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RIP Sir Edmund Hillary
Foxwell
Posts: 142
Sir Edmund Hillary fell off the raft today.
Here's a link to the story that was posted on Yahoo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080111/ap_on_re_au_an/obit_edmund_hillary
It's a good read, but if you don't have the time here are the highlights as I see them:
First:
He was an incredibly humble man: "And [I was] surprised, because it had happened to me, old Ed Hillary, the beekeeper, once the star pupil of the Tuakau District School, but no great shakes at Auckland Grammar (high school) and a no-hoper at university, first to the top of Everest. I just didn't believe it."
He later went on to say, "One doesn't have to be a genius to do well in life." Glorious.
Forget all those "My Child is an honor student at..." stickers parents slap on their mini-vans. That's your new bumper-sticker fad.
Next highlight:
When Sir Ed returned to base camp, what were his first words?
"One small step for a Kiwi..." No.
What about, "Eich bin ein Everest-er." Nope.
Or, "Friends, Romans, Sherpas...." Naw.
Sir Edmund's words were, "Well, we knocked the bastard off." Awesome.
Next...
According to the Associated Press: [Hillary was] named New Zealand's ambassador to India in the mid-1980s, Hillary was the celebrity of the New Delhi cocktail circuit."
I now have a new answer to the question, "Chris, if you could be anywhere, at any time in history, where would it be?" (I get this question at least once a week)
Some of my past answers have been:
--Southern California 500 hundred years ago
--the Constitutional Convention
--in the audience for Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
But all that seems so superficial compared to "The New Dehli cocktail circuit, circa 1985."
But, in all seriousness, if you've been watching that show on The Discover Channel, "Everest: Beyond the Limits", like I have, you've got to marvel at what he and his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, did in 1953.
They didn't have GPS tracking, a leader like Russell Brice, a mountain "tailored" with fixed ropes and ladders, and numerous other space-age amenities. Ed and Tenzing reached the peak and descended (which I now know is far more dangerous than the ascent) with pure grit, vim and vigor, and just a dash of piss and vinegar.
Good night, Sir Edmund.
To borrow your words, "you knocked the bastard off."
Here's a link to the story that was posted on Yahoo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080111/ap_on_re_au_an/obit_edmund_hillary
It's a good read, but if you don't have the time here are the highlights as I see them:
First:
He was an incredibly humble man: "And [I was] surprised, because it had happened to me, old Ed Hillary, the beekeeper, once the star pupil of the Tuakau District School, but no great shakes at Auckland Grammar (high school) and a no-hoper at university, first to the top of Everest. I just didn't believe it."
He later went on to say, "One doesn't have to be a genius to do well in life." Glorious.
Forget all those "My Child is an honor student at..." stickers parents slap on their mini-vans. That's your new bumper-sticker fad.
Next highlight:
When Sir Ed returned to base camp, what were his first words?
"One small step for a Kiwi..." No.
What about, "Eich bin ein Everest-er." Nope.
Or, "Friends, Romans, Sherpas...." Naw.
Sir Edmund's words were, "Well, we knocked the bastard off." Awesome.
Next...
According to the Associated Press: [Hillary was] named New Zealand's ambassador to India in the mid-1980s, Hillary was the celebrity of the New Delhi cocktail circuit."
I now have a new answer to the question, "Chris, if you could be anywhere, at any time in history, where would it be?" (I get this question at least once a week)
Some of my past answers have been:
--Southern California 500 hundred years ago
--the Constitutional Convention
--in the audience for Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
But all that seems so superficial compared to "The New Dehli cocktail circuit, circa 1985."
But, in all seriousness, if you've been watching that show on The Discover Channel, "Everest: Beyond the Limits", like I have, you've got to marvel at what he and his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, did in 1953.
They didn't have GPS tracking, a leader like Russell Brice, a mountain "tailored" with fixed ropes and ladders, and numerous other space-age amenities. Ed and Tenzing reached the peak and descended (which I now know is far more dangerous than the ascent) with pure grit, vim and vigor, and just a dash of piss and vinegar.
Good night, Sir Edmund.
To borrow your words, "you knocked the bastard off."
"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." -- Albert Camus
"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." -- John Stuart Mill
"Mongo just a pawn in game of life." -- Mongo
"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." -- John Stuart Mill
"Mongo just a pawn in game of life." -- Mongo
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
yes you read that correctly
run for your life
It's a sad day to be a New Zealander
23/09/2006 Berlin, 30/09/2006 Athens, 18/07/2007 London
02/07/2009 Honolulu (EV Solo), 22/11/2009, Sydney, 29/11/2009 Christchurch
He'll never be forgotten!
Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
Chicago 07? And love
What a different life
Had I not found this love with you