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Friday, January 11, 2008

Sir Edmund Hillary - Everest Hero - Dead at 88

Hillary and Norgay
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay - 1953
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest has died of a heart attack at age 88.

He is considered by many to be one of the true iconic heroes of the 20th Century. His native New Zealand thinks so highly of him that his picture appears on their five dollar bill.

Hillary, with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, summited Everest at 29,035 feet, on May 29, 1953. Since then over 3000 people have climbed Everest, and over 200 have died trying. Hillary decried the attitudes so prevalent in modern hikers that have resulted in increasing quantities of trash left on the mountain. He was particularly horrified by climbers who just want to get to the top and leave companions to die by the wayside.

He was a lifelong adventurer, not confined in his interests to mountain climbing.

read more at Bloomberg.com, Jan 10, 2008
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