“As I chipped steps, I wondered how long we could keep it up,” Sir Edmund said. “Then I realised that the ridge now dropped sharply away. I looked upward to see a narrow ridge running up to a sharp point. A few more whacks of the ice axe and we stood on the summit.”

There was a modest celebration. “We shook hands and then, we thumped each other on the back until forced to stop from lack of breath,” Sir Edmund remembered.

They took photographs and left a crucifix for Hunt, the expedition leader. Norgay, a Buddhist, buried biscuits and chocolate as an offering to the gods of Everest.

Worldwide heroes overnight, they were greeted by huge crowds in India and London. A controversy over whether Sir Edmund or Norgay had been first to stand on the summit threatened briefly to mar the celebrations, but Hunt declared, “They reached it together, as a team.”

Sir Edmund continued his life of adventure, climbing mountains and once crossing the Antarctic continent, lecturing and making public appearances, and serving as New Zealand’s high commissioner, or ambassador, to India, Bangladesh and Nepal from 1985 to 1988.

Friends, fans remember Hillary as a ‘great giant’ of a man

Helen Clark

New Zealand Prime Minister

“Sir Edmund described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was a heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off’ Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity.”

... contd.