View from the Summit: The Remarkable Memoir by the First Person to Conquer Everest » (Reprint)

Sir Edmund Hillary was born in 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand, and served in the New Zealand Air Force during World War II. Knighted for his ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, he achieved many more adventuring "firsts" before establishing the Himalayan Trust, an organization devoted to improving the lives of the Himalayan people. He has two surviving children by his first wife, Louise, who died in a plane crash with their third child. He is now married to June, widow of his Antarctic partner Peter Mulgrew. Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary live in Auckland.

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE STORY OF

AN ORDINARY MAN WHO BECAME THE

CENTURY'S MOST IMPORTANT EXPLORER

Adventurers the world over have been inspired by the achievements of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man ever to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. In this candid, wry, and vastly entertaining autobiography, Hillary looks back on that 1953 landmark expedition, as well as his remarkable explorations in other exotic locales, from the South Pole to the Ganges. View From The Summit is the compelling life story of a New Zealand country boy who daydreamed of wild adventures; the pioneering climber who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth after scaling the world's tallest peak; and the elder statesman and unlikely diplomat whose groundbreaking program of aid to Nepal continues to this day, paying his debt of worldwide fame to the Himalayan region.

More than four decades after Hillary looked down from Everest's 29,000 feet, his impact is still felt -- in our fascination with the perils and triumphs of mountain climbing, and in today's phenomenon of extreme sports. The call to adventure is alive and real on every page of this gripping memoir.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Roar of a Thousand Tigers

2. A New Pair of Overalls

3. From Bees to Flying Boats

4. South of Everest with Shipton

5. Waiting for Everest

6. Getting to Camp VII

7. The Challenge of Makalu

8. Antarctic Preparations

9. To Depot

10. To the Pole and Back

11. Yetis in Thin Air

12. Tent-testing, School-building

13. Family Adventures

14. Disaster

15. Mother Ganga

16. Chairman Emeritus

17. High Commissioner

18. Worlds Revisited

Index