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Photo by Unknown. .

Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Edmund Hillary

Edmund Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. The man simply wore many hats. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.

From 1985 to 1988 he served as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh . During the same period he served as an ambassador to Nepal.

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary as is his name in full was born in July 20, 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand. He later on died in January 11, 2008. He lived and lived a wholesome life. Here are the Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Edmund Hillary.

1. He began mountaineering in high school

29 May 1953 Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest at 11.30am. Photo by Jamling Tenzing Norgay. .

At 16 his interest in climbing was sparked during a school trip to Mount Ruapehu. Though gangly at 6 ft 5 in (195 cm) and uncoordinated, he found that he was physically strong and had greater endurance than many of his tramping companions.

He studied mathematics and science at the University of Auckland, and in 1939 completed his first major climb. He reached the summit of Mount Ollivier, near Aoraki/Mount Cook in the Southern Alps.

2. He was a navigator during World War Two

Upon the outbreak of World War II Hillary applied to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force, but withdrew the application before it was considered because he was “harassed by [his] religious conscience”.

In 1943 the Japanese threat in the Pacific and the arrival of conscription finally undermined his pacifist inclination and Hillary joined the RNZAF as a navigator serving in No. 6 Squadron RNZAF and then No. 5 Squadron RNZAF on Catalina flying boats.

3. Edmund was a beekeeper

With his brother Rex, Hillary became a beekeeper. This was a summer occupation that allowed him to pursue climbing during winter.

His interest in beekeeping later led Hillary to commission Michael Ayrton to cast a golden sculpture in the shape of honeycomb in imitation of Daedalus’s lost-wax process. This was placed in his New Zealand garden, where his bees took it over as a hive and “filled it with honey and their young”.

4. The Mount Everest expedition consisted of a huge team

Photo by The Evening Post. .

The Hunt expedition totaled over 400 people, including 362 porters, twenty Sherpa guides and 10,000 lbs of baggage, and like many such expeditions, was a team effort.

Lowe supervised the preparation of the Lhotse Face, a huge and steep ice face, for climbing. Hillary forged a route through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.

5. Hillary made the actual first step on Mt. Everest

Tenzing Norgay stated in his narration “The Dream Comes True” that Hillary had indeed taken the first step atop Mount Everest, despite Hillary quoting that both had reached the summit at the same time.

They reached Everest’s 29,028 ft (8,848 m) summit, the highest point on earth, at 11:30 am. The crucial move of the last part of the ascent was the 40-foot (12 m) rock face later named the “Hillary Step”. Hillary saw a means to wedge his way up a crack in the face between the rock wall and the ice and Tenzing followed.

6. Hillary declined to have his photo taken on the summit

You would think that anyone would by all means have their photo taken as evidence of the achievement of a feat. Well, apparently that would not be Hillary. Hillary and Tenzing spent only about 15 minutes at the summit.

Hillary took the famous photo of Tenzing posing with his ice-axe, but since Tenzing had never used a camera, Hillary’s ascent went unrecorded. However, according to Tenzing’s autobiography Man of Everest, when Tenzing offered to take Hillary’s photograph Hillary declined: “I motioned to Hillary that I would now take his picture. But for some reason he shook his head; he did not want it.”

7. The team received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal

Photo by Unknown.

News of the expedition reached Britain on the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and the press called the successful ascent a coronation gift.

In return, the 37 members of the party received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal with MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION engraved on the rim. The group was surprised by the international acclaim that they received upon arriving in Kathmandu.

8. Hillary did many other expeditions later in life

Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–1961, and 1963–1965. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on 4 January 1958.

His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles.

9. He narrowly missed a plane crash

Hillary narrowly missed becoming a victim in TWA Flight 266 from the American midwest in the 1960 New York air disaster.

This is because he was late for his flight. 128 passengers and crew members died on the plane crash plus 6 others on the ground in Brooklyn.  At this point in time flying was still a luxury that few could afford.

10. In 1992 Hillary appeared on 5$ New Zealand note

29 May 1953 Edmund Hillary after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest at 11.30am. Photo by Jamling Tenzing Norgay.

In 1992 Hillary appeared on the updated New Zealand $5 note, thus making him the only New Zealander to appear on a banknote during his or her lifetime, in defiance of the established convention for banknotes of using only depictions of deceased individuals, and current heads of state.

The Reserve Bank governor at the time, Don Brash, had originally intended to use a deceased sportsperson on the $5 note but could not find a suitable candidate.

Instead he broke with convention by requesting and receiving Hillary’s permission — along with an insistence from Hillary to use Aoraki/Mount Cook rather than Mount Everest in the backdrop. The image also features a Ferguson TE20 tractor like the one Hillary used to reach the South Pole on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.