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Both Hillary and Tenzing drank a lot of lemon juice and sugar. They followed it with their last tin of sardines and biscuits.

Hillary and Tenzing got ready to climb at 4 am on May 29, 1953.

As Hillary was inching his way up towards the Southern Summit, he slipped back there or four of his steps. Having a doubt about the feasibility of continuing the climb, he sought Tenzing’s advice.

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.

Belaying refers to a variety of techniques used by mountaineers to exert tension on a climbing rope so that a climber does not fall very far. A climbing partner typically applies tension at the other end of the rope whenever the climber is not climbing and removes the tension from the rope when the climber needs rope to continue to climb.

(a) (ii) arrive and register at airport or hotel 

(b) (i) pay the bill when leaving a hotel

Pemba was too ill to climb. So, he did not accompany Tenzing and Hillary.

It was providential will that Hillary found two oxygen bottles on the way up towards Everest. As they returned successfully after the conquer of Everest, just near their tent, their bottle ran out of oxygen. So, he says they had had enough oxygen to conquer Everest but by no means it was too much.

(a) (iii) arrive inside train, bus etc. 

(b) (i) leave a bus, train etc.,

(c) (iv) enter a bus, train, plane. 

(d) (ii) to go away from home for a vacation

In a number of places, the overhanging ice cornices were very large. In order to escape them, Hillary cut a line of steps down to where the snow met the rocks on the west.

As Hillary tried to reach the peak, he had to negotiate giant cornices on the right and steep rock sloped on the left. They had no idea as they trudged forward where the peak was. As Hillary cut around the back of one hump, another higher one would swing into the view. So, their original zest was fading away.

After reaching the peak, Hillary ran out of oxygen, he was becoming clumsy-fingered and slow-moving. So, he quickly replaced his oxygen set.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing reached a tiny hollow. They found two oxygen bottles left there by Evans and Bourdillon after a failed attempt.

Evans and Bourdillon had made an attempt to climb Everest. They failed in their mission. To reduce their load, they had left the two bottle of oxygen behind.

Hillary scraped the ice if the gauges and felt relieved as they still contained several hundred liters of oxygen to last till they return to south col.

Hillary cooked his wet boots over the fierce flame of the Primus and managed to soften them.

Oxygen gear is an equipment and ice-axe and ice hammer are some tools that climbers carry’ during their expedition.