Sir Edmund Hillary dies age 87

He devoted all of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan trust, which he founded and to which he had given much of his time and energy. Through his efforts he had succeeded in building many schools and hospitals in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas. Hillary spoke of his disdain for the attitudes displayed by many modern mountaineers. In particular he publicly criticized New Zealander Mark Inglis and 40 other climbers who, in various groups, left British climber David Sharp to die in May 2006. He said: "I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by." He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today's climbers: "They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die."

It is a bit sad I must say and the world will carry on in it's own time I guess. I have thought about going up Mt Everest but I don't believe I'd get too far up. I have asthma, epilepsy and other medical conditions that could but not neccessarily will ruin the chances. I'd have to say that to do this you would have to have very good strength, pretty good health and have to believe in yourself that you could actually do it in the first place.