Remebering Ed Hillary

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The great mountaineer, explorer & friend to the Sherpas died aged 88...

Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made history on May 29, 1953.. when they successfully climbed Mount Everest.

Born July 20, 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand, to Percival Augustus Hillary and Gertrude Hillary, in Auckland, on 20 July 1919.

The family moved to Tuakau, a village about 40 miles (64.37 kilometres) south of Auckland in 1920.

Hillary’s father, a veteran of The Gallipoli campaign during World War 1, was allocated land there after the war.

Edmund was educated at Tuakau Primary School and then Auckland Grammar School.

He used the two hour each way bus journey to read. His favourite author and hero was mountaineer Eric Shipton.

He had his first experience of mountain climbing at age 16 during a school trip to Mount Ruapehu.

Completing his first major climb in 1939 after reaching the summit of Mount Oliver in the Southern Alps, he became a beekeeper with his brother Ray.

This occupation enabled him to take time to indulge his passion for mountain climbing during winter.

After the outbreak of World War 2, Hillary applied to join the air force, but withdrew his application due to religious convictions.

Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific in 1943, he was conscripted and joined the Royal New Zealand Airforce as a Catalina Flying Boat navigator.

In 1950 Hillary climbed in the Swiss and Austrian Alps.

Later, in 1952, he joined a New Zealand expedition to the Himalayas.

At the end of 1951 Hillary joined a British Everest Reconnaissance expedition.

Between 1921 and 1953 eight major expeditions had attempted the climb and failed. 16 deaths had occurred over this period.

These attempts had been mostly from the north through Tibet.

After World War 2, Nepal allowed entry to Western expeditions, and new, more accessible routes were found.

This also led to the participation of Sherpa guides in future attempts.

In a 1952 attempt at the summit, Swiss climber Raymond Lambert and Tenzing Norgay reached 27,100 ft (about 8,260m) on Everest.

At this time, this was the highest that anyone had ever climbed.

In late 1952 a British expedition led by Col. John Hunt assembled in England and travelled to India, then on to Nepal.

Hillary joined the 15-man team, which was one of the most professional ever assembled to that point in time.

As well as Hunt and Hillary, the team included Hillary’s close friend George Lowe, Tenzing Norgay, known in Nepal as the “Tiger of the Snows,” eight other British climbers, a cameraman, doctor and James Morris, a reporter from the London Times.

Hillary and Tenzing left their camp at 8,500m (about 27,890 ft) at 6.30 on May 28, 1953.

At 11:30 a.m. the same day, they reached the summit: 8,848 meters (29,028 ft) above sea level.

Quick Facts About Mount Everest:

* Longitude: 86º55’40″ E

* Latitude: 27º59’16″ N

* Nepalese Name: Sagarmatha

* Tibetan Name: Qomolungma (Chomolungma)

Mt Everest was located by Sir George Everest in 1841. Everest was the Indian Surveyor General at the time.

At that time it was called ‘Peak XV’, and was named Everest in 1865.

In Nepal, the peak is known as Sagarmatha, and in Tibet as Qomolungma “the mother goddess of the earth”.

Hillary After Mount Everest:

Hillary’s passion for adventure continued, and in 1958, he led a support team for Vivian Fuch’s planned crossing of Antarctica.

He made a dash on a farm tractor to the South Pole, becoming the first person ever to reach it in a motorized vehicle.

In 1968, Hillary took a jetboat through the wild rivers of Nepal, and in 1977 travelled up the Ganges river from the see to the mountains in a jetboat.

In 1962 he founded the Himalayan Trust, and spent the next 40 years helping to build schools, hospitals, medical centers and bridges in Nepal.

A few links which recount and salute this pioneering soul who enriched many a life.

Sir Edmund Hillary 1919 - 2008

His Life

BBC News