Edmund Hillary, born on 20
July 1919, was a New Zealand mountain climber and Antarctic explorer, who with
the Tibetan mountaineer Tenzing Norgay was the first to reach the summit of
Mount Everest (29,035 feet
[8,850 metres]; the highest mountain in the world.
Hillary’s
father was a beekeeper, an occupation he also pursued. He began climbing in New
Zealand’s Southern Alps while in high school. After military service
in World War II, he resumed climbing and became determined to scale Everest. In
1951 he joined a New Zealand party to the central Himalayas and later that
year participated in a British reconnaissance expedition of the southern flank
of Everest. He was subsequently invited to join the team of mountaineers
planning to climb the peak.
The
well-organized expedition was launched in the spring of 1953, and a high
camp from which to mount attempts at the summit was established by mid-May.
After a pair of climbers failed to reach the top on May 27, Hillary and Tenzing
set out for it early on May 29; by late morning they were standing on the
summit. The two shook hands, then Tenzing embraced his partner. Hillary took
photographs, and both searched for signs that George Mallory, a British
climber lost on Everest in 1924, had been on the summit. Hillary left behind a
crucifix, and Tenzing, a Buddhist, made a food offering. After spending about
15 minutes on the peak, they began their descent. They were met back at camp by their colleague
W.G. Lowe, to whom Hillary reputedly said, “Well, George, we knocked the
bastard off.” Hillary described his exploits in High
Adventure (1955). He made other expeditions to the Everest
region during the early 1960s but never again tried to climb to the top.
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