It may have been Tensing, it may not, but my money was on Mallory. However, as Mallory did not make it down, we will never know ,Hillary was the worlds best known climber and Kiwi.
3 cheers for him!
Hillary admitted in about 2000 that he was first to stand on the top pyramid shaped bit. The soundbite used sounded like it slipped out. The only photo was of Tensing, he claimed they simply forgot to take one of Hillary! Talk about a leader who thought enough about his team not to take all the credit.
Sensible too. None of this Scott style walking to the South Pole, or eating your dogs, take a Massey Fergusson and drive!
The Mallory/Irvine idea always hits the second step question doesn't it? The Chinese stood on each other shoulders and got frostbite as a result. They then fixed the ladder that's there now. Mallory and Irvine couldn't have used either method and there is no evidence of them above this point. There is also the idea that the camera would have been kept safe if they were coming down from the summit, but could have been dumped if they'd given it up as a bad job and knew they were in danger.
Hillary certainly put back more than his share in Nepal. I think we've lost probably the last great explorer.
Andy
