First summitter of Everest is no more

Edmund Hillary the New Zealand mountaineer who in 1953 conquered Mt. Everest along with Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay passed away. He was 88. Apart from climbing the Everest, Hillary was also the first man to drive a tractor across Antartica. He was ranked among the greatest adventurers of the 20th century.

Hillary achieved international fame when he successfully scaled Everest in 1953 along with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. The adventurous and hardy New Zealander devoted much of his life to help and improve the lives of the mountain people of Nepal.

Born in 1919 in Auckland and made a living as a beekeeper and climbed mountains as a hobby. He has successfully scaled peaks in New Zealand, Swiss Alps, The Himalayas in India, Nepal and Tibet. Despite all these achievements and fame Hillary remained a very down to earth and humble person. He lived and worked among the hill people of Nepal striving to get them benefits of modern civilisation, science and technology.

I culled out some of his pictures from the web and here they are. A great man admired for his resourcefulness, stamina and humility. The world has lost a true hero.

During the brief period of my life when I was actively into mountaineering, I had nurtured an ambition to meet with this great man. But somehow I never could make the opportunity to make the meeting happen, now due to his sad demise it will not happen at all.