The 1952 Swiss Mount Everest Expedition, led by Edouard Wyss-Dunant, was granted permission to attempt a climb from Nepal. It established a route through the Khumbu icefall and ascended to the South Col at an elevation of . Raymond Lambert and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were able to reach an elevation of about on the southeast ridge, setting a new climbing altitude record. Tenzing's experience was useful when he was hired to be part of the British expedition in 1953. One reference says that no attempt at an ascent of Everest was ever under consideration in this case,