Edmund Hillary, with Tenzing Norgay the first to climb Everest and come back to tell the tale, has died.
It’s a name I had heard from childhood, with a legendary status that will remain unblemished and undiminished. These days we hear of stunts which are supposed to stretch the limits of mans experience on land, sea and air and “recreations” are commonplace for the telly. But in Hillary’s day and before, Scott, Shackleton, these guys were adventurers. Real heroes.
I like the folks who do things first. The rest of us will forever be just going out to play.
Real heroes indeed.
What those guys did is obviously still extremely difficult to do these days with all the vastly improved kit available, but its just so much harder to be a pioneer.
Absolutely.
I realised I mention Scott above and not Amundsen, who of course won the race to the pole and came back alive. Another way into legend is of course heroic failure. In Scott’s case failure isn’t right though. If ever circumstances colluded to prevent a happy ending it was on Scott’s return from the pole.
Here’s that classic shot of Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Everest, taken by Hillary of course. Iconic and inspirational.
Yeah,another hero dies.88 was a ripe old age though,a lifetime of magnificent achievements and indeed a true inspiration to all of us.