R.I.P. Sir Edmund Hillary

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  01.10.08 | 5:26 PM ET

Sir Edmund Hillary has died at the age of 88. He was the first climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, and he went on to devote much of his life to exploration and humanitarian work in Nepal. In a 1998 profile of Hillary for Salon.com, Don George placed Hillary in the pantheon of great adventurers:

Sir Edmund can be seen as the last branch in the great historical tree of terrestrial explorers, a direct descendant of such adventurers as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Stanley and Livingston, Perry and Scott and Amundsen, Sir Richard Burton, Charles Lindbergh—explorers who drove themselves to do what no one had done before, “because,” in the famous words of Sir George Mallory, “it is there.”

George describes a San Francisco gathering honoring Hillary. At one point, climber David Breashears looked Hillary in the eye. His remark to the famed climber seems particularly fitting today:

“We shall never see the likes of you again, Ed; we shall never see the likes of you again.”

Tags: Asia, Nepal, News and Briefs


4 Comments for R.I.P. Sir Edmund Hillary

Neil 01.10.08 | 8:21 PM ET

RIP Edmund. You’ll remain an inspiration for generations to come.

HS 01.10.08 | 9:06 PM ET

I recall having been first introduced to Hillary as an American schoolboy in England, way back in 1973.  Our teacher had us memorize the paragraph from Sir Edmund’s memoir of ascending Everest that describes his “initial feeling of relief” upon attaining the summit.  Even then, the passage inspired in me an awe for exploring the world and its untrodden places, and the spirit of adventure of which Hillary was a major apostle.  Happily, I have been able to do some exploring of my own since that time, though it has been less dramatic.  Still, I have reflected on that paragraph, and its greater meaning, from time to time over the decades.  May Sir Edmund’s spirit live on!

JoshJoy 01.10.08 | 11:53 PM ET

Hi,

We have created a memorial page to pay tribute to those loved ones who have passed away and to pay tribute and remembrance to those who have touched our lives. A special page has been created for Sir Edmund Hillary at http://www.people-to-remember.com/wiki/index.php/Sir_Edmund_Hillary

Thanks,
Josh

Jacob 01.11.08 | 11:26 AM ET

I hate to admit it, but fark.com summed it up best for me:

“Sir Edmund Hillary dies. Was apparently alive this whole time”

The man’s name was spoken with such a “historical” context, it was hard to believe that he hadn’t passed long ago.

R.I.P., Sir.

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