The huge American expedition will cost $400,000 when it is completed. Sponsors include the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, NASA and the military.

The entire team has already been on the move for three months. They started their journey on foot on February 20th, 1963. The hike from Kathmandu, Nepal, at 5,000 feet above sea level, to Base Camp, 17,000 feet above sea level, took three weeks. They spent the next five weeks making plans for the ascent, and living at Base Camp to get acclimated to the thinner air.

The expedition leader picked two climbers to make the first attempt to reach the top of Everest. Jim Whittaker and Sherpa Nawang Gombu were chosen. Bishop, Jersted and others from the team helped get the two climbers and their supplies as far up the mountain as they could. Then, Whittaker and Gombu were on their own. On May 1st they became the first members of any American expedition to reach the highest point on Earth. It was a triumph for the entire team.