Sir Edmund Hillary  (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer.

Biography

On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.

Edmund Hbecame interested in mountaineering while in secondary school, making his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the RNZAF as a navigator during World War II. Before the successful expedition in 1953 to Everest, Edmund Hillary had been part of a reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 and an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952. As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition he reached the South Pole overland in 1958. He would later also travel to the North Pole.

Following Edmund Hillary's ascent of Everest he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded.

Through Edmund Hillary's efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of Nepal.

This Edmund Hillary Biography Page is Copyright © 2004 - 2009 Chuck Ayoub