Talk:Edmund Hillary

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Contents 1 minstrel? 2 Guide 3 the present? 4 Antarctic 5 Banknote 6 Second? 7 Spelling / Speling 8 Mallory and Irvine 9 King George 10 Some news about/from Hillary 11 Books written by Hillary 12 Some other information 13 Leading a jetboat expedition up the Ganga 14 Totally inadeqate 15 Beautiful 16 Altitude 17 Name(s) 18 Fine 19 Quotation boxes

[edit] minstrel?

Where are you getting this information about Hillary as a minstrel? This "Rastus Melonswipe" stuff looks incongruous in this article and it's hardly noteworthy. Nor is it mentioned in any of his detailed biographies on-line. I admit it's feasible that he was a minstrel. But this anecdote lacks relevance and evidence, and does not warrant a paragraph. Reverting article (again)! No hard feelings? ... Papeschr 05:54, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Guide

My edit-summary reference to "Talk" might better have been to User talk:PatGallacher#Edmund Hillary. --Jerzy(t) 19:54, 2005 Jan 7 (UTC)

Sorry, but this article is still inaccurate. The explanation of "guide" given in the link may be an accurate account of what Alpine guides do, but it is NOT an accurate account of what Sherpas do, as Tenzing explained in his autobiography, see link. They do not train climbers, who in the Himalayas are already experienced. Also, they tend not to know the route beforehand. They basically act as high altitude porters. Also, in 1952 and 1953 Tenzing was more than this, he was a climber in his own right. PatGallacher talk 01:50 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] the present?

this article just seems to stop without any ending. Is he still alive? If so what is his situation now? If not how did he die?Plugwash 19:30, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• Happily he's still alive but keeps a fairly low profile. There was an interview with him on a current affairs show a month or two ago. Other than that he's pretty much retired now. Lisiate 22:56, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Antarctic

No mention of Hillary's trip to the South Pole on farm tractors? (IIRC, he was meant to just establish bases for Fuchs' expedition on more expensive custom-made vehicles, but he decided "sod it, we're going all the way")

Now there is one quote I had never heard.

Here is a URL about the incident. http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/people/fuchs/

Lucky Sherpa Tenzing Norgay didn't study at Cambridge. :-) - Sumburgh 18:32, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Banknote

This entry previously said that Sir Ed was the only living NZer to appear on a banknote. I believe he's the only living person in the world (excluding royals) to appear on a banknote, and have altered the entry accordingly. This is received wisdom here in NZ, and I'd welcome someone disproving me.

Aspidistra, I think the burden of proof is on YOU for making this extravagant claim with no references. How about China? North Korea? Iran? Such places probably have their local tyrants on their banknotes, while not officially 'royal'. Also your proposed wording seems stilted. But thanks for playing. -- Papeschr 12:53, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Isn't the monarch technically a New Zealander? Dmn 14:41, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Up until a little while ago Saddam Hussain appeared on the Iraqi Dinar notes...

I belive that Sir Ed was the first non royal, non head of State, who was alive to appere on notes Brian | (Talk) 01:06, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

• Unfortunately not. Our Monarch is British to the core. Malachi456 03:40, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

• • I wonder she's holds the nationality of all her realms? I'll send off an email. Dmn 00:49, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

• Got a reply yet? I'd be interested to know. Malachi456 09:21, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Second?

Most of us think of Hillary as the first person to climb Everest. It may be true that he was actually the second, but it doesn't make much sense to me to assert that he is "most famous for being the second" as this says.

And he may have been the second to reach the top on this particular expedition, but there is even debate over whether he was the second ever. See the preamble to today's A Word a Day. -- Smjg 14:13, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling / Speling

I've heard quite a few places that he spells his last name "Hilary," not "Hillary." Googling both gives many hits. 1) What IS his real name? 2) Is the spelling controversial, or disputed, or often given incorrectly, or ??? (If YES, this article should mention it and set it straight.) Lou Sander 03:18, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

It's Hillary. Moriori 02:42, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mallory and Irvine

Did somebody hear about a well guarded secret about China having undeniable proof that Mallory and Irvine summited, and that they, the chinese, are holding the information until Sir Hillary dies, afraid that the news will upset the old man too much? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:201.19.171.206

Please sign your posts. Also, comments go at the bottom of the page, not the top. Also, how does anyone know what is contained in a well guarded secret? Also, do you think we should put Conspiracy theory cats on all of the pages you have posted this same comment too? Moriori 23:31, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] King George

"*Arriving back to base, after climbing everest his first words were "well George, I finaly knocked the bastard off.." it is not known if he was refering to King george or his mate also named george." King George VI died over a year before, so most unlikely. GrahamBould 16:43, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

And most assuredly Hillary said "we" knocked it off and not "I" knocked it off. I have fixed that part of it.. Moriori 21:39, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

• Anybody knows why Hillary called Mount Everest "a bastard"? Austerlitz 88.72.20.78 15:38, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some news about/from Hillary

taken from Jeffrey Masson's book Slipping into Paradise: Why I live in New Zealand: In chapter 7 "A Conversation with a Great Ordinary Kiwi: Sir Edmund Hillary"

• Quotation:(about what they did after having reached the summit of Mount Everest)

You know, when we got there, the very first thing he [Tenzing Norgay] did was to dig a small hole and bury some good Swiss chocolate for his deities. He was a very pious Buddhist. "And you? What was the first thing you did?" Well, we were only up there for ten or fifteen minutes, but when I saw him do that, it jogged my memory. You see, John Hunt, the leader of our expedition, had asked me a few days earlier if I could do him a favor.....He said that a catholic priest had given him a small plastic cross and asked that if he ever reached the summit of Everest, would he plant it there............Now, I'm not at all religious, but I do consider myself a reliable friend, so as soon as I remembered I took out the cross and dug a little hole and buried it. You know, later, a priest came to my door and said that he had something for me........He had a medal from him [the pope] to me for having placed the cross on the summit of Everst! I didn't tell him I buried it actually! (pages 162, 163) Austerlitz 88.72.14.183 19:26, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

• Quotation (short one, about heroes):

"Do you have heroes?" Oh yes, Shackleton, my friend Eric Shipton, and the Dalai Lama--who could resist his chuckle after all? (page 166)

[edit] Books written by Hillary

He has written different books, one can see from Amazon, for example. Perhaps somebody wants to add some other book to the mainpage? Austerlitz 88.72.14.183 19:49, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some other information

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000629/ai_n14310734 Article by Robert Winder Austerlitz 88.72.20.78 15:50, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Leading a jetboat expedition up the Ganga

Hillary has lead a jetboat expedition from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source in 1977. I found and find this very interesting when I came to know about that (reading the book of Masson about New Zealand), and I tried to get some more information from internet.

• and in 1977 he journeyed by jet boat to the source of the Ganges. [1]
• In 1977 he led the first jet boat expedition up the Ganges River and continued by climbing to its source in the Himalayas. [2]
• In September and October of 1977, Hillary undertook another of his major adventures—an expedition of three jet boats against the current up the Ganges River of India from the ocean to its source in the Himalayan peaks. [3]
• From the Ocean to the Sky 1977 In an adventure that became a cultural pilgrimage, Sir Edmund Hillary and his New Zealand/ Indian team traveled up the River Ganges from the Bay of Bengal to its source in Himalayan snows.

Their three Hamilton jet boats – Ganga, Kiwi and Air India – were met and welcomed by hundreds of thousands of people who thronged the shores of the river to see the great Hillary, Everest climber, making a pilgrimage on Mother Ganga, the holy river of India. [4]

• 1977 ist er mit einer zwölfköpfigen Mannschaft im Tragflügelboot unterwegs auf dem Ganges, ein Höhenkollaps zwingt ihn aber zur Aufgabe. [5]
• and in 1975 he boated from the mouth of the Ganges River to its shallowest headwaters high in the Himalayas. [6]

• From the ‘Ocean to the Sky’: jetboating up the sacred Ganges river with his father in 1977. They drove up the river from the Sundarbunds in the Bay of Bengal to high in the Himalayas near Badrinath where they made first ascents of Mounts Nar Parbat and Akash Parbat.[7]

Obviously Edmund Hillary's son Peter Hillary has participated in some of his father's famous editions. Austerlitz 88.72.3.53 16:31, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Quotation from Masson's book about this subject: "Thank you. What particulary did you like about that trip?" I loved seeing millions of happy people along the banks, cheering us on. It felt good to be among a friendly, gregarious people, instead of nearly alone on a cold mountain. "I heard that when some of your friends, Jim Wilson, sank one of the boats, and he dreaded having to face you, you just laughed it off, gave him a bear hug, and said let's go on with it." True, why make a fuss over something that's done anyway? I was never one to obsess about the past. Too much to do in the future! (pages 171, 172)

Austerlitz 88.72.14.180 18:36, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Totally inadeqate

This subject needs a lot of work as it currently understates Sir Ed compared to other less important folk with far larger articles. I'll be working over the next few months. XSebX 08:52, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Beautiful

The Son Also Rises by John Elder 88.72.3.53 16:46, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

taken from the homepage of Peter Hillary, [8]

Austerlitz 88.72.17.86 09:16, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Altitude

The current official height of Sagarmatha is 8850m, not 8848. I'm aware that Nepal still observes 8848 as the height, but we know now by GPS data that it is not. China also observes a different height, something like 15 meteres shorter than 8850, but that has not received any attention as the GPS data continues to show that Sagarmatha is growing is still closer to 8850 (+ a bit) than 8848. I have changed the info in the article.--Bentonia School 04:32, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

"Official height" according to whom? Not according to China or Nepal. The US National Geographic Society, who claim that Khardung La is 5682 m and Pico de Orizaba is 5749 m? I do not think NGS claims should be regarded as official. A single GPS survey by the NGS? Most GPS surveys, including the most recent Chinese survey, support 8848 m for the snowcapped summit. The last survey in which Bradford Washburn actively participated in the field is no exception. In reality, the true elevation is subjective because of geoid considerations and variable snow and ice cover, so I oppose the case for departing from the traditional 8848 m other than for promotion of the NGS. If you wish to pursue this issue, then please re-insert the case that you made, then deleted, on Talk:Mount Everest, then allow time for a debate, before changing the main article here again, or on Mount Everest. Thanks. Viewfinder 10:05, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll take the debate to the Everest Talk page. And looking back on my original message here, I see my typos (in grammar and info...); sorry about that. To the Everest page, then.--Bentonia School 13:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Name(s)

taken from the site about Mount Everest:

• The ancient Sanskrit names for the mountain are Devgiri (Sanskrit for "Holy Mountain") and Devadurga (the English pronounced it deodungha in the 1800s).[1]. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.72.17.86 (talk) 09:07, 24 January 2007 (UTC).
• [1] = [9]

• In the early 1960s, the Nepalese government realized that Mount Everest had no Nepalese name. This was because the mountain was not known and named in ethnic Nepal (that is, the Kathmandu valley and surrounding areas). The government set out to find a name for the mountain (the Sherpa/Tibetan name Chomolangma was not acceptable, as it would have been against the idea of unification (Nepalization) of the country. The name Sagarmatha (सगरमाथा, Sanskrit for "Head of the Sky") was thus invented by Baburam Acharya.

• The Tibetan name is Chomolungma or Qomolangma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, meaning "Mother of the Universe"), and the related Chinese name is Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng (珠穆朗瑪峰) or Shèngmǔ Fēng (聖母峰).

Austerlitz 88.72.17.86 09:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fine

Whoever did it, thanks to this fine changing of the mainpage.

Austerlitz 88.72.17.86 11:21, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quotation boxes

In this edit, Andeggs reformatted the quotations into quotation boxes. I'm not certain that that's an improvement. Setting the quotations off like that seems to disrupt the flow of the article. However, I'm certainly not going to impose my opinion without discussion. What do other editors think?--HughGRex 21:45, 3 March 2007 (UTC)