Blog Explore Beyond

The Never Ending Thrill of New Explorations
Buenos Aires – Argentina, May 20 2009

The route to Everest was closed by Chinese-controlled Tibet, and Nepal only allowed one expedition per year. A Swiss expedition had attempted to reach the summit in 1952 but was turned back by bad weather 800 feet (240 m) from the summit. During a 1952 trip to the Alps, Edmund Hillary discovered that he and his friend George Lowe had been invited by the Joint Himalayan Committee for the approved British 1953 attempt and immediately accepted.

Shipton was named as leader but was replaced by Hunt. Hillary considered pulling out, but both Hunt and Shipton talked him into remaining. Hillary was intending to climb with Lowe but Hunt named two teams for the assault: Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans; and Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Hillary therefore made a concerted effort to forge a working friendship with Tenzing.
The Hunt expedition totalled over 400 people, including 362 porters, twenty Sherpa guides and 10,000 lbs of baggage, and like many such expeditions, was a team effort. Lowe supervised the preparation of the Lhotse Face, a huge and steep ice face, for climbing. Hillary forged a route through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.

The expedition set up base camp in March, 1953. Working slowly, it set up its final camp at the South Col at 25,900 feet (7,890 m). On 26 May, Bourdillon and Evans attempted the climb but turned back when Evans' oxygen system failed. The pair had reached the South Summit, coming within 300 vertical feet (91 m) of the summit. Hunt then directed Hillary and Tenzing to go for the summit.
Snow and wind held the pair up at the South Col for two days. They set out on 28 May with a support trio of Lowe, Alfred Gregory and Ang Nyima. The two pitched a tent at 27,900 feet (8,500 m) on 28 May while their support group returned down the mountain. On the following morning Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent. He spent two hours warming them before he and Tenzing attempted the final ascent wearing 30-pound (14 kg) packs. The crucial move of the last part of the ascent was the 40-foot (12 m) rock face later named the "Hillary Step". Hillary saw a means to wedge his way up a crack in the face between the rock wall and the ice and Tenzing followed. From there the following effort was relatively simple. They reached Everest's 29,028 ft (8,848 m) summit, the highest point on earth, at 11:30 am. As Hillary put it, "A few more whacks of the ice axe in the firm snow, and we stood on top."

They spent only about 15 minutes at the summit. They looked for evidence of the 1924 Mallory expedition, but found none. Hillary took the famous photo of Tenzing posing with his ice-axe, but since Tenzing had never used a camera, and this was not the time to teach him, Hillary refused Tenzing's offer to take one of him, so his ascent went unrecorded.

Tenzing left chocolates in the snow as an offering and Hillary left a cross that he had been given. Additional photos were taken looking down the mountain in order to re-assure that they had made it to the top and that the ascent was not faked. The two had to take care on the descent after discovering that drifting snow had covered their tracks, complicating the task of retracing their steps. The first person they met was Lowe, who had climbed up to meet them with hot soup.

Wow. Simply amazing. It’s been more than half-a-century since that fateful expedition and despite advances in exploration technology, successful moonwalks broadcast on live TV, among other high watermarks of exploration, I’m still fascinated by stories like Hillary’s and his group at Everest. There is something innately and endlessly fascinating when the human spirit is pit against nature and the elements.

I can not exactly tell you where and when it all started... The travel bug bit me at a young age, that much is for sure. As a small boy my great adventure started with a canoe trip to the Ardèche, France, jumping 15 meter high bridges in Canobio, Italy and crossing the entire European continent with my parents.

During my twenties I mainly travelled by my own initiative, from crossing the South American continent (Belém to Ushuaia), to an Everest Base Camp trek, from organizing Amazon expeditions to visiting Salar de Uyuni – the largest salt plain in the world. I was continuously amazed at the variety and beauty that can be found on this relatively small planet.

Another reason why expeditions in general greatly interest me is because of the fact that there`s always, to a greater or lesser extent, a mental and physical aspect involved; something which I had to deal with many times during my professional sports career - a sports career which made me travel around the globe and challenged my own mental and physical abilities. I am a firm believer that exploring your own mental and physical abilities makes you a stronger person.

In the summer of 2007, I began drawing up the plans for a business unit that would organize unique, personally challenging expeditions across South America. It was while I was travelling through Brazil and Argentina that I came up with the idea to organize these highly adventurous expeditions; ones in which I myself would like to participate; something very different from the usual travel fare. I am very proud to say that I have accomplished this goal.

South America is a continent that is still on the travel wish-list of many but remains to a degree, still unexplored. As our daily comforts put us more ‘at ease’ , I see the future of travel expeditions as becoming more and more about direct, hands-on, experience. We as Explore Beyond create this hands-on travel experience in Latin America. Experience means enrichment, something you want to feel and touch. Explore Beyond will be the first South American expedition travel company which will launch the “A concept”, highlighting expeditions for each ‘A’ in Latin American adventure: the Amazon, the Andes, the Atacama.

Our aim is to design expeditions that have a lasting effect beyond their consumption, whether that lasting effect is in the form of a life long memory or retention of learning, either way, it is the memory that extends the experience over time.

Explore Beyond has developed expeditions where travelers explore their boundaries, test their mental and physical limitations, and experience the unfamiliar. These unique and challenging expeditions provide a complete experience that leaves one feeling reborn and fully enriched.
With the best and most knowledgeable tour operators, expedition leaders, guides, combined with small-group exclusivity and innovative expeditions, Explore Beyond creates a truly unique Latin American adventure.

Explore Beyond - Pure Life Expeditions

Gábor Margés
Managing Director, Explore Beyond

Email: gmarges@explorebeyond.travel
Tel +1 512 535 2889
Skype: Gabor Marges – Explore Beyond