Sir Edmund Hillary

These are the inspirational stories of great men and women who have blazed the next generations' trail with their remarkable feats.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

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Edmund Hillary's famous quote

'People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.'

Interesting facts Sir Edmund was 6 feet 5 inches tall. He was a navigator with the New Zealand Royal Air Force during WW II. He was knighted by Queen Elisabeth II after reaching the top of Everest. This is why you often see him referred to as "Sir". Mount Everest is 29,029 feet high. It is named after a British general who surveyed India named Sir George Everest. The local name for the mountain is Chomolungma, which means 'Mother Goddess of the Sky.' Edmund wrote several books about his adventures including High Adventure, No Latitude for Error, and The Crossing of Antarctica.

Sir Edmund Hillary was born on July 20,1919 and died on January 11,2008 in Auckland, New Zealand

He got interested in climbing when he was 16 years old and climbed his first big mountain when he was 20 years old. He continued his love of exploring and climbing mountains in the comings years, escalating many mountains.

Although Edmund Hillary is mostly famous for being the first to the top of Mount Everest, he continued to climb other mountains and to be a world explorer. He climbed many other peaks in the Himalayas over the next several years. He ever took an expedition to the South Pole in 1958.

The government of Nepal would only allow one expedition a year,so this was a big deal.The leader of the expedition,John Hunt,asked Hillary to join in the climb.There were over 400 members of the expedition.They climbed the mountain in stages, moving to a higher camp every few weeks and then getting acclimated to the high altitude. At each stage fewer and fewer people would continue to climb. Once they got to the final camp,there were two teams chosen to climb the last stage to the summit.One team was Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Finally, on May 28, 1953, Hillary and Tenzing were the first to climb to the top of the world! Because the air was so thin, they only stayed at the top for a few minutes before returning to tell the world of their achievement.

He was the first person to climb Mount Everest.

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