An obituary to Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008

doweshowbellyad=0; New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first to conquer Mount Everest, passed away at the age of 88. (AFP Photo)He was a darling to all those who lived in the harsh and hostile mountains under the protective gaze of Sagarmatha. He was a blessing for the Sherpas. He worked tirelessly to bring water and electricity in the upper reaches of the mountains where they lived.He built hospitals and schools. He was a true mountaineer in all sense and sensibilities.
On the morning of 29 May, 1953, Edmund Hillary stepped on the summit of Mt. Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, shot into limelight and refused to fade away even after the evening of his life.
Sir Edmund was concerned not just about how Everest was being crowded and polluted in recent years but was concerned about the Sherpas who made a living out of climbing. His love for the Himalayas brought him to the subcontinent. He served as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India, Nepal and Bangladesh and spent almost five years in New Delhi.
Immediately after his Everest ascent, Edmund climbed 10 other peaks during 1956-65. He was the first one to stand at both the poles and the summit of Everest. On the golden jubilee to commemorate the first ascent to Mt. Everest in 2003, the Nepalese government conferred honorary citizenship on him. He was the first foreign national to receive such an honour. Back home he was the first living legend to appear on a bank note. He appeared on a 5$ note in New Zealand.
Hillary founded the Himalayan trust to help the Sherpas. With unflagging energy he helped improve their lives, and so also, the ecology of the Himalayas. He wrote more than a dozen books on mountaineering and explorations. Sir Edmund didn’t approve of the modern day practice of leaving fellow mountaineers to die on Everest. He would have chosen to abandon a summit attempt and rescue a fellow mountaineer.
More recently in 2006, he lashed out against New Zealand climber Mark Inglis and other mountaineers who left British climber David Sharp to die on top of the mountain. For Sir Edmund, it mattered how you climbed. He was concerned about mountaineers and commercial climbing expeditions who had contempt for the mountain and their fellow climbers.
His son, Peter Hillary too followed in his father’s footsteps. Peter first summited in 1990, and later again, along with Jamling Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay’s son on the 29 May, 2003, to celebrate the 50th year of his father’s climb with Tenzing for the National Geographic documentary Surviving Everest. My father is much better now after his fall in Nepal, and is recovering at a hospital in New Zealand, said his son Peter Hillary in June 2007. Sir Edmund celebrated his 88th birthday in July last year.
There was many an occasion when he was asked who stepped on the summit first. He ensured that he and Tenzing Norgay were always named together, though it was Hillary, who, in the last part of the ascent on that day, found a means to wedge his way up (a 12 m rock face) a crack on the face of the mountain between the rock wall and ice.
Not just his country and Nepal but the world will mourn his death and mountaineers around the world will say a prayer. How sad the world doesn’t have a picture of Sir Edmund Percival Hillary standing on top of Everest.