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WELLINGTON: Fifty years after conquering the world’s highest mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary is setting a pace that would leave many younger men trailing far behind.
Nearly 84 years old, partially deaf, and his once-towering frame stooped by age, Hillary is about to call on his legendary reserves of stamina and strength for a round-the-world jaunt to mark the anniversary of the scaling of Mount Everest.
New Zealander Hillary, together with Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first to stand on the 29,028-foot (8,848-metre) summit, which locals call Chomolungma or Mother Goddess of the World, on May 29, 1953.
Hillary’s upcoming trip to Nepal, Britain, and the United States caps months of intense global media interest and celebrations to mark a feat which recalls a pioneering spirit of adventure in past generations.
“All of it has been extremely tiring up to now. We’ve had calls from reporters and newspapers and everything from all over the world over the last few weeks,” Hillary said from his Auckland home. “It really has been quite a demanding procedure.”
Twelve hundred mountaineers have followed in the footsteps of Norgay and Hillary, who afterwards famously said “we knocked the bastard off”, but 175 have died in the process.
BETTER WITH AGE: British expedition leader John Hunt chose the strapping six foot three inch (1.89 metre) New Zealander because of his experience in the Himalayas and reputation for immense energy and strength.
Hillary’s climb won huge media coverage, with news of the “British” triumph coinciding with Queen Elizabeth’s coronation day.
In an age where, increasingly, heroes’ reputations are tarnished, Hillary’s, if anything, has grown through his life.
His Himalayan Trust raises money for the Sherpa and other Nepalese people living in the shadow of Everest, and he has personally helped build 27 schools, two hospitals, 12 medical centres, bridges, pipelines and an airfield.
Like a father asked to choose his favourite child, Hillary is loathe to pick climbing Everest as his happiest or even most memorable moment, and instead says there is too much emphasis on the anniversary.
“I have been lucky enough to have had quite a few exciting adventures and I don’t really attempt to decide which is the most dramatic. Everest of course had the biggest impact in the media and the world in general.
“But going to the South Pole and flying to the North Pole and driving jet boats into the Ganges and going up the Himalayas, they were all exciting activities.”
FAMILY FIRST: Despite decades of adulation as the first person on Everest — Norgay, who died in 1986, followed a few steps behind — the former bee keeper has never regretted climbing the mountain.
“I never think that. I have thought that it would have been nice if the 50th anniversary hadn’t been quite so...,” his voice trails off “...people are a little bit obsessed by it, I think.”
Nepal, a poor country that is home to eight of the world’s 14 tallest mountains, has invited every living mountaineer who has climbed Mount Everest to a celebration on May 29 in the capital Kathmandu.
Hillary will be at the gathering with around 500 Sherpas, before attending a dinner in his honour at the Royal Geographical Society in London, followed by fund-raising speeches in New York, Washington and San Francisco.
Hillary continued his charity work despite the death of his wife Louise and one of their three children, daughter Belinda, in a plane crash in the Himalayas in 1975.
He cites times with his family as his happiest moments, above any of his adventures to the poles or the climbing to the highest point on earth.
“Reaching the top? Oh no! It was a great moment. It was a moment of satisfaction. But I certainly would not have said it was the happiest moment.
“I think definitely moments with my family and camping with the family and scrambling around with them, and all that. That’s been much happier occasions,” he said.
New Zealanders warmed to the self-effacing “ordinary bloke” who liked to be known simply as “Ed”, whose number was listed in the Auckland telephone directory, and whose craggy, weather-beaten face appears on the New Zealand five-dollar note.
“I like to think that I am a very ordinary New Zealander, not too overly bright perhaps, but determined and practical in what I do,” he said recently.—Reuters
