Hillary slams booze parties on top of the world

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of his historic conquest of Mount Everest, Edmund Hillary complained that legions of modern-day climbers were holding drunken parties at base camp and then scrambling to the summit on fixed ropes and ladders.

“I have always felt the great moments on Everest were the moments when one was meeting challenges – climbing by yourself over the Lhotse icefall, up on the south-east ridge, battling against wind and weather,” he said in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital.

“Just sitting around in a big base camp, knocking back cans of beer, I don’t particularly regard as mountaineering.”

As he spoke, a helicopter with nine people aboard crashed about 100 yards from the Everest base camp, located at 17,380 feet.

A BBC correspondent at the scene reported three deaths. A Nepalese official said two were killed.

The Russian-built helicopter came down as it tried to land near where hundreds of climbers had gathered to mark the golden jubilee of Hillary’s and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of the 29,035 foot summit.

Huge pieces of the aircraft flew into the air as it attempted to land in the shadow of Everest. The cause of the crash was not known.

The MI-17 helicopter belonged to Simrik Air, a domestic company. Among the injured was its pilot.

He and another person were in critical condition and were flown to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

BBC reporter Tom Heap witnessed the crash: “It was a truly horrific scene. We went over and the chopper itself was keeled over in a glacial stream. There were people trapped underneath, some alive and some dead.”

A German woman was reported to be among the injured.

The anniversary celebrations were also marred a clash between police and anti-government protesters in Kathmandu.

Officers used tear gas and batons to disperse 5,000 opposition supporters angered that the nation’s king last year dissolved the elected Parliament and set up a royally-appointed Cabinet.

In the past few days Hillary, now 83, has been lauded as a hero in Kathmandu. At his news conference he said he appreciated his warm welcome in Nepal as well as the worldwide interest in his feat.

However, the legendary New Zealander voiced concerns about the future of Everest, which he wants closed to new expeditions.

“At the base camp, there are 1,000 people there, with some 500 tents, and a booze place for drinks and all the other comforts,” Hillary said.

Many of them got there by flying to an airfield at Lukla that Hillary built to bring materials for hospitals and schools for the Sherpa community in the years after he and Tenzing Norgay scaled Everest on May 29 1953.

“For a while,” Hillary said, “I wondered whether I had done a bad thing, made it too easy for foreigners to come up.”

But he felt the Sherpas’ culture was strong enough to withstand the outside influences, “although they are tempted by our Western money, as we are.”

He acknowledged that Nepal had changed during the past half century, with bustling streets and cars in the capital.

Some Sherpas earn enough money to send their children abroad for education.

But what hasn’t changed, he said, was the people’s warmth and the Sherpas’ laughter around night-time camp fires.

He said the lives of the Sherpas in the Khumbu region around Everest had improved with schools and health centres built by his Himalayan Trust.

Hillary refused to comment on the Nepal political situation, saying he had accomplished much by staying away from politics and religion.