Edmund Hillary, The First Everest Climber

 

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20th July 1919-11^th January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. He was also a well known philanthropist. Together with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, on May 29^th at the age of 33 they became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

 

The above climb was attempted by many in the past however both of these explorers were strong and successful and finally made it to the much coveted summit of the Himalayas. Both these mountaineers were a part of the ninth British expedition to Mount Everest that was led by John Hunt. “Time Magazine” named Sir Edmund Hillary as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20^th century.

It was in secondary school that Hillary became interested in mountaineering. He made his first major climb in the year 1939 after reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. During World War II Sir Edmund served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator. Before venturing out on the successful expedition of Mount Everest he has been a part of the reconnaissance expedition to the Mountain in the year 1951 and he also made an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952. He was also a part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition and he reached the South Pole overland in 1958. In the subsequent years he also traveled to the North Pole.

 

After climbing Mount Everest he dedicated mush of his life to helping the Shepa people through the Himalayan Trust of Nepal that he founded. It was due to his efforts that a number of schools and hospitals were built in this region of Nepal that was isolated and remote. Thanks to his efforts this remote region of Nepal developed tremendously.

Born to Percival Augustus Hillary and Gertrude Hillary in Auckland, New Zealand on 20^th July 1919, hi family moved to Tuakau that is located on the South of Auckland. Sir Edmund Hillary studied at Tuakau Primary School and then at Auckland Grammar School. Sir Edmund completed primary school education two years earlier but he had to struggle at high school. As a child he was smaller than his peers and was very shy. He took recourse to reading books and he always had daydreams full with adventure. He had to travel by train 2 hours a day and during this time he used to read books.

 

He gained confidence after he learnt boxing and at the age of 16 he took an interest to climbing after a school trip to Mount Ruapehu. He was 6ft 5 in and he discovered that he was physically strong and he had greater endurance than his companions. He studied mathematics and science at the University of Auckland and in the year 1939 he completed his major climb of the summit of Mount Ollivier located near Aoraki in the Southern Alps.

 

Sir Hillary with his brother Rex, became a beekeeper that served him with summer occupation. It was during the winters that he pursued his passion of climbing mountains.

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