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Adventure & Exploration
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The Last Great Scoop: How a Runner Delivered News of the Everest Conquest
The 1953 Everest conquest was a global sensation delivered not by wire, but by foot. A journalist's coded message was carried by a runner through the Himalayas to the nearest telegraph, reaching London just in time for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in a final hurrah for old-world reporting.
On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stood on top of the world, the first humans to successfully summit Mount Everest. It was a monumental achievement for humanity. But in an era before satellite phones and the internet, the world remained blissfully unaware. The story of how this incredible news reached civilization is a tale of ingenuity, endurance, and perfect timing—one of the last great journalistic scoops delivered by a human runner.
A Race Against Time and Rival Papers
Covering the expedition exclusively for The Times of London was a correspondent named James Morris (who would later be known as the celebrated writer Jan Morris). The pressure was immense. Not only did Morris have to contend with the harsh Himalayan environment, but also with rival journalists desperate to poach the story. Getting the news out first, and securely, was paramount. A simple, clear message sent by radio or telegraph would be easily intercepted. Morris and the team needed a better way.
The Coded Message
The solution was a pre-arranged code, designed to sound like a mundane report about failed attempts, thus throwing competitors off the scent. When Morris received confirmation of the successful summit on May 30th, he descended from a forward camp to Base Camp to send the message. The cryptic dispatch read:
Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement
To the uninitiated, it sounded like failure. But to the editors at The Times, it was the news of the century. "Snow conditions bad" was the code for "Summit reached." "Advanced base abandoned" identified the first climber as Hillary, and "awaiting improvement" identified the second as Tenzing.
The Human Network
With the message drafted, the next challenge was transmission. The nearest telegraph was in Namche Bazaar, a grueling two-day trek away through treacherous mountain passes. This is where the unsung hero of the story enters: a runner named Ang Tsering. He was entrusted with Morris's coded message. Tsering ran through the rugged Himalayan terrain, a vital human link in a chain of communication stretching halfway across the globe. From Namche Bazaar, the message was wired to the British Embassy in Kathmandu. There, it was relayed via a radio link to London.
From Telegraph to Global Triumph
The timing was impeccable. The news arrived in London on the morning of June 2, 1953, the very day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. The Times published the story, presenting the conquest of Everest as a coronation gift to the new monarch and a symbol of a new Elizabethan age of adventure and achievement. It was a national sensation that electrified the world. The story of Hillary and Tenzing’s triumph became forever intertwined with the dawn of a new royal era.
The End of an Era
Today, a climber on Everest can send a tweet, make a satellite phone call, or even livestream their ascent from the summit. News is instantaneous. The 1953 Everest scoop represents the end of an era in journalism and communication. It was a moment when a story of immense global importance depended not on technology, but on the cleverness of a coded message and the sheer physical endurance of a runner, marking one of history’s last, and greatest, human-delivered headlines.