Q 01/05

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

A) 29 May 1952

B) 15 April 1953

C) 29 May 1953

D) 2 June 1953

Answer · why

C) 29 May 1953

They reached the summit on 29 May 1953; the news reached London on 2 June, the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and the press hailed it as ...

Q 02/05

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

A) Boat builder

B) Sheep farmer

C) Beekeeper

D) Schoolteacher

Answer · why

C) Beekeeper

Beekeeper: Hillary worked the family's commercial hives with his father Percival and brother Rex, keeping bees through the summer and climbing in wint...

Q 03/05

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

A) Mount Tongariro

B) Mount Taranaki

C) Mount Ruapehu

D) Mount Ngauruhoe

Answer · why

C) Mount Ruapehu

Mount Ruapehu, the North Island's highest peak, was where the 16-year-old first met snow and mountains on a 1935 school trip; he found his endurance o...

Q 04/05

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

A) Mount Ollivier

B) Mount Tasman

C) Mount Sefton

D) Mount Aspiring

Answer · why

A) Mount Ollivier

Mount Ollivier, a modest 1,933 m peak on the Sealy Range above Mueller Hut, was his first major summit, reached in 1939, four years after the school t...

Q 05/05

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

A) Mechanic

B) Navigator

C) Pilot

D) Radio operator

Answer · why

B) Navigator

Navigator: he joined the RNZAF in 1944 and flew as a navigator in Catalina flying boats in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, where a boat accident in 1945...