Sir Edmund Percival Hillary KG ONZ KBE was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal. Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a navigator during World War II. Prior to the Everest expedition, Hillary had been part of the British reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 as well as an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952. As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition he reached the South Pole overland in 1958. He subsequently reached the North Pole, making him the first person to reach both poles and summit Everest. Following his ascent of Everest, Hillary devoted himself to assisting the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he established. His efforts are credited with the construction of many schools and hospitals in Nepal. Hillary had numerous honours conferred upon him, including the Order of the Garter in 1995. Upon his death in 2008, he was given a state funeral in New Zealand.
Along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay , he was one of the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.
Appointed a KBE in 1953 and awarded the Order of New Zealand in 1987.
Made a Knight of the Garter in 1995.
Has three children: Sarah, Peter and Belinda. Belinda and her mother died in a plane crash in May 1975.
He and Tenzing made the final assault on Everest as a team, and were reluctant to disclose which man was first to actually set foot on the peak. Hillary took photographs of Tenzing standing on the summit because Tenzing did not know how to use a camera. Both men eventually revealed in their memoirs that Hillary was the first to step onto the summit.
Apiarist 1936-1943 and 1951-1970; KBE 1953; Polar Medal 1958; New Zealand High Commissioner to India, Bangladesh and Nepal 1985-1988; ONZ 1987; KG 1995.
We knocked the bastard off. [on his successful ascent of Mt Everest,quoted in the London Sunday Times, 21 July 1974],Better if he had said something natural like, Jesus, here we are.
I have discovered that even the mediocre can have adventures and even the fearful can achieve.
If you only do what others have already done, you will only feel what others have already felt. However, if you choose to achieve something that no one has ever done, then you will have a satisfaction that no one else has ever had.
I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it.
Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.
No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time.
I can remember when I first went into the Himalayan area way back in 1951. Money, for instance, was not important at all to the local people. But now, finance has become just as important to them as it is to us, and this is a change maybe not for the better.
My most important projects have been the building and maintaining of schools and medical clinics for my dear friends in the Himalaya and helping restore their beautiful monasteries, too.
My relationship with the mountains actually started when I was 16. Every year, a group used to be taken from Auckland Grammar down to the Tangariro National Park for a skiing holiday. .
