Norgay received his first opportunity to join an Everest expedition when he was employed by Eric Shipton, leader of the 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition. As a 20-year-old his chance came when two of the others failed their medical tests. As a friend of Ang Tharkay (a Sherpa sirdar who had been on the 1933 British Mount Everest expedition), Norgay was quickly pushed forward, and his attractive smile caught the eye of Shipton, who decided to take him on.