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News : Sir Edmund Hillary Dies

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Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to conquer Mount Everest, has died at the age of 88, the prime minister of New Zealand announced on Friday.

Hillary became one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers when he left the first footprint in documented history on the summit of Mount Everest, on May 29, 1953.

One achievement in a life of adventure, discovery and excitement. But the New Zealander took his fame in stride. He considered himself only an average climber and remained a beekeeper until his fame made it impossible, seven years after the first ascent.

The modest "Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," Prime Minister Helen Clark said in a statement.

He refused to say he was the first person to reach the top of Everest until well after the death of his Sherpa climbing mate Tenzing Norgay, in 1986. He would only say that he and the Sherpa climbed as a team to the top.

When he first returned to base camp as the man who took the first step onto Everest's peak, he declared: "We knocked the bastard off."

He came clean in his 1999 book "View from the Summit," when he said:

"Next moment I had moved onto a flattish exposed area of snow with nothing but space in every direction. Tenzing quickly joined me and we looked around in wonder. To our immense satisfaction, we realized we had reached the top of the world!"

After the accomplishment Hillary became dedicated to environmentalism, specifically in Nepal.

Hillary spent decades pouring his energy and resources into fundraising for his Himalayan Trust, founded in 1962. About $250,000 a year was raised for projects in Nepal. The trust funded hospitals, health clinics, airfields and schools. He also raised money to educate Sherpa families and help reforest the upland areas of Nepal.

As a devout conservationist, he demanded international mountaineers clean up thousands of tons of discarded oxygen tanks and food containers along the slopes of Everest.

His Everest climb was the grandest of his accomplishments, but not his only. He climbed 10 other peaks in the Himalayas, reached the South Pole and, in 1985, accompanied Neil Armstrong on a flight to the North Pole.

His successes gained him many honours, but he considered being named an honorary citizen of Nepal in 2003 among the greatest.

Hillary reached the summit of Everest just four days before Elizabeth was crowned Queen of Britain and the Empire. She immediately knighted him.
He became New Zealand's ambassador to India in the mid-1980s, and was the first living New Zealander to be featured on a banknote.

He was named one of the UN's 500 conservationists in 1987, and received the Smithsonian Institution's James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in 1998 for his "monumental explorations and humanitarian achievements."

Hillary's first wife, Louise, and 16-year-old daughter, Belinda, died in a plane crash during a visit to Nepal in 1975. He was survived by his adventurer son Peter, daughter Sarah and his second wife, June.

While modest, Hillary was proud of his accomplishments. When writing of him and Norgay finally reaching the top of Everest, he said: "Another few weary steps and there was nothing above us but the sky. There was no false cornice, no final pinnacle. We were standing together on the summit. There was enough space for about six people. We had conquered Everest."