The famous 1953 photograph of Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Mount Everest hides a far more complex life. This episode explores his disputed origins in Tibet or Nepal, his childhood as one of 13 children of a yak herder, and his move to Darjeeling, the hiring hub for Himalayan expeditions.

We follow him from high-altitude porter to elite mountaineer, including his escape during the 1947 Partition, the Swiss expedition that treated him as an equal, and the British expedition that put him and Edmund Hillary on top of the world. We also look at the unequal honors, the who-was-first controversy and his later work training climbers.

• Why a warm smile mattered to colonial-era expedition leaders
• How the 1952 Swiss expedition with Raymond Lambert changed Tenzing’s professional identity
• The crevasse rescue that cemented his partnership with Hillary
• The frozen boots, the Hillary Step and 15 minutes on the summit
• His role at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the Pluto mountains named Tenzing Montes