This spring en route to Mount Everest, Hilaree O’Neill, 39, a ski-mountaineer from Colorado who is part of our 2012 Everest expedition which will be covered live in the National Geographic iPad app, will trek the same valleys and work up to Base Camp just as Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay did 59 years ago when the duo claimed the first ascent. But on the mountain, fortunately, O’Neill will not be using the antiquated gear—think woolen suits and wood-handled ice axes—that Hillary hauled. In this gallery, we take a look at the equipment Hillary and Norgay used in 1953 and the high-tech gear O’Neill will use to climb the world’s tallest peak in 2012. —Stephen Regenold