Hugh Ruttledge 20 May – was, as a result of disagreements between team members, never established. It was during this expedition that Wyn-Harris found the ice axe which belonged to Andrew Irvine, who had disappeared on the peak on the with George Mallory. One of the men rejected for this expedition was Tenzing Norgay, who made the first ascent of Everest in 1953 with Sir Edmund Hillary. Fortunately, Ruttledge had the foresight to hire Tenzing to come with him to Everest in 1936. In 1934 Ruttledge was awarded a Royal Geographical Society Founder's Gold Medal; his citation read 'For his journeys in
Edmund Hillary warming them over a stove before he and Tenzing, wearing packs, attempted the final ascent. The final obstacle was the 40-foot (12 m) rock face now called "Hillary Step"; Hillary later wrote: Tenzing later wrote that Hillary took the first step onto the summit and he followed. They reached Everest's 29,028 ft (8,848 m) summitthe highest point on earthat 11:30 am. They spent about 15 minutes at the summit. Hillary took a photo of Tenzing posing with his ice-axe, but there is no photo of Hillary. BBC News attributed this to Tenzing's having never used a camera; Tenzing's autobiography says