Peak Of Recognition For Sir Edmund

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday April 1, 2003

MOUNT Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary was lauded yesterday for his skill, courage and endurance in being the first to climb the world's tallest peak in the Himalayan mountains nearly 50 years ago.

Sir Edmund, with Nepalese Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of the 8850m summit on May 29, 1953.

Now 83, Hillary has spent 40 years doing development work with Nepalese Sherpas through his Himalayan Trust, helping about 100,000 people in the Solu Khumbu area, south of Everest.

At a reception in Parliament to mark the impending anniversary, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Sir Edmund's achievements as a climber, explorer and aid worker have been immense.

``Sir Edmund worked for his dream exhaustively. He planned for it, he trained for it, he took no short cuts, and he made it a reality," Ms Clark, herself a part-time mountaineer, told the crowd of about 3000.

The celebration was held yesterday because Sir Edmund will spend the anniversary in Katmandu.

Ms Clark praised the man regarded by many as the greatest living New Zealander for his lifetime of work and fundraising for the Nepalese people.

As usual, Sir Edmund played down his achievement. ``I like to think I'm a very ordinary New Zealander ... determined and practical ... and I enjoy a challenge like all of you," he said.

The Government has established a fundraising trust in his name, starting it with a $91,896 donation.

Ms Clark said on May 29, to be known as Summit Day, people will be asked to contribute to the trust.

Earlier Sir Edmund and his wife, June, drove in procession through central Wellington accompanied by members of the Nepalese, Indian, Sikh and Solomon Island communities with whom he has worked during his lifetime.

Sir Edmund said he and his wife would celebrate the anniversary with a ``good old party" with ``a big bunch of our Sherpa friends".

But after bouts of altitude sickness he won't be returning to the Himalayan mountains which made him famous.