54 Candles Expedition

Sir Edmund Hillary I Presume?

By Allen Sherpa

Ten men – most from the White Mountains of Arizona – will launch an assault on the summit of Mount Hood, Oregon’s highest mountain, in the early morning hours of Friday the 13^th of April, 2001. Allen Sherpa was invited to participate, but declined. With this letter, he’s staying in close contact with the climbing party.

I’m afraid I’m starting to get a touch of this climbing bug. I didn’t realize being nuts was a communicable disease, but hopefully I’ll get over it with a little bed rest and hot chicken soup. I’ve actually taken to reading books on mountain climbing, this hobby of the mentally hobbled.

I started thinking these people that run up and down Mount Everest for sport were pretty sharp. I’ve now read “Into Thin Air”, “Climbing High” and “Climb”, three books written by survivors of the 1996 tragedy on the world’s highest mountain. The authors are all very well spoken, educated, seemingly intelligent people that do this stuff for “fun”. Trouble is that just about the time they’ve got me convinced, I read about how the author or some expedition partner got killed on the next climb.

What’s really got me going now is the big debate on who really was the first human to ever climb Mount Everest. It has long been acknowledged that it was Sir Edmund Hillary and his climbing partner in 1953. However, there are some people that believe that George Mallory actually made the summit at 29,028 feet in 1924. He’s not available for comment because he fell off the mountain and wasn’t found until just recently.

Still, Sir Edmund Hillary was clearly the first to summit and return. I’ll tell you what Ridge Rocket, that’s good enough for first place in my book. Sir Edmund has actually become a bit of hero to me. I haven’t had one of those in my life since Mickey Mantle rocketed one over the third deck and out of Briggs Stadium 40 or so years ago. Sir Edmund went through some amazing challenges to get to the top of the world and legend has it, he’s just a normal guy that dedicated the rest of his life to helping people. To me, that’s what a hero’s made of.

With Sir Edmund taking on hero status, you can imagine how excited I was when someone offered to sell me a leather-bound copy of his autobiography – hand signed by him! I’m not normally into autographs unless they’re on the signature line of checks made out to me, but Sir Edmund Hillary? Holy jumar, Snow Boy! There will never be another “number one” person to climb the world’s “number one” mountain. I’d give four Elvis’ for one Sir Edmund. So I bought the book.

When I got home and starting looking at the signature, I was finding it hard to believe I had this thing and I started to worry. I’m starting to think that I may have just been taken for a little ride. Now I’m frantic. How can I verify that this was really signed by the king of mountaineering?

I gave my wife my best “What are you, nuts?” look when she said, “Why not ask Sir Edmund Hillary himself?”

Well, I gave it some thought and concluded maybe I am nuts. After all, I’m still giving some thought to the Mount Hood thing aren’t I? But, here’s one of the world’s most famous men – that travels the world – that supposedly lives in New Zealand when he’s not traveling – and I’m supposed to find out how to contact him. The American Himalayan Foundation (of which he’s the Honorary Chairman) wouldn’t even give me a mailing address for him. But, I wasn’t to be foiled.

After some of the most creative research I’ve done in years, I finally got a phone number. He doesn’t have an office, so if it was a valid number, it had to be his home. Yea, right. Who am I trying to kid? But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

After three days and nights of self doubt and anxious anticipation, I finally decided to spend the twenty dollars it would take to call New Zealand. What if it really was his number? Surely, he wouldn’t be home. I’m sure a man of his stature wouldn’t be taking calls from someone like me, especially if he knew I wouldn’t climb Mount Hood with you guys.

The phone actually was ringing and then a woman’s voice on the other end. I feigned surprise that it wasn’t answered with a business greeting and I said I was trying to locate the office of Sir Edmund Hillary. I grimaced in preparation for the well deserved lecture on how rude it was to invade the privacy of someone so famous.

With a warm and cordial voice, the woman said, “I’m his wife and he doesn’t have an office. We’re just here at the house.” I begged her forgiveness for the intrusion and asked if she would give me an address to which I could send a simple question. Her voice carried her smile around the globe and she said, “Why don’t I let you ask him. He’s right here.”

Suddenly, the distinguished, yet friendly voice of Sir Edmund Hillary, the most famous mountain climber in the history of mankind greeted me. I felt like a little kid meeting Babe Ruth. We talked for a while. I finally described the book and asked him if he thought he had signed such a book. “Yes, I did” he said.

I was speechless. I’d actually met a true hero.

If that’s what mountaineers are really like, maybe I should consider going on this expedition after all. When I grow up, I want to be just like him. Well, I guess that’s another story.