The first units were sold mainly to women who operated street market shops (stallholders) in Stockholm. Explorers then discovered the value in having a portable stove for their expeditions. For example, on Salomon August Andrée's 1897 North Pole expedition, he cooked on a Primus. Roald Amundsen carried a Primus stove with him on his venture to the South Pole in 1911. And in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay relied on Primus stoves during their first ascent of Mount Everest.