WELLINGTON/NEW DELHI: Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, died on January 11, New Zealand's prime minister announced. He was 88.
The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called "Ed" and considering himself just an ordinary man. "Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities," Prime Minister Helen Clark said in a statement. "In reality, he was a colossus.
He was a heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity." "The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived," she said. Hillary's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement -- and by his personal humility.
Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of Tenzing Norgay, the mountain guide with whom he stood arm in arm on the summit on May 29, 1953. He had pride in his feats. Returning to base camp as the man who took the first step onto the top of the world's highest peak, he declared, "We knocked the bastard off."
The accomplishment as part of a British climbing expedition even added luster to the coronation of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II four days later. He devoted his life for the betterment of Nepal's Sherpas who live on the slopes of the Himalayas.
A school mountain trip in 1935 made the fragile looking boy to decide that it was his calling in life to scale peaks even as he made his living as a beekeeper. He climbed mountains in New Zealand, then in the Alps, and finally in the Himalayas where he climbed 11 different peaks of over 20,000 feet. Hillary's exploits as a member of the Everest reconnaissance expedition in 1951 drew the attention of Sir John Hunt, leader of an expedition trying to make an assault on Everest.
As the expedition reached the South Peak on May, all but two climbers were forced to turn back due to exhaustion. Hillary and Nepalese climber Tenzing Norgay were the only members who made to the summit 29,028 feet above sea level on May 29, 1953.
The duo spent only 15 minutes at the summit. Hillary took Tenzing's photos. Hillary left a cross that he had been given as an offering to the peak. Sir Edmund later recalled "We did not know if it was humanly possible to reach the top."
Though the pair initially reported the ascent as one made in unison, it was only after the Sherpa's death in 1986 that Sir Edmund revealed that he had been about 10 feet ahead at the final ridge.
The news of the ascent reached Britain on the day of the Queen's coronation and as Hillary was a New Zealander and as a result a citizen of the Commonwealth, Britishers celebrated his win. Sir Edmund was knighted for his efforts.
During the next two decades, the adventurer climbed ten other peaks in Himalayas and also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic expedition. He also led a jet boat expedition from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source in 1977.
However, he devoted a great part of his life working for the uplift of the Sherpa people he had met during his various expeditions. During his two year stint as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India, he founded the Himalayan Trust in 1964 which helped in setting up clinics, hospitals and schools. It also helped in the construction of two airstrips.
The explorer took great pride in his contribution to Nepalese people. "My most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and clinics. That has given me far more satisfaction than a footprint on a mountain," he had said.
Recognizing his contribution to Nepal, the Himalayan nation's government conferred honorary citizenship upon Hillary on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest.
His native New Zealand also honored him and various schools, organizations around New Zealand and abroad are named after him. In India, a primary wing house at St Paul's School Darjeeling is name after him. Sir Edmund was known for his shyness - so much so that he proposed his would be wife Louise Mary Rose through his mother-in law in September, 1953.
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