There are many answers to this question. Firstly, 1 would say that we owned much to the work of previous climbers on Everest: to the experience and know ledge they passed on, and to the fact that they had gone on trying and had never given up hope.

Next, I w ould place the careful and thorough planning done before the climb began. On the Everest, a large number of people have to do different things in different places at the same time. Unless every detail had been worked out in advance, things would quickly have gone wrong.

The third reason was the excellence of our equipment. In particular, our oxygen apparatus was very important, and it worked well. Without it. we could not have reached the summit.

Our own fitness played a big part in the climb, and this was due to our periods of training, in which we got used gradually to great heights: and to our food; and to the care and attention we received from our doctors.

Above all else, I should like to mention how well we worked together. That was the biggest single reason why we got to the top. In the four months we were together we lived and worked as a team. Not everyone could climb to the top. Some of the members had jobs to do on other parts of the mountain; jobs that were less exciting than climbing to the summit, but just as dangerous and uncomfortable. But everyone played his part to the full. That was the biggest thing of all.

In the same way, our Sherpas were magnificent. Without our tents, our oxygen, our food, our climbing gear, the summit could not have been reached. And without the Sherpas, we could not have lifted all this equipment, which weighed 750 lb., up to 26,000 feet, ready for the assaults. No praise is too high for these cheerful and gallant men.

Finally, there was the weather. For five weeks we had bad weather; then, after the middle of May, we were lucky. It no longer snowed, and even the wind sometimes dropped.