The book describes how Morris, fearing despatches might be read (hacked) by journalists from some rival paper, devised a code which would deceive and mislead by implying failure: Advanced Base Abandoned would mean Edmund Hillary
Timeline
29 May 1953: The summit of Mount Everest, highest mountain...
Building item
29 May 1953
The summit of Mount Everest, highest mountain in the world, was first reached: by the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay
and the New Zealander Edmund Hillary
(who was later knighted).
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/.
