Sir Edmund Hillary, RIP

Well, crap. It isn't often that I care if/when celebrities die, but this seems different somehow. The man took his celebrity and did some excellent things with it. As I understand it he was a real boon to the people of Nepal.

I was curious whether Tenzing Norgay was still alive, so went to wikipedia (Norgay died in 1986). I found this anectode:

Another interesting aside of this ascent was that all the photos that existed of the mountaineers on the top showed only Tenzing. When asked why there were no photos featuring Hillary, Sir Edmund replied, "Tenzing did not know how to operate the camera and the top of Everest was no place to start teaching him how to use it".
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Heh.
 
Unfortunate. He was made of some strong stuff...stuff that one does not ordinarily see in people very often these days.
 
Sir Edmond was a great man who spread some of his good fortune and fame around. A real nice guy. I hope he's in the climbers lounge in the hearafter having a great discussion with George Mallory. :thumbup:
 
Never had any person with his fame work so hard later on in his life to make a difference for the people he grew to love and respect. When he summited Everest in '53, the year I was born, the world was a very different place.

It must've been very hard to watch the progression of well-moneyed tourists go to the top of something that was unattainable less than 60 years ago...

A great man will be missed by many myself included. RIP.
 
jkarp_53 said:
Never had any person with his fame work so hard later on in his life to make a difference for the people he grew to love and respect. When he summited Everest in '53, the year I was born, the world was a very different place.

It must've been very hard to watch the progression of well-moneyed tourists go to the top of something that was unattainable less than 60 years ago...

A great man will be missed by many myself included. RIP.
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I am sure he would have been proud to see Bear jet up there in a parachute copter, though, hope that doesn't overshadow Hillarys accomplishment:rolleyes:
I liked that quote about the camera, great stuff.
 
Personally, it hit me when I read it because I considered the guy a superhero when I was a little kid - the hills where I lived became the Himalayas many times. I embarrass myself by saying you know who the dog was in that equation, (but only because she couldn't hold a camera either ?) Hey, I was only 10 or so at the time ! (late 70's).

In a BBC Radio interview from quite a while ago, the interviewer asked what had kept drawing him back to the area to help out rather than climb. In typical fashion, he said he wasn't drawn back, he just never left. And that was before the sentiment became a cliche.

Sir, you will be missed...
 
He was New Zealand's greatest icon and a very very very humble one at that. He was the type of guy that despite his fame and so forth you could just call up and ask him about what it was like climbing Everest and doing all the other things he did.

Needless to say it's hit Kiwis hard. End of an era for sure.

There will be a state funeral here in NZ.

BTW, he is on our 5 dollar note, probably the most used bill.

He was an explorer, a seeker, someone always wanting to know what is beyond the frontier. You have to admire people like that.

RIP.
 
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