It is said, after three failed attempts, Sir Edmund Hillary looked at Mount Everest and said with a clenched fist, You have defeated me again. But I will return and I will defeat you. As Mt Everest you cannot grow any further, but as a human being, I can !
On May 29th, 1953,Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, conquered Mt Everest.
Years later he said, It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
On him being a international hero, he says, I was just an enthusiastic mountaineer of modest abilities who was willing to work quite hard and had the necessary imagination and determination. I was just an average bloke; it was the media that transformed me into a heroic figure. And try as I did, there was no way to destroy my heroic image. But as I learned through the years, as long as you didnt believe all that rubbish about yourself, you wouldnt come to much harm.
On his spirited efforts he says, You dont have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals. The intense effort, the giving of everything youve got, is a very pleasant bonus.
On being asked, what were your thoughts up there, he says, While standing on top of Everest, I looked across the valley, towards the other great peak, Makalu, and mentally worked out a route about how it could be climbed it showed me that, even though I was standing on top of the world, it wasnt the end of everything for me, by any means. I was still looking beyond to other interesting challenges.
On being asked, was standing over Mt Everest the best moment of your life, he says, Reaching the summit of a mountain gives great satisfaction, but what for me has been more rewarding in life than the result of our climb on Everest, is when we have devoted ourselves to the welfare of our Sherpa friends by building hospitals and schools.
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