I'm a man of modest abilities - Sir Edmund

Half a century on from his great achievement, Sir Edmund Hillary still plays down being one of the first two men to set foot on the summit of Everest.

Now 83, the former bee-keeper from Auckland, New Zealand, became world famous after reaching the top of Everest with Tenzing Norgay.

But as he recalled this year in a preface to his re-published 1955 book High Adventure: “Ever since ... the media have classified me as a hero, but I have always recognised myself as being a person of modest abilities.”

Hillary went on: “My achievements have resulted from a goodly share of imagination and plenty of energy.”

Generously, Hillary has heaped glory on Tenzing, once saying: “I have never regarded myself as much of a hero, but Tenzing undoubtedly was. From humble beginnings he had achieved the summit of the world.”

In his preface to High Adventure, Hillary said that despite the improvements in technology and equipment for climbing, “I firmly believe that in the end it is the man himself that counts.”

He went on: “When the going gets tough and things go wrong, the same qualities are needed to win through as they were in the past – qualities of courage, resourcefulness, the ability to put up with discomfort and hardship and the enthusiasm to hold tight to an ideal and to see it through with doggedness and determination.”

In a foreword to a new book just out, entitled Everest: Summit of Achievement, by Stephen Venables, Hillary described the last few moments as he and Tenzing reached the top.

Hillary said: “To my great delight I realised we were on top of Mount Everest and the whole world spread out below us.

“Even after 50 years I can still remember my feelings of satisfaction. I had no thought of the impact this ascent might have on the world in general, or indeed in the changes it might produce in my own life. We had succeeded where so many other climbers had failed – that was enough in itself.”

After Everest came other adventures, including a South Pole expedition.

But much of Hillary’s energies have been devoted to Nepal, where his Himalayan Trust has helped build schools, hospitals and bridges and has financed the rebuilding of Buddhist monasteries.

Fittingly, he will be in Nepal this week for the 50th anniversary of the first ascent and will be joined by other summiteers before journeying to London for a reunion with veterans of the 1953 expedition.