Golden Bear

Sir Edmund Hillary:

Climbing Mount Everest is almost an everyday affair these days. But there was a time when it was just a dream.

The appeal of Hillary, and the ascent of Everest is not the feat, but the humanity. To climb to the top of Mount Everest is not merely to conquer nature, it is a bold step into the world.

It is direct involvement in the endeavor of Life. It is an affirmation of our place as a wild, exuberant part of this world.

Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzin Norgay did not conquer Everest. No mountain is ever conquered. Anyone who it allows to climbed & see its wonders should feel thankful & privileged.They joined Everest, shaking off the insulated civilization and linking themselves directly with the dirt and rock of the ground on which they stood.

A lot of mountaineers die on the mountain, vainly trying to triumph over nature. Hillary, however, lived. He lived as a man in the world, and of the world, at peace with nature.

They saw what no humans had ever seen before.

Sir Edmund continued his adventurous life after the climb, reaching both the North and South Poles.

But, on the whole, he tried to stay out of the limelight, an impossible task once the news broke 1953.

It was a life many just imagine.

"I am a lucky man," he said later. "I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men."

Good Bye