Tenzing's parents hailed from a mountain village of Thame in Nepal. Tenzing's original name was 'Namgyal Wangdi' but was changed to Norgay (meaning 'fortunate') by a high lama and in fact this really proved to be true. Tenzing too knew about his fortunate name and knew that his life was not just tending yaks only. Since Nepal at that time was closed to foreigners, Tenzing made a trip to Darjeeling hoping to join the British Expedition to Mt. Everest. Luckily Tenzing got himself onto Eric Shipton's 1935 Everest Expedition. His performance proved himself worthy and made it easy to join other such expeditions. At the age of 19, he married, Dawa Phuti, a Sherpa girl from Darjeeling - she died in the year 1944. A year later he remarried, Ang Lamu, another Sherpa girl. After the demise of Ang Lamu in 1964, he married Daku. Jamling one of their three sons was to follow his fathers footsteps to Mt. Everest in 1996.

A trained climber of very long standing, Tenzing Norgay planted the Indian flag on Everest in 1953, when with the successful British expedition led by John Hunt, he shared with Edmund Hillary the honour of being the first to reach the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest. Tenzing settled in Darjeeling several years ago and made Darjeeling proud. After working as a high altitude Sherpa, Tenzing became a sirdar, in which capacity he excercised full control and authority over seasoned Sherpas. In the course of his close association with Himalayan expeditions, he has been with Everest expeditions alone as many as seven times.

A Brief record of Tenzing's well-known climbing exploits:
1935	Accompanied Eric Shipton's reconnaissance party to Everest.
1936	Went with Huge Ruttledge's expedition to Everest and reached the North Col.
1938	Accompanied H.W. Tilman's expedition to Everest and reached Camp VI (8332m)
1939	Went with a party to Tirchimir in the Hindu-Kush range and reached 7012m.
1946	Carried out explorations in the Kanchenjunga region.
1947	Accompanied a Swiss expedition to the Kamaon Himalaya and climbed four virgin Peaks.
1949	Carried out exploration in Nepal with Tilman.
1950	Was with a Doon School party in the Kumaon Himalaya.
1951	Went with a French expedition to Nanda Devi and reached the east summit (7621m)
1952	Accompanied two Swiss expeditions to Everest, reaching the heights of 8600m and 8097 m respectively without oxygen, with Raymond lambert.
1953	Went with British Everest Expedition led by Col John Hunt and climbed the summit along with Edmund Hillary on 29 May.

	Tenzing's house in Darjeeling
Tenzing's Decoration and Awards:
• Padma Bhusan	• President's Gold Medal
• Nepal Tara	• Nepal Pratap Vardak
• Iran Shah Medal	• George Medal
• Coronation Medal of Queen Elizabeth II	• Tiger Medal of Himalayan Club
• Hubbard Medal of the National Geographical Society	• U.S.S.R. Sports Special Medal
• French Sports Special Medal	• Italian Sports Special Medal
• Doctor of Law - Northland College	• Wisconsin (U.S.A.)
• IMF Gold Medal

Tenzing Norgay had been Director of Field Training from June 1954 to May 1976. He was appointed Adviser in May 1976 and was the guiding spirit to the institute till his death in May 1986

What ever may be the controversies regarding Tenzing and his life, what really matters to Darjeeling and it's people is that he was the lodestar of not only Darjeeling but of the whole nation. Darjeeling is proud of Tenzing and salutes him for his achievement and for bringing glory to Darjeeling.

For more information :
www.tenzing-norgay.com
www.jamling.com
Book by Jamling "Touching My Father's Soul" :
In Touching My Father's Soul, Jamling Tenzing Norgay (son of Tenzing Norgay) gives an insider's view of the Sherpa world as he tells a story of Everest unlike any told before. His tale is one of profound adventure that entwines the lives of a family, a mountain, and a people.

A special thanks to Jamling Tenzing for providing Tenzing Photos to Darjeelingnews.net

All photos are copyright protected and use of the same in any form is prohibited.