| CLINTON, N.Y., Jan. 11, 2008 (AScribe Newswire) -- Hamilton College history professor Maurice Isserman, who has co-authored a history of Himalayan mountaineering to be published this spring by Yale University Press, comments on how Sir Edmund Hillary came to be one of two men to be the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest and describes his achievements after his Mount Everest success.
"Many had attempted to reach the summit of Everest before Sir Edmund Hillary (dubbed Sir Edmund for his achievement) succeeded in May 1953. On hearing of Hillary's success, Eric Shipton, another great climber with whom Hillary had joined in an earlier attempt to reach the mountain's top, said, 'I'm delighted that it was Hillary who got there. He is a grand person and one of the few I know with character strong enough to withstand the public acclamation which will be coming his way!'"
"Shipton's judgment proved accurate. One can imagine someone who achieved a feat as great as Hillary's having his head turned entirely by his own renown. Instead, Hillary, who had intended to return to his previous career of beekeeper, would devote much of the remaining 55 years of his life to a selfless crusade to improve the lives of the Sherpa people who live in the Khumbu region of
Nepal, in the shadow of Mount Everest. When I visited the Khumbu this past spring, it was obvious that the Sherpas regard Hillary as a saint. His portrait is seen in every tourist lodge. So are the material testimonies to his devotion to the Sherpa people, in the form of the schools, hospitals, and water systems he raised funds for and donated. He was a great climber -- more importantly, he was a good man."
"Hillary's link to Mount Everest was a matter of pure happenstance. Shipton, a distinguished British mountaineer and veteran of several unsuccessful attempts to climb Everest from its northern, Tibetan side, in the 1930, was putting together a team of British climbers to make a first attempt at a reconnaissance of the mountain from its southern Nepalese side in 1950. When he learned that some young New Zealanders were already in the Himalayas on another expedition, he invited them to send a couple of climbers to join him in this new venture. Hillary was one of two who showed up."
"Two years later on another British expedition, this time a full scale expedition, Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers ever to reach the 29,035 foot summit of Everest, the world's highest mountain."
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