If you’ve watched Apple TV’s Tenzing and wondered whether he really left his late wife’s rosary on the summit of Mount Everest, here’s the reality: it never happened.
Tenzing Norgay didn’t leave a rosary at 29,032 feet. In his 1955 memoir Tiger of the Snows, he confirmed that he actually buried his daughter Nima’s red-and-blue plastic ballpoint pen, along with biscuits and barley candies for the mountain gods. His first wife, Dawa Phuti, had died of tuberculosis nine years earlier in Chitral, Pakistan.
Here is what really happened on May 29, 1953—and why the movie altered the truth.
| Detail / Subject | Apple TV Film (Tenzing) | Real 1953 Historical Record | Context & Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summit Token | Dawa’s prayer rosary | Nima’s red-and-blue plastic ballpoint pen | Tiger of the Snows (1955) |
| Religious Offerings | Quiet personal tribute | Biscuits and barley candies for Miyolangsangma | Buddhist mountain ritual |
| Expedition Memento | Omitted from the climb | Red string / scarf from Raymond Lambert | 1952 Swiss expedition partner |
| Hillary’s Memento | Simple silver cross | Crucifix from Pope Pius XII and a black cloth cat | John Hunt expedition archives |
| Dawa Phuti’s Death | Flashback memory before summit | Died of tuberculosis in Chitral in 1944 | Pre-partition military orderly posting |
What did Tenzing Norgay actually leave on Everest?
No. Tenzing Norgay didn’t leave a rosary on Mount Everest. When Tenzing and Sir Edmund Hillary stepped onto the summit ridge at 11:30 AM on May 29, 1953, Tenzing used his wooden ice axe to hollow out a small pocket in the hard ice.
As a devout Buddhist, his first action was an offering of thanksgiving. He laid out biscuits, pieces of chocolate, and barley candies for Chomolungma’s guardian deity, Miyolangsangma. Next, he fulfilled a quiet promise made at home in Darjeeling. His younger daughter, Nima, had pressed her favourite two-colour, blue-and-red plastic ballpoint pen into his hand before he left. Tenzing pushed the pen carefully into the snow. He also buried a piece of red string given to him by Swiss mountaineer Raymond Lambert, his close partner from the 1952 Swiss attempt that came within 800 feet of the top.
In his 1955 autobiography Tiger of the Snows, Tenzing described the moment in his own words:
“All I had to leave on the summit was a small red-and-blue pencil, a gift from my little daughter Nima, and a few biscuits and sweets for the gods.”
— Tenzing Norgay, Tiger of the Snows (1955)
Who was Tenzing Norgay’s first wife, Dawa Phuti?
Tenzing married his first wife, Dawa Phuti, in 1935 in Darjeeling, West Bengal. Both were young members of the Sherpa community settling in the hill station. Their marriage faced heartbreak early on when their first child, a boy named Nima Dorje, died in Darjeeling at only four years old. The couple later had two daughters, Pem Pem and Nima, who became the center of his family life.
During World War II, tough times forced the family to leave Darjeeling in search of steady work. Tenzing took a job as an orderly to British officers, including Major Chapman and Colonel White. The assignment meant moving hundreds of miles northwest to Chitral, a remote mountain state in what’s now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
While living in Chitral, Dawa Phuti fell ill with tuberculosis. Medical care was scarce in the frontier valley, and she died in 1944. Tenzing buried her in Chitral. After the Partition of India in 1947, he brought his two young daughters back to Darjeeling to rebuild his climbing career.
Why did Apple TV’s Tenzing change the pen to a rosary?
Screenwriter Luke Davies replaced these separate historical tokens with a single object: Dawa’s rosary. In the movie, his daughter hands him the prayer beads before the climb, telling him that her mother will watch over him on the mountain.
It makes for an emotional movie moment, but it isn’t historically accurate. In Tibetan Buddhism, prayer beads are called trengwa or malas. A standard mala has 108 beads used to count mantra recitations. They aren’t Catholic rosaries. The filmmakers invented the rosary scene to give the film a simple visual climax connecting Tenzing’s climb to his lost partner. In real life, Dawa Phuti had already been dead for nine years when Tenzing stood on the summit.
What did Edmund Hillary leave on the summit?
Hillary brought his own personal tokens to the top. Before the final climb, expedition leader Colonel John Hunt gave Hillary a small crucifix blessed by Pope Pius XII. British priest Father Martin Haigh had entrusted the cross to Hunt for safe passage.
Hillary buried the crucifix in the snow right next to Tenzing’s biscuits and pen. He also carried a tiny black cloth cat mascot in his pocket for good luck. Later in Rome, Pope Pius XII presented commemorative medallions to Hunt, Hillary, and Tenzing to recognize their achievement.
What happened to Tenzing’s family after Everest?
Following Dawa’s death, Tenzing married her cousin, Ang Lahmu, around 1945. Ang Lahmu raised Pem Pem and Nima as her own. In July 1953, she traveled with Tenzing to London, standing beside him when Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the George Medal at Buckingham Palace. She passed away in 1964.
Tenzing later married his third wife, Dakku. Their son Jamling Tenzing Norgay followed his father’s path, reaching the summit of Mount Everest in 2003 on the 50th anniversary of the 1953 climb. Pem Pem’s son, Tashi Tenzing, has summited the peak three times. His great-grandson, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, is an actor in the United States, best known for Disney’s Liv and Maddie.
Looking for more true-story breakdowns? Read our guide to the filming locations of Love of Your Life.
Did you watch Tenzing on Apple TV+? Let us know what you thought of the movie’s historical changes in the comments below!
