An onlooker (top) and judges watch participants climb the artificial wall during the 2nd Tenzing Norgay Sportclimbing Contest in Darjeeling. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, May 27: Nawang Topgey Sherpa’s face breaks into a smile and brightens up every time there is a discussion on the 1953 Everest expedition.

One of the unsung heroes of the first ascent of Everest, Topgey swells up in pride to tell his experience as a member of the team that created history atop the snowy ruthless mountains.

Topgey was part of the 28-member British team and today along with Nawang Gombu — the first man to climb Everest twice — is the only surviving member of the legendary team in this part of the world. Sherpa and his friends carried goods and other equipment for the climbers and went up till Camp Six.

While Tenzing Norgay, an unlettered Sherpa porter, and Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand beekeeper, received worldwide recognition for conquering the mountains — Hillary even being knighted by the Queen — Topgay was soon forgotten.

The expedition, which Tenzing had magnanimously called a “team effort”, would have been another story of nature triumphing over man had it not been for people like Sherpa.

“All I received was Rs 10 per day and I think it took us around one-and-a-half months to complete the expedition,” said Topgay.

Topgey, who thinks he is now 72 years old, is also the only surviving member of the team in the town who was also part of the 1952 Raymond Lambert Swiss and 1953 British expeditions.

Recounting the historic climbs, Topgey said: “It is sad that after reaching around 27,000 ft in 1952, the Swiss people along with Tenzing had to return back. The weather there was terrible with the wind almost cutting through the skin. I think it was the weather that really played spoilsport.”

“The expeditions then were not as easy as it is today,” he pointed out. “We had to walk from Kathmandu to the Everest Base Camp on foot and it took us between 15 and 18 days to reach there. It was difficult at every step.”

On his return, the porter was made an instructor at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling.

“Since I came to Darjeeling in 1952 I have taught hundreds the art of climbing. Do you remember Bachendri Pal, (the first Indian woman to climb Everest)? She was also one of my students,” said Topgey.

One of Topgey’s two sons, Dawa Norbu, is also a mountain instructor in Uttaranchal. “I wanted the legacy to continue,” explains the old man who has always been fascinated by the beauty and allure of the snow- clad peaks...

“It is true I did not get much but now Darjeeling is felicitating me and I was also invited to Kathmandu last year,” he beamed, eyes still shining.

Topgay, like Tenzing, never climbed Everest again.