World mourns Sir Edmund Hillary

The world's most famous New Zealander, Mt Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary, has been remembered as a "colossus" following his death in hospital, aged 88. Sir Edmund, who died of a heart attack after a long illness, was known in the Nepalese mountains, which propelled him to global fame, as "burra sahib" or "big man" for his 188cm frame.He enjoyed a reputation to match it, too, and it grew to Everest proportions in the half century since he became the first person to stand on top of the world's highest mountain on May 29, 1953. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Sir Edmund described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities, but in reality he was a colossus. "He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," she said, in a reference to the climber's most famous quote. Sir Edmund, while descending the 8,848-metre peak, had announced his greatest achievement to a fellow climber with the words: "We knocked the bastard off"."He was a quintessential Kiwi," Clark said. "He was ours - from his craggy appearance and laconic style to his directness and honesty." Acting Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Sir Edmund's name was "synonymous with adventure, with achievement, with dreaming and then making those dreams come true". Australia's climbing community added to the accolades, saying the first man to reach the "top of the world" was also one of the most down-to-earth.Tim Macartney-Snape, who has twice followed Sir Edmund's lead in scaling Everest, said the New Zealander was a great humanitarian. "His fame didn't change him at all, he just used that for his work for the people of Nepal," he said. Brigitte Muir, who in 1997 became the first Australian woman to climb Everest, said Sir Edmund spent a lot of time trying to better the lives of people in Nepal, especially women and children.
"I think he was a very caring person who lived his life to the fullest," she said.
Millionaire adventurer and philanthropist Dick Smith, who flew solo around the world by helicopter, said: "To me he was the greatest adventurer of the 20th Century." New Zealand Governor-General Anand Satyanand said Hillary's loss was "a loss for all those who sought to improve our world"."Sir Edmund was an important role model, a leader who showed how to set goals and achieve them," he said.Hillary's conquest was barely a week old when he was honoured with a knighthood at the age of 33, one of the new Queen Elizabeth's first acts, but he reacted with typical modesty."I could see myself walking down Broadway, Papakura, in my tattered overalls and the seat out of my pants," the former beekeeper recalled, "and I thought 'That's gone forever. I'll have to buy a new pair of overalls now'."He consistently refused to confirm he was first to reach Everest's summit, waiting until the death of his sherpa climbing partner Tenzing Norgay in 1986 to do so.He made his last visit to the Himalayas in April 2007, visiting with Sherpas in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu.A year earlier, he flew to Antarctica to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of New Zealand's Scott Base, which he helped build in 1957.Without fanfare and without compensation, Hillary spent decades pouring energy and resources from his own fundraising efforts into Nepal through the Himalayan Trust he founded in 1962, building hospitals, health clinics, airfields and schools. It was on a visit to Nepal that his first wife, Louise, 43, and 16-year-old daughter Belinda died in a light plane crash on March 31, 1975.Hillary remarried in 1990, to June Mulgrew, former wife of adventurer colleague and close friend Peter Mulgrew, who died in a passenger plane crash in the Antarctic. He is survived by his wife, children Peter and Sarah and several grandchildren.
Hillary's family has accepted the government's offer of a state funeral on a date to be announced, and Sherpas plan to hold a service in the Himalayas for the man they called a "second father".Flags flew at half mast on NZ government buildings on Friday, as well as at New Zealand's Scott Base in Antarctica.