He had previously climbed many of the classic routes in the
Alps and put this experience to good use during travels in Sikkim and the Himalaya during the war. After demobilisation in 1947, he was a surgeon in Liverpool until 1957. Evans was on
Eric Shipton's
1952 British Cho Oyu expedition, a preparation for 1953. Evans was then
John Hunt's deputy leader on the
1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, which made the
first ascent of
Everest in 1953. Evans and
Tom Bourdillon were the first assault party, and made the first ascent of the
South Summit. They came to within three hundred feet of the main summit of Everest on 26 May 1953, but were forced to turn back due to tiredness, lack of enough oxygen for the return and malfunctioning of the (experimental closed-circuit) oxygen apparatus. The summit was reached by their teammates
Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay in the second assault party three days later, on 29 May 1953. Evans was the leader of the successful
1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition which first climbed
Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest peak. The following year he was awarded the
Royal Geographical Society's
Patron's Medal. He was the Principal of the University College of North Wales (now called
Bangor University) from 1958 to 1984. He was President of the
Alpine Club from 1967 to 1970. ==Author==