 Just heard the news that Edmund Hilliary has died - news here A sad day indeed.
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 By all accounts a thoroughly decent bloke. Too few of 'em left unfortunately. As you say, sad.
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 Here as well. Sad indeed.
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 A very decent bloke. I remember how excited everyone was when the news of Everest came through on the morning of the Coronation. Very sad.
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 Sad news, I won tickets in an OM competition to see Jamling Tenzing Norgay do a lecture about his Father and Sir Edmund's first ascent of Everest. Quite an achievement.
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.jpg) I understand he devoted the rest of his life to helping the people of Nepal and those who still work as Sherpas. R.I.P
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 A great man in every sense of the word. He could have taught todays pretenders what true celebrity is and how to handle it. He inspired a generation not only with his staggering achievement in climbing Everest, but with his humility and his dedication to the Sherpa people. A true hero who well never be replaced.
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 A sad day RIP And long may his work in the Nepalese communities live on!
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 Sad indeed, RIP
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 RIP
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 RIP. By all accounts a truly great man and climbing that big hill was quite an achievement as well
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 Yes a very sad day, but he lived to a good age and notwithstanding his achievement on Everest, his work for the people of Nepal will be his most enduring legacy. Just on a slightly annoying note, the BBC still refer to 'Sherpa Tenzing' instead of 'Tenzing Norgay' and to Sir Edmund as 'the first man on the summit' whereas I thought the pair of them never actually revealed who that was, preferring to share the honour. I sincerely hope some of our news reports do not cause offence to national pride in Nepal.
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rip
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 There's a Jim Perrin obituary in the Guardian today which I think sums up the man nicely. Linked in our news article above:
'Ed Hillary will certainly not be remembered as having been among the front rank of technical innovators in the sport of mountaineering. His was more nearly a case of the right man being in the right place at the right time.
'But the vigour and boldness with which he seized that opportunity, and the altruistic use to which he put his subsequent celebrity are worthy of the highest respect. He could be brusque, tendentious and dismissive, but he was also kindly, direct, and both decent and incorruptible to a degree seldom found among those of great fame.'
For me it wasn't just the achievement of climbing Everest that marked him out, but the good use he made of it particularly in Nepal.
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 I was in Auckland on the day he died and it was a major national event as you might expect. He wasn't "just" a mountaineer but a real ambassador for New Zealand. Flags were at half mast everywhere and there was talk on the radio of a state funeral. A very sad day indeed.
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