Sherpas mourn Edmund Hillary
11/01/2008 13:02  - (SA)  

Everest hero Edmund Hillary dies Theft patrol for Everest Nepal to keep nudes off Everest Climate 'ravaging Everest' Record numbers conquer Everest Farmer wins Everest Marathon Everest garbage dump cleaned Teenager reaches Everest summit Man scales Everest for 17th time Sherpa sets Everest record Hillary in 'chipper' condition

Kathmandu - Nepal's Sherpas went into mourning on Friday following the death of Sir Edmund Hillary, and pledged to ensure his legacy lives on in the community he has helped since the first conquest of Everest in 1953.

"We consider him as a second father," said Zimba Zangbu Sherpa, the vice-president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

"We are planning a memorial and thinking about a statue in the mountaineering park," said Sherpa, who attended one of the first schools set up by Hillary in the Solokhumbu region in Everest's foothills.

The New Zealander conquered the 8 848-metre mountain with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

He returned the following year to launch community projects in the impoverished region around the base of the world's tallest mountain where Sherpas live.

Hillary's trust built schools and hospitals, and trained health workers in the harsh, mountainous region. He also helped build an airstrip to promote tourism.

"His work changed the life of the whole Sherpa community. Without his work, especially the schools, the Sherpas would be nowhere. I am sure it (his work) will continue," Sherpa said.

 

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