This is a big loss to the world of exploration, Hillary’s family and also to Himalaya chronicler Elizabeth Hawley, 83, who remained one of Hillary’s closest friends since his great Everest ascent.

Edmund Hillary has passed away, taking a big chunk of Everest history with him.

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary,(July 20, 1919 – January 11, 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.
Hillary was part of a British reconnaissance expedition to Everest in 1951 led by Eric Shipton before joining the successful British attempt of 1953.

In 1952 Hillary and George Lowe were part of the British team led by Eric Shipton that attempted Cho Oyu. After that attempt failed due to the lack of route from the Nepal side, Hillary and Lowe crossed the Lho-La into Tibet and reached the old Camp II, on the northern side, where all the pre-war expeditions camped.

After Everest :Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–61 and 1963–65. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on 4 January 1958. His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles. In 1977, he led a jetboat expedition, titled “Ocean to Sky”, from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source.

In 1979, as he had done previously, Hillary was scheduled to act as a commentator on the ill-fated Air New Zealand Flight 901, an Antarctic sightseeing flight, but had to pull out due to work commitments elsewhere. He was replaced by his close friend Peter Mulgrew, who perished as the aircraft crashed on Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. He later married Mulgrew’s widow.

Hillary took part in the 1975 general election, as a member of the “Citizens for Rowling” campaign. His involvement in this campaign was seen as precluding his nomination as Governor-General, with the position instead being offered to Keith Holyoake in 1977. However, in 1985 he was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to India (concurrently High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Ambassador to Nepal) and spent four and a half years based in New Delhi.

In 1985 he accompanied Neil Armstrong in a small twin-engined ski plane over the Arctic Ocean and landed at the North Pole. He thus became the first man to stand at both poles and on the summit of Everest.

In January 2007, Hillary travelled to Antarctica to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Scott Base. He flew to the station on 18 January 2007 with a delegation including the Prime Minister. While there he called for the British government to contribute to the upkeep of Scott’s and Shackleton’s huts.

On 22 April 2007 while on a trip to Kathmandu he is reported to have suffered a fall. There was no comment on the nature of his illness and he did not immediately seek treatment. He was hospitalized after returning to New Zealand.

Philanthropy

Following his ascent of Everest he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas.

Hillary spoke of his disdain for the attitudes displayed by many modern mountaineers. In particular he publicly criticized New Zealander Mark Inglis and 40 other climbers who, in various groups, left British climber David Sharp to die in May 2006. He said:

I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by.

He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today’s climbers:

They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.

I invite on viewing of gallery of photo…. Discovering Mt Everest with photos from expedition from 1953 -year - Edmund Hillary summit Everest : Album - Summit of Mt. Everst

Legendarny alpinista, poszukiwacz przygód i filantrop był najbardziej znanym Nowozelandczykiem, jaki kiedykolwiek żył - oznajmiła Clark.

Edmund Hillary dokonał pionierskiego wejścia na Mount Everest wraz z Szerpą Tenzingiem Norgayem 29 maja 1953 r. “Załatwiliśmy skurczybyka” powiedział do towarzyszy eskapady po zejściu ze szczytu, a dzięki relacji BBC słowa te usłyszał cały świat. W szeregu wielkich poszukiwaczy przygód stawiają go również inne wyczyny: zdobył m.in. oba bieguny i pokonał łodzią motorową rzekę Ganges od jej ujścia aż do źródeł.

Hillary znany był również ze swej działalności filantropijnej, która koncentrowała się wokół założonego przez niego funduszu powierniczego Himalayan Trust, prowadzącego akcje pomocy dla Szerpów.

Pośród licznych wyróżnień, Hillary miał na swym koncie również Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, którym w 2004 r. odznaczył go prezydent Aleksander Kwaśniewski.
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (ur. 20 lipca 1919 w Tuakau koło Auckland, zm. 11 stycznia 2008 w Auckland) – nowozelandzki himalaista i polarnik, z zawodu pszczelarz.

W latach 1951-1952 uczestnik trzech wypraw himalajskich. 29 maja 1953 zdobył, jako pierwszy człowiek w historii, wraz z Szerpą Tenzingiem Norgayem, szczyt Mount Everest (8850 m).

Do historii przeszły jego słowa “Załatwiliśmy skurczybyka!” (We finally knocked the bastard off.) - wypowiedziane po zejściu ze szczytu Everestu. Nie przypuszczał nawet, że za pośrednictwem BBC usłyszał je cały świat.

Za swój wyczyn został uhonorowany przez królową angielską Elżbietę II tytułem szlacheckim. Natomiast Nowa Zelandia umieściła podobiznę Hillary’ego na pięciodolarowym banknocie. Był pierwszą osobą umieszczoną na banknocie za życia.

W 1954-1967 r. kierował wyprawami nowozelandzkimi w Himalaje i na Antarktydę. W trakcie ekspedycji zorganizowanej w ramach Międzynarodowego Roku Geofizyki (1955-1958) dotarł 3 stycznia 1958 r. do bieguna południowego i przeszedł w poprzek Antarktydę. Następnie przeszedł do nowozelandzkiej służby dyplomatycznej, którą pełnił do 1989 r.

W 1960 r. założył fundusz powierniczy - Himalayan Trust, który prowadzi akcje pomocy dla Szerpów. Dzięki działalności funduszu w himalajskich wioskach wybudowano dla Szerpów 27 szkół, 2 szpitale, 12 ośrodków zdrowia, mosty, wodociągi, a nawet małe lotniska.

Został honorowym obywatelem Nepalu. Tam też zginęła jego żona.

Podczas wizyty w Polsce w czerwcu 2004 r. został odznaczony przez Prezydenta RP Aleksandra Kwaśniewskiego Krzyżem Komandorskim Orderu Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej.

Edmund Hillary jest autorem licznych książek m.in. The Ascent of Everest, High Adventure (1955), Schoolhouse in the Clouds (1965), autobiografii Nothing Venture, Nothing Win (1975), From the Ocean to the Sky (1979).

Zmarł wskutek niewydolności serca, w piątek 11 stycznia 2008, ok. godz. 9 czasu nowozelandzkiego, w szpitalu w Auckland. Informacja o jego śmierci została podana publicznie przez premiera Nowej Zelandii ok. godz. 11:20.

* zobacz : Album - Zdobywanie Mt. Everst

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

From 1921 to 1938 all the British attempts were made via the North Col - North East Ridge route from Tibet. After the Second World War all routes to Mount Everest were forbidden and closed. In 1951 China occupied Tibet, the Chinese stopped all foreign travellers from gaining access to Everest from the traditional route. The British turned there sights to the South Side in Nepal. Permission was granted, which eventually led to the successful 1953 Expedition.

Today, you can reach Mount Everest from both Tibet and Nepal. They both welcome climbers and visitors from all over the world.

Mount Everest, also called Chomolungma or Qomolangma or Sagarmatha (Nepali: सगरमाथा) is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level, which is 8,848 meters or 29,028 feet. The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Nepal and Tibet. By the end of the 2007 climbing season there had been 3,679 ascents to the summit by 2,436 individuals. There have been 210 deaths on the mountain, where conditions are so difficult that most corpses have been left where they fell; some are visible from standard climbing routes.^[4]

Climbers range from experienced mountaineers to relative novices who count on their paid guides to get them to the top. This means climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to $25,000 (USD) per person.^[5]

1. Routes of Mt Everest part 1. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.1. /Version english and polish/

2. Routes of Mt Everest part 2. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.2. /Version english and polish/

3. Routes of Mt Everest part 3. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.3. /Version english and polish/

4. Routes of Mt Everest part 4. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.4. /Version english and polish/

5. Routes of Mt Everest part 5. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.5. /Version english and polish/

6. Routes of Mt Everest part 6. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.6. /Version english and polish/

7. Routes of Mt Everest part 7. Drogi na szczyt Mt. Everest cz.7. /Version english and polish/

to see live this map click on : ChomolungmaNirvana-theRoutesofMountEverestMay292004.shtml

* Read these stories - and more! - at ExplorersWeb.com

* zapraszam do subskrypcji mojego bloga :

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

Kinga Baranowska, first Polish woman to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga.

Kinga’s Summits :

Cho Oyu (8201 m) – October , 2003 ;

Broad Peak (8047 m) – Julay 22, 2006 – The 11 woman ascent;

Nanga Parbat (8125 m) Julay 18, 2007

Dhaulagiri (8167 m) May 01, 2008 – first Polish woman

Manaslu (8156 m) October 5, 2008 – first Polish woman

Kangchenjunga 8586 m) May 18, 2009 – first Polish woman

Chronicles of the expedition, part 10.

Kinga Baranowska, first Polish woman to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga.

On 18th of May Kinga Baranowska as the first Polish woman (Alpinus Expedition Team, KW Warsaw) summited Kangchenjunga (8586 m) which is located in Nepal.

Kangchenjunga have been summited in high winds – however, descent on Kang is reportedly very difficult.

Details are also expected on the summiteers’ safe return in C4.

* Official site : – http://www.kingabaranowska.com/

** – all my post, select category : – Kinga Baranowska

Kinga Baranowska pierwszą Polką, która zdobyła Kanczendzonge.

18 Maja 2009 Kinga Baranowska (Alpinus Expedition Team, KW Warszawa) stanęła, jako pierwsza Polka na szczycie Kangchenjunga 8586 m) położonym w Nepalu.

Kronika wyprawy cz.10.

Relacja – Kinga Baranowska:

Jestem po. Na szczycie stanęłam późno, Góra niewyobrażalnie trudna i wymagająca, dla mnie najtrudniejsza ze wszystkich, na których do tej pory byłam. Jestem ekstremalnie zmęczona, straciłam tez głos od zimnego wiatru, ale tez szczęśliwa. Czeka mnie jeszcze trudne zejście do bazy z obozu IV. Górę tą dedykuje Wandzie Rutkiewicz. Więcej informacji jak zejdę do bazy.

18.05.2009

Jej atak odbywał się w grupie blisko 20 himalaistów z całego świata – głównie z Hiszpanii. Szturmowy obóz IV na wysokości 7700 m Kinga opuściła 30 minut po północy. A szczyt zdobyła po 16 godzinach wspinaczki o godz. 16.45. W ataku szczytowym towarzyszył jej Juanjo Garra. Kinga jest już bezpieczna w obozie 4.

Atak szczytowy odbywał się w bardzo trudnych warunkach, w potwornym wietrze i pyłówkach, a do czwórki szli w śniegu po kolana.

Kinga jest pierwszą Polką na szczycie Kangchenjungi, jest też również czwartą kobietą, która zdobyła tę trudną górę. Kangchenjunga należy do tzw. wysokich ośmiotysięczników, a trudności w kopule szczytowej sięgają II i III stopnia trudności.

Kindze udało się to co nie udało się Wandzie Rutkiewicz, która zginęła 17 lat temu właśnie chcąc zdobyć szczyt Kangchenjungi.

* posty o wyprawach Kingi na mojej stronie kliknij : Kinga Baranowska

Wkrótce album zdjęć z wyprawy – zapraszam.

** poprzednie posty :

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.9.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.8.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.7.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.6.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.5.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.4.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.3.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.2.

- Kangchenjunga Expedition 2009 – wyprawa Kingi Baranowskiej cz.1.

- Polish Himalaya Expeditions 2009 part 4. Himalaje 2009 – polskie wyprawy, cz. 4. /Version english and polish/

- video – Kinga Baranowska w Kathmandu Kangch 2009

Sponsorzy wyprawy.

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

Scott E Fischer (December 24, 1955 - May 11, 1996) an American climber and guide, and the first American to summit 27,940-foot (8,516 meter) Lhotse, fourth highest mountain in the world.

Fischer spent his early life in Michigan and New Jersey and took two years of climbing courses after being inspired at the age of 14 by a show he saw on television. In 1982, he and his wife, Jeannie Price, moved west to Seattle, Washington where they raised two children, Andy and Katie Rose.

In the 1984, Fischer formed his own adventure company, Mountain Madness, which he set up to guarantee clients the summit of the world's highest mountains for fees in the $50,000 range. In 1992, while climbing K2 successfully, he was involved in a daring rescue of Chantal Mauduit, a French woman climber who became severely snow blind. She went on to climb five more eight-thousanders but died in an avalanche on Dhaulagiri (1998). From the 1992 season, Fischer brought a new level of commercialism to adventures from successes of climbing.

He died in the 1996 Everest Disaster on May 11, the worst tragedy in the climbing history of Mount Everest. On May 10, 1996, Fischer, Anatoli Boukreev and Neal Beidleman guided eight of their clients to the summit of Everest. On the descent, the team was caught in a severe snowstorm. All the climbers managed to reach Camp IV on the South Col (7,900 m or 25,900 feet), except Fischer.

Fischer, who had reached the summit at around 3:45pm, had severe difficulties on the descent. Fischer was accompanied by sirdar (chief Sherpa) Lopsang Jangbu, but just below the south summit, Fischer was unable to continue and finally coaxed Lopsang to descend without him. Lopsang did so, with the hopes that he would be able to send someone else back up with additional supplemental oxygen and help Fischer get down. Boukreev, after prematurely descending ahead of his clients earlier in the day, made several attempts to reach Fischer, but turned back on the first two attempts due to the weather, though he succeeded in rescuing several other stranded people.

Finally, around 7pm on May 11, Boukreev was able to reach Fischer's position, but unfortunately it was too late. Many speculate that Fischer had been suffering from a severe form of altitude sickness, either HACE or HAPE. A memorial cairn for Scott Fischer can be found at the top of a hill near Lobuche, on the trail to Everest base camp.

Accounts of what happened in 1996 were described in the books The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev and Gary Weston DeWalt, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, and Left for Dead by Beck Weathers.

In the TV-movie Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, Fischer was played by Peter Horton.

* zobacz : Album - Zdobywanie Mt. Everst

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.