Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sir Edmund Hillary-Cheers, Mate!

While this has little to do with sharks, and shark diving we had to comment:

Sad news yesterday that the first man to summit Everest has passed on to that great "Bee-Keepers" hive in the sky.

Prior to his and Tenzing Norgay's attempt to the 29,035-foot summit several other teams had all but failed including the now famous attempt by George Leigh Mallory, who's body disappeared only to be recovered 2000' short of the summit 75 years later.

In an ever shrinking world filled with GPS and "instant travel", we should all take a moment and savor the life of this remarkable man and his times. These were the days of real adventure travel.

Armed only with climbing gear that by today's standards would not even get you to the first Everest base camp this reserved "anti-explorer" conquered a mountain many climbers and peers considered all but unconquerable. To his final days Sir Edmund refused the limelight referring to himself as "just a New Zealand bee keeper" never forgetting to remind people of Tenzing Norgay's efforts to the summit as well.

In his own words: “I am a lucky man. I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men.”

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