Sir Edmund Dies

Who is Sir Edmund? For those who are hikers and trekers, Sir Edmund Hilliary is a familiar name and he was the first climber reached the peak of Mt. Everest. He died yesterday at the age 88, an eminent figure in his day, still an elevated figure in hiking world today. His achievement not only confined to record breaking feast with Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide to reach the top in 1953, but he has done a great deal thereafter for Nepalese children near Himalaya region, building school and facilities that provide better education condition for local kids. His dead signified an end of a generation of expeditions that wrapped with rumors that he was not the first to reach the top in that era of mountaineering.

I didn't know who was Sir Edmund until I was interested in hiking. There are so much to talk about fierce competition between countries how to get their man as the first one to reach the highest point. Although Sir Edmund represented Untied Kingdom to reach the top, he was a New Zealander, a local hero of South Island, a place near Queenstown where my wife and I paid a tour last Summer. Anyone interested to see pictures of South Island, please click this http://picasaweb.google.com/GaliaShum/SouthIslandNewZealand?authkey=J3Sp0PrmB64 Sir Edmund is a local god that people worship him and his accomplishment. There passed another huge figure at least as we hikers see him in the hiking world.