dead Edmund Hillary

[The Miser 17]

"Prepare ye the 'just in case' obit" my source has been instructed. Just in case he pops off over the Christmas break that is.

 

 

By the way...I want to thank Gunjaman's criptic post for tiping the balance so as to include Sir Edmund

[Banshees Scream 107]

What was the last time Edmund Hillary picked up a f****n tooth brush? Has it been since 1953? He may have been a master of exploration climbing the mighty Everest but it's clear to me that his explorative skills never went as far as making an appointment at the dentist.

[Canadian Paul 93]

Well done DL, though a pity that it had to be him; I'd never heard anything but good about him

 

Hopefully Suharto will cark it tomorrow, giving DL its first "two in one day" hit, and being a far less regrettable one. Not to mention that Suharto is a HDP candidate of mine, whereas Edmund Hillary was featured on exactly zero of my lists.

[HSR3 0]

Ahhh very pleasing - just the sort of start that was needed

I agree. I get the feeling 2008 is gonna be better than 2007 in every respect...

[chicago103 34]

Well he is looking down at Mount Everest now.

 

He is the most significant death of 2008 thus far, but the year is still very young.

 

Also, a personal oddity is that yesterday was my last day working at The North Face here in Chicago, amoung other things a store that sells mountain climbing equipment including many people who climb Everest.

[thefunkyfaz 51]

Also, a personal oddity is that yesterday was my last day working at The North Face here in Chicago, amoung other things a store that sells mountain climbing equipment including many people who climb Everest.

 

You...sell...people?

[Anubis the Jackal 76]

You know, having thought about it last night, it's a real shame that mountaineering has become so trivialised. When Hillary and Tensing acheived their feat, it was at a time when their type were true heroes. I remember the likes of Scott, Hillary and Messner were prime-time documaentary fodder. Now you'd need to have appeared on Big Brother and ascend Everest on an inflatable pig to get any coverage.

[Gwynhafyr 0]

You know, having thought about it last night, it's a real shame that mountaineering has become so trivialised. When Hillary and Tensing acheived their feat, it was at a time when their type were true heroes. I remember the likes of Scott, Hillary and Messner were prime-time documaentary fodder. Now you'd need to have appeared on Big Brother and ascend Everest on an inflatable pig to get any coverage.

 

 

Glad we're off to an early start but sad that it had to be him.

 

I told my 14 year old about it this morning and his reaction was 'who?' Disgraceful!

 

Anyway back to the subject at hand. Does anyone know whether he returned to bee-keeping after his great achievement? Just curious.

[Poetry Man 2]

I feel a poem coming on:

 

"River Deep, Mountain High" as sung by Tina and Ike,

Edmund went up that mountain, it was one hell of a hike;

And now Sir Eddie's bit the dust, and gone up even higher,

Or perhaps he went the other way, which would be much more dire.

 

So Bye Bye Edmund, I couldn't be sadder,

Unless you were the other Edmund - you know, he of Blackadder,

From now on and for all time, it is ever rest for you,

Ever rest above Everest, how fitting, how thrilling - how true.

 

Poetry Man - Circa 2008, Danbury, Connecticut, USA.

[InquilineKea 68]

Bah I didn't expect Hillary to die this year since he did do a few things in 2007 and didn't look like he was near death.

 

but heart attack explains it all.

[Paul Bearer 5,649]

From 29,023 up to 6 feet under

[sleepflower 0]

RIP Edmund..................1-0 to the DL!

[Octopus of Odstock 1,856]

You know, having thought about it last night, it's a real shame that mountaineering has become so trivialised. When Hillary and Tensing acheived their feat, it was at a time when their type were true heroes. I remember the likes of Scott, Hillary and Messner were prime-time documaentary fodder. Now you'd need to have appeared on Big Brother and ascend Everest on an inflatable pig to get any coverage.

 

Not having heard the news until a few hours ago, I thought the same on my way back to work. When I was a lad, I was told, not just by family about this man, but in documentaries both for children & adults -the aforementioned Scott & his battle with Amundsen, Shackleton, Livingstone & Stanley, the space pioneers & the lunar astronauts & Hillary & Norgay.

 

They don't make them like that any more.

 

None of my co-workers (but then they are ignorant Heat-reading fools anyway) had heard of Hillary - shame on them. Or is it? Is it shame on history teachers or parents to not tell these stories of inspiration to new generations?

 

Thanks Sir Edmund for giving us the hope to dream & prove anything is possible. RIP & well done to all those teams who chose him on the DDP. I'm trying to wait for Suharto to snuff it so I can do three obits at the same time.

 

PS When I read Messner my mind instantly went - Tammy Faye climbed a mountain? Shows what DL does to you...

[themaninblack 2,112]

He should down in history with the likes of Francis Drake and Captain Cook. A true great...

[Canadian Paul 93]

Thanks Sir Edmund for giving us the hope to dream & prove anything is possible. RIP & well done to all those teams who chose him on the DDP. I'm trying to wait for Suharto to snuff it so I can do three obits at the same time.

 

Saves a lot of time, huh?

 

Regarding the rest of what you wrote, I haven't thought to ask people I know whether or not they knew who Hillary was, but I can attest that I certainly did, and long before DLing times as well. When I was young, I used to buy all those quick-read paperbacks about things like ghosts, monsters, unexplained phenomena, natural disasters, all sorts of morbid curiosities. The natural disasters ones always contained brief mention of Hillary and Norgay's exploits. Granted, I never heard about it in history class, but it doesn't really fit into the curriculum these days I suppose. They should throw it in during Phys. Ed class, as something inspirational while we're all trying to avoid dodgeballs or running around the track or something.

[Death Watch Beatle 40]

Still on the subject of mountaineering. Last weeks edition of the excellent programme "Coast" featured the chimney like stack of "The Old Man of Hoy" in the Orkneys. This pile of rock has been around for about 400 years, but it took until 1966 for it to be climbed by Chris Bonington. But get this, it took him and his team THREE days to get up it. I think the pair climbing it on the programme took five hours. Perhaps Chris Bonington could be the last of the mountaineering heroic types.

 

DWB

[Death Watch Beatle 40]

There is some more talk about old mountaineers here.

 

DWB

[Godot 148]

Perhaps Chris Bonington could be the last of the mountaineering heroic types.

 

DWB

There are others left: Doug Scott, Kurt Diemberger Reinhold Messner and Peter Habler all come to mind.

[Youth in Asia 1,023]

nICE PICK

 

Here's to a successful 08

[Gunjaman5000 30]

The funeral's today, in about half an hour. Here's a link, it's being streamed live if anyone's keen.

[VSBfromH 74]

Hillary's family upset over pizza ad

 

"Hell Pizza posted the animation which depicts Hillary, Australian actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother emerging from graves and dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller, two days before Halloween, just 10 months after the adventurer's death."

[halleluyahjohntudor 5]

Hillary's family upset over pizza ad

 

"Hell Pizza posted the animation which depicts Hillary, Australian actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother emerging from graves and dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller, two days before Halloween, just 10 months after the adventurer's death."

 

Do you mean Hillary Clinton?

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,132]

Hillary's family upset over pizza ad

 

"Hell Pizza posted the animation which depicts Hillary, Australian actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother emerging from graves and dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller, two days before Halloween, just 10 months after the adventurer's death."

 

Do you mean Hillary Clinton?

Only if the thread was about her and the fact that she was dead.

[halleluyahjohntudor 5]

Hillary's family upset over pizza ad

 

"Hell Pizza posted the animation which depicts Hillary, Australian actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother emerging from graves and dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller, two days before Halloween, just 10 months after the adventurer's death."

 

Do you mean Hillary Clinton?

Only if the thread was about her and the fact that she was dead.

 

...and that entry clinches this year's utterly pointless and witless observation award. Well done.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,132]

Hillary's family upset over pizza ad

 

"Hell Pizza posted the animation which depicts Hillary, Australian actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother emerging from graves and dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller, two days before Halloween, just 10 months after the adventurer's death."

 

Do you mean Hillary Clinton?

Only if the thread was about her and the fact that she was dead.

 

...and that entry clinches this year's utterly pointless and witless observation award. Well done.

Sorry fella, the only thing thats utterly pointless and witless is you.

Not quite as smart as you think you are, are you.