John Hunt, Baron Hunt
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Henry Cecil John Hunt, Baron Hunt, was a British Army officer who is best known as the leader of the successful 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest.
John Hunt, Baron Hunt
Brigadier Sir John Hunt pictured in the Caucasus, 1958
1953 British Mount Everest expedition
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The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition was the ninth mountaineering expedition to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest, and the first confirmed to have succeeded when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit on 29 May 1953. Led by Colonel John Hunt, it was organised and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee. News of the expedition's success reached London in time to be released on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, on 2 June that year.
Edmund Hillary reading The Times, with his photo of fellow summiteer Tenzing Norgay on the cover, July 1953
The Western Cwm, above the Khumbu Icefall. The Lhotse Face (centre right) was climbed trending left to the South Col (depression, centre), with the south-east ridge leading to Mount Everest's summit
Mount Everest. The route the British took started up the Khumbu Icefall − seen spilling out of the Western Cwm (hidden from view) − Lhotse Face and reached the South Col (snowy depression, extreme right), finishing up the south-east ridge (right-hand skyline)
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953