Sir Edmund Hillary Biography

It was in New Zealand that he became interested in mountaineering while in high school. He first made his major climb in 1939 reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. Edmund Hillary joined Everest reconnaissance expeditions in 1951 and again in 1952. These exploits brought Hillary to the attention of Sir John Hunt, leader of the expedition sponsored by the joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club of Great Britain. The expedition reached the South Peak in May but all of the climbers who had come this far were forced to turn back due exhaustion at the high altitude. At last Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the only members of the party to make the final assault on the summit. At 11:30 a.m. in the morning of May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit, 20,028 feet above sea level, the highest peak on the earth. They spent only 15 minutes on the summit.

In the later years he led expedition to the South Pole and to the source of Yangtze River Sir Edmund Hillary succeeded where others failed, and survived the journey that had taken the lives of great explorer before him and his Sherpa. He also committed himself to humanitarian work among the Sherpas through his charity, the Himalayan Trust. Edmund   also served as the honorary president of the American Himalayan Foundation in United States, a non profit body. Hillary passed away on January 11, 2008 at the age of 88.