from which the two ascent routes would diverge.
West Ridge reconnaissance Initially, the West Ridge reconnaissance was to take priority. Most climbers preferred the South Col effort but they also wanted to avoid ongoing arguments and they thought the West Ridge efforts would eventually fail anyway. Hornbein's team was weakened by the death of Breitenbach and by Corbet and Emerson's failure to acclimatize. Only Hornbein, Unsoeld, Bishop and Dingman were available and Dingman was not fully fit. Setting off on April 3, Unsoeld and Bishop climbed and returned to Advance Base Camp. On April 5 Hornbein and Bishop retraced this route and then climbed towards the left up ice slopes until they could cross snow slopes over to the right reaching with the West Shoulder above them leading to the upper West Ridge. The Shoulder could provide a staging point for porters to leave supplies once the route there had been made safe.
With the help of Sherpas camp 3W was established and by April 11, from the Shoulder, the four climbers could examine the terrain all the way up to the summit. If they were forced off the crest of the ridge it would need to be onto the Everest's North Face (technically in China) rather than the steeper Southwest Face.
They could see over the northern approaches to Everest from Tibet and to the North Col, below them and across a vast amphitheater of glaciers. The ridge immediately ahead looked difficult so they prospected both this route and a gully sloping to the left to the foot of a location later to be known as the Hornbein Couloir. Neither route seemed possible for porters who would be required for an attempt on the summit. On April 13 they climbed to where they found a site suitable for a Camp 4W and a possible route towards the summit.
By the time they had returned to the Western Cwm on April 13 after their West Ridge reconnaissance, the South Col group had taken a vote that resolved to have two teams dedicated to the South Col route. This meant no Sherpas would be available for the West Ridge. Dyhrenfurth did, however, offer the West Ridge climbers the opportunity to join in the South Col approach to the summit – Bishop was the only climber to accept this offer.
Summit via South Col