News: Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008

It's a bit surprising to some that the peak of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, was first reached only 50-odd years ago by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary. Of course, since then, the summit has been reached by plenty of people, although the mountain has also claimed hundreds of lives. Now Hillary has passed away.

Modern climbers of the peak could learn a lot from Hillary's example. Most know about his monumental climbing achievement, but few ever heard of his decades of charitable work for the people of Nepal. Hillary, perhaps one fo the 20th century's greatest adventurers, was also one fo its most responsible.