Coronation Everest

May 29, 1953: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reach the summit of Mount Everest, and nearly Coronation Day for a new Queen, Elizabeth II. Breaking the story was James Morris, special correspondent for The Times, who met the victorious climbers at Camp IV at 20,000 feet.

Morris, known to millions of readers today as the travel essayist Jan Morris, wrote this account of the Hillary expedition with all the verve and sharp detail for which Jan Morris is famous. The result is some of the finest prose Everest has ever produced, in a double treat for Everest aficionados and Jan Morris' countless fans.