60 Fun Facts About Edmund Hillary

On what date did Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the summit of Everest?

The news reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and the press hailed it as a coronation gift.

What was Hillary's trade before he became famous, working with his father and brother?

The family ran 1,600 hives; he kept bees in summer, climbed in winter, and took 12 to 100 stings a day.

A 1935 school trip to which NZ volcano sparked Hillary's interest in climbing at 16?

He later said the trip made him want to 'see the world', and he took up tramping instead of studying.

Hillary's first major climb, in 1939, took him to the summit of which peak in the Southern Alps?

It stands near Aoraki / Mount Cook, and the trip brought him the first real friends he said he had ever had.

What role did Hillary serve in with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II?

He flew in Catalina flying boats and was badly burnt in an accident in the Solomon Islands in 1945.

Which self-improvement movement did Hillary spend five years with in the late 1930s?

His test lecture was on 'Inferiority: cause and cure', and he credited the movement with teaching him to speak confidently in public.

Who led the 1951 British reconnaissance expedition to Everest that Hillary joined?

With him Hillary climbed high on Pumori for the first clear view of the whole Western Cwm.

Which 8,000-metre peak did Hillary attempt unsuccessfully in 1952, the year before Everest?

When the attempt was abandoned, he and George Lowe crossed illegally into Tibet to look at Everest's north side and the pre-war camps.

Who led the 1953 expedition on which Hillary reached the summit?

An army colonel, he replaced the expected leader at the last minute; Hillary objected at first, then was won over by his energy.

Which pair made the first summit attempt on 26 May 1953, turning back just below the top?

They reached the South Summit but one man's oxygen set failed within 300 vertical feet of the top.

What did Hillary discover on the morning of the summit climb, costing him two hours over a stove?

The pair then set off with 30-pound packs from a tent pitched at 27,900 feet.

The final obstacle below the summit, a 40-foot rock face, is now known as what?

He wriggled up a crack between the rock and the snow, then chopped steps over 'bump after bump' to the top.

When did the pair reach the summit?

They had left their high camp at 6.30 am and reached the South Summit at 9.

Roughly how long did Hillary and Tenzing spend on the summit?

Hillary photographed Tenzing with his ice-axe raised, but there is no summit photo of Hillary, who declined to pose.

What did Hillary leave on the summit of Everest?

Tenzing buried chocolates in the snow as an offering to the mountain's gods.

Descending from the summit, Hillary greeted the first teammate he met with which famous line?

The teammate was his old friend George Lowe, who had prepared the Lhotse Face for the expedition.

What finally settled the argument over which of the two men set foot on the summit ahead of the other?

A banner in Kathmandu had shown Tenzing dragging a 'semi-conscious' Hillary to the top; both men always called it a team effort.

Jan Morris sent news of the Everest summit in code. Which phrase meant 'summit reached'?

The full message ran 'Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement': the last two phrases identified Hillary and Tenzing.

What honour did Hillary learn he had received when he got back to Kathmandu?

The expedition leader was made a Knight Bachelor, while Tenzing, ineligible for a knighthood, received the George Medal.

Why could Tenzing Norgay not be knighted for the ascent?

Instead he received the George Medal, and King Tribhuvan gave him the Star of Nepal.

What was cameraman Tom Stobart's Oscar-nominated film about the climb called?

The mountaineers took roughly 400 people up the approach, including 362 porters and 10,000 pounds of baggage.

Hillary reached the South Pole overland in January 1958 as part of which venture?

He led its New Zealand section, and his party was the first ever to reach the Pole in motor vehicles.

What vehicles did Hillary's party drive to the South Pole?

He was only supposed to lay supply depots for the British party, but pressed on to beat them to the Pole.

Who led the British half of the trans-Antarctic crossing that Hillary supported, then beat to the Pole?

He completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 99 days and was knighted for it.

Hillary's party was only the third to reach the South Pole overland. Who were the first two?

Those parties arrived in 1911 and 1912; the third came 46 years later, and by tractor.

Which station did Hillary's team set up on the Ross Sea side of Antarctica in 1957?

New Zealand still runs it, and its flags flew at half-mast when he died in 2008.

Which world-famous astronaut flew with Hillary to the North Pole in 1985?

That landing made Hillary the first person to have stood at both poles and on the summit of Everest.

Hillary's 1977 'Ocean to Sky' expedition travelled by jetboat up which river?

The team ran from the river's mouth to its source in the Himalayas.

What did Hillary's 1960–61 Silver Hut expedition seek besides physiological data?

Physiologist Griffith Pugh also showed on that trip that Everest could be climbed without oxygen after long acclimatisation.

When Hillary brought back three 'Yeti scalps' for testing, what were they?

He concluded that the yeti was 'not a strange, superhuman creature' and that most sightings had rational explanations.

Which US television game show did Hillary stump as a mystery guest in 1962?

The baffled panel included Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf and Merv Griffin.

How did Hillary's first wife Louise and daughter Belinda die in 1975?

They were flying to join him at Phaphlu, where he was building a hospital; the plane crashed shortly after take-off.

Hillary was booked to guide which fatal 1979 journey, but cancelled due to other commitments?

His close friend Peter Mulgrew took his place and died.

Whom did Hillary marry in 1989?

His first proposal, in 1953, terrified him so much that he had the bride's mother ask on his behalf.

In what year did Hillary's son Peter first summit Everest?

Peter climbed it again in 2002 for the 50th anniversary, alongside Tenzing's son Jamling.

What organisation did Hillary found in 1960 to help the Sherpa people of Nepal?

He led it until his death, and it is credited with building many schools and hospitals in the region.

Where was the first school built by Hillary's trust, opened in June 1961?

It was put up in a week from prefabricated aluminium sections after Sirdar Urkien asked Hillary for a school for his village.

Beside which village did Hillary's trust build a 1964 airstrip, renamed for him and Tenzing in 2008?

It was built so materials for schools and hospitals could be flown in rather than carried for weeks.

How many schools did Hillary's trust build in its first 30 years?

The Nepalese government took over running them in 1972, but the trust still supplies teaching resources.

From 1985 to 1988 Hillary served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to which country?

He was concurrently ambassador to Nepal and high commissioner to Bangladesh, and spent four and a half years in New Delhi.

Which chivalric honour did Hillary receive in 1995?

He had already been made one of the first Members of the Order of New Zealand in 1987.

Hillary has appeared on which New Zealand banknote since 1992?

He was the only living person other than a reigning head of state ever to appear on New Zealand currency.

What condition did Hillary attach to appearing on the banknote?

He insisted a New Zealand mountain, not the Himalayan one, stand behind him.

What honour did Nepal give Hillary in 2003, the 50th anniversary of the ascent?

He was the first foreigner ever to receive it.

Where in the solar system is a mountain range named Hillary Montes?

The range was spotted by the New Horizons probe in July 2015 and named by the International Astronomical Union.

Rugby test matches between England and New Zealand have been played for which trophy since 2008?

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award in New Zealand was also renamed the Hillary Award the following year.

Where were most of Hillary's ashes scattered after his death in 2008?

The remainder went to a Nepalese monastery near Everest; a plan to scatter them on the summit itself was cancelled in 2010.

How old was Hillary when he died of heart failure in January 2008?

He was given a state funeral, and flags flew at half-mast in Antarctica.

Which US magazine named Hillary one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century?

Reader's Digest polls from 2005 to 2007 separately named him New Zealand's most trusted individual.

Hillary's role in which 1975 campaign is thought to have cost him the governor-generalship?

The post went to Keith Holyoake in 1977 instead.

How tall did Hillary grow, after being smaller than his peers as a boy?

He said he gained confidence after taking up boxing at school.

What was Tenzing Norgay's original birth name?

A head lama had it changed; his adopted name translates roughly as 'wealthy fortunate follower of religion'.

Which honour did the Indian government give Hillary posthumously in 2008?

It is the country's second-highest civilian award.

Hillary's family moved in 1920 to which town south of Auckland, where his father founded a newspaper?

Percy Hillary had been allocated eight acres there as a returned Gallipoli soldier and edited the Tuakau District News.

Roughly how many hives did the Hillary family bee business run?

Hillary kept bees in summer, climbed in winter, and took between 12 and 100 stings a day.

In 1948 Hillary was in the first party to climb the south ridge of which peak, renamed Hillary Ridge in 2011?

It is New Zealand's highest mountain; Hillary later insisted it, not Everest, appear behind him on the $5 note.

Which mountain, the world's fifth-highest, did Hillary's expedition fail to climb in 1954?

Hillary stayed with the expedition for five of its ten months.

How did Hillary handle proposing to Louise Rose in 1953?

He admitted he was terrified; they married on 3 September 1953, soon after Everest.

Who was offered the New Zealand governor-generalship in 1977 after Hillary's political activity ruled him out?

Hillary had campaigned for Labour in the 1975 election as a member of 'Citizens for Rowling'.

Which national honour did Hillary become only the fourth person to receive, in February 1987?

He had already received the Polar Medal in 1958 for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.