Explorer Edmund Hillary Signed Drawing on canvas board. Drawing of the caricature climb to the top of Mt. Everest measurses 8 x 10 inches. On May 29,1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. TIME magazine named Hillary one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was a a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist.