Photo Gallery Remembering Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Mount Everest, died Friday in Auckland, New Zealand. He was 88 years old.
Hillary finished his historic trek to the peak of the world's tallest mountain on May 29, 1953. He was joined at the summit by his guide, a Nepali Sherpa named Tenzing Norgay.
Mount Everest, towering above the Nepali Himalayas at 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level, was identified as the world's tallest peak in the mid 19th century by a team of British surveyors. When Hillary and Norgay reached its peak in 1953, they accomplished a feat that had already stymied hundreds of explorers before them.
After conquering Everest, Hillary and Norgay arrived in London to a hero's welcome. Their arrival at the summit came just a week before the coronation of Queen Elzabeth II, and their feat was hailed as a gift to the new monarch.
In a ceremony in Nepal in 2003, Hillary was honored on the 50th anniversary of his accomplishment. He is pictured with his second wife, June Hillary (middle), and Junko Tabei, who became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1975.
Jamling Sherpa reflected before a picture of Hillary in Kathmandu on Friday. Hillary continued to many other adventures after conquering Mount Everest, but he was most proud for his philanthropic work on behalf of the Sherpa people in Nepal. He established the Himalayan Trust to fund a deforestation program and build schools.
A New Zealand flag flew at half mast Friday at the Scott Antarctic Base to commemorate Hillary's life. Hillary crossed Antarctica on an expedition during the Antarctic summer of 1957 and 1958.
Hillary will be remembered internationally as a brave adventurer and a philanthropist. But the knighted explorer preferred to be called "Ed," and often listed his occupation as "beekeeper."
