70 years on, Norgay & Hillary sons unite to celebrate Himalayan feat

The first Everesters' families will take their personal bond and love for the mountains to a new high on Monday, 70 years after their fathers' feat on May 29, 1953.
Tenzing Norgay's son Jamling and Edmund Hillary's son Peter will jointly inaugurate statues of their fathers at Tenzing Hillary Airport in Nepal's Lukla and release 70 commemorative coins to mark the 70th anniversary of the first Mount Everest summit. Peter flew in from home in New Zealand and was in Khumjung, Nepal, on Sunday for a programme at Hillary School.
Both Peter and Jamling have followed in their fathers' footsteps to scale the world's tallest peak, albeit separately. They now want their children to keep up the family legacy.
"It has been a long association of the two families, which are bonded by what was regarded as one of the most heroic deeds in the post-World War II era. My father and Sir Ed (Edmund Hillary) developed their friendship during their ascent to Everest. Their children and grandchildren will take the mantle forward," said Jamling.
Jamling was born 13 years after the historic first ascent. "When I was eight years old, I started to figure out that my father was a celebrity and a pioneer in the mountain-climbing fraternity. That inspired me to join mountaineering and carry the culture of the sherpas forward," Jamling told TOI over phone from Nepal.
"We tell stories to the kids and encourage them to climb mountains. My youngest daughter accompanies me on some treks. My kids and other kids from the community have to know the core values of Sherpas. They need to know where we come from and what we symbolise," Jamling said.
Members of both families organise workshops and camps on mountains and spread awareness about the need to keep them clean. "When I go to Darjeeling, I meet Jamling and his brothers. We have a long connection between the two countries," Peter said.
In the US, a section of 75th Street in the Queens neighbourhood in New York will be co-named after Tenzing. The Himalayan Nature and Adventure foundation has written to PM Narendra Modi demanding a posthumous Bharat Ratna for Tenzing. "His contribution to India and the world deserves recognition," said Dip Narayan Talukdar, HNAF's secretary.