Hillary Scales Everest -50 years ago

Hillary Scales Everest - May 29, 1953

Everyone ones knows the Sir Edmond Hillary was the first to scale Mt. Everest…. but is that really true. Maybe the first was his guide, and I bet you don’t even know his name. Click the link and find out… plus you can watch some newsreels from the event. And while many folks believe that Hillary said the line - (when asked why he climbed it)… BECAUSE IT’s THERE… it was actually a different climber… who gave the summit the good old English try, equipped with canvas tents for protection. These early guys were either totally gutsy - or out of their minds, or perhaps - had no idea what they were in for. Now that we have Goretex… it sure makes it seem easy. Oh yeah… who said that line… why it was George Leigh Mallory, of course. Recently - they found his frozen body on a difficult route to the summit. One final cool tidbit… thanks to recent GPS navigation and some fancy abacus crunching - it was determined that Everest was about 7.3 feet taller than previously accepted measurements of elevation. (29,035.3 feet vs. 29,028 feet).

In closing… think Robert Goulet, (from the Sound of Music)… singing Climb Every Mountain. Sorry… that was cruel… hope you can get that tune outta of your head. hee hee hee…