Sir Edmund Hillary – the First

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Edmund Hillary (1919 –2008) was first to summit Mount Everest in 1953 with Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. They took a southern route passing the Khumbu Icefall and the South Col before they reached and mastered a steep step – today called the Hillary Step.

The New Zealander became interested in mountaineering while in secondary school. He made his first major climb in 1939 – at a time in which climbing high mountains was mainly seen as maniac.

However, he had good luck to be selected for the ninth British expedition to Everest. England had tried to repeat the success on Mont Blanc a century before and conquer Mt Everest in the 1920s with high effort – George Mallory was a leading climber in this time from the north side. After World War II England started again to conquer the top of the world, but failed. Until John Hunt took over from Shipton as leader of the expedition. He recognized that England was in fact Common Wealth and picked the best climbers. The time of Edmund Hillary came, since New Zealand is part of Common Wealth.

The north-route to Everest was closed by Chinese-controlled Tibet, but Nepal accepted the expedition in 1953.

The expedition had 362 porters, 20 Sherpa guides, more than 20 English climbers and five tons of baggage. It was a team effort to prepare everything and set up a camp at the South Col. Hillary had luck a second time as the first team failed. Hillary and Tenzing were selected to go for the summit. With three supporters the two established a last camp at 8,500 meters before the reached the summit the next day.

Following his ascent of Everest, Hillary founded the Himalayan Trust and leaped to build many schools and hospitals in Nepal. In addition, he reached both poles, the south and the north pole making him the first person to reach both poles and summit Everest.

 

This painting is part of the set Legends of Mount Everest with more portraits of climbers. Click for an extensive description.

Source: Wikipedia