ON THIS DAY...

February 17, 1980

TWO MEN arrived at the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on the planet. The peak had been climbed before – in 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made history when they reached the top, more than 29,000ft above sea level. But all previous expeditions had been carefully timed to make the most of the weather. The 1980 attempt, carried out by Poles Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki, was the first succesful winter ascent.

At that time of year, temperatures at the top drop as low as minus 75F, with an average of minus 33F. Daylight lasts only a few hours. Heavy snows mean a big chance of avalanche, and winter gusts of wind routinely top 85mph.

It’s little surprise that the first words from the top were: “We are on the summit! The strong wind blows all the time. It is unimaginably cold.”

Although thousands of people have reached the summit, only a handful have done so in the