Obituaries archive | Free D People

A Great Explorer and Man Leaves This World

January 11th, 2008 by admin

In 1953 a team of men scaled the tallest mountain in the world. On May 29 two months before I was born 2 of those men Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay reached the summit of Mt Everest and spent 15 minutes there, it was the beginning of a long career of exploration for Sir Edmund Hillary. On June 6th 1953 he was Knighted as Knight Commander in the Order of the British Empire, in 1987 he was made a member of the Order of New Zealand, and in 1995 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter.

Born in New Zealand on July 2oth 1919 to a family of British settlers, as a young man Hillary showed and interest in climbing and completed his first major climb in 1939 when he and some friends reached the summit of Mt Oliver in the Southern Alps

After Everest he climbed 10 other peaks in the Himalayas during the late 50’s and the 60’s, he was also involved in many expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctica. By 1985 he became the first man to have stood at both Poles as well as Mt Everest.

(From Wikipedia)

“He devoted all of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan trust, which he founded and to which he had given much of his time and energy. Through his efforts he had succeeded in building many schools and hospitals in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas.

Sir Edmund Hillary angry with mountaineers who left British climber to die
Hillary spoke of his disdain for the attitudes displayed by many modern mountaineers. In particular he publicly criticized New Zealander Mark Inglis and 40 other climbers who, in various groups, left British climber David Sharp to die in May 2006. He said:

I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by.
He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today’s climbers:
They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die. “

In an age where our heroes are becoming drug addicts, over paid arrogant buffoons and selfish individualists, the loss of a great man like Sir Edmund Percival Hillary is an even greater loss. A great Adventurer, A Great Man and a Great Human Being, you are making the greatest climb in your life.