Sir Edmund Hillary dies aged 88

[EN830]

Sir Edmund Hillary

[steve rowell]

Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities.. In reality.. he was a colossus.

[KabirT]

Yes saw this in the news when i got up. Very sad... but i don't think he will be able to rest in peace with China trying to build a bloody roadway into Everest.

[GarryB]

Actually I would credit Sir Eds best achievement as being the building of Schools and Hospitals and Bridges in the Nepal region. As Sherpa Tensings Son said, he is treated as like a god in Nepal because sherpas now have an education and can become pilots or anything they want.

[GarryB]

There is another thread on Sir Ed which is now closed but someone said:

He was also, IIRC, the first man to the South Pole (in 1958) after Amundsen and Scott. He was supposed to wait for a rendevous with the Sir Vivian Fuchs' Trans-Anarctic expedition but he wasn't the sort to sit and wait so he made a dash for the pole and met the main expedition there.

He was the first man to the south pole on a motor vehicle. He was supposed to be the backup supplies for the main group coming from the other side of antarctica and was supposed to stop 250 miles short of the pole and be a supply base for the other group. He got to the point he was supposed to get to early and worked out that if they sat there with the motors running they would not have enough fuel to make it back when the other group got to them so they pushed on the 250 miles to the pole. They travelled in tractors with catapillar tracks fitted to the large rear and small front wheels with two extra small wheels between. The Main group had big expensive custom designed machines for the crossing and they got into lots of problems and couldn't make the schedule.

[Hurrifan]

Very sad to see that this brave and resourceful veteran has passed on .

May he rest in peace