RIP Sir Edmund Hillary

I wonder how the other Hillary is taking his death, considering she was named after him and all that.

 

I know... I would have been pretty excited...

 

Sirs, Madames,

A story I've cited here before. Years back I had to do an obit on an Ottawa-based guy, self-styled mountaineer, whose claim to fame was that he designed and hand-made the sleeping bags that Hillary and Tenzing used on their conquest of ye olde mt. So on deadline I'm scrambling ... family, all warm and fuzzy tales about the great man's contribution to history. The extra call: Directory in NZ. Yup, Sir Edmund was a listed #. And, no, he assured me, he didn't use the sleeping bag. The obit ended up running quite small. Sleeping dogs lie.

YD&OHS, etc

 

Oh, man, I had completely forgotten that Clinton lie...
I guess they all run together...

 

St. Peter: So, Mr. Hillary, why do you want to come through these gates?
Sir Edmund: Because they're there.

 

Booooooooo!

 

Dude was a stud. Read a book about George Mallory a few years back. Mallory was believed to have been about 200 feet or so from the top when he went over the side a decade or two before. Why hasn't there been a notable movie about Hillary's accomplishment?
RIP Ed.

 

I bet he was pissed for a couple seconds.

 

Nope. Even though having the Rocket and Neil Armstrong on the same card also makes sense.

 

He'd have made Whitefish Bay if he'd put 15 more miles behind -- oh, wrong Edmund.

 

Seriously, how is he an envelope pusher if he needed locals to help him get there?

That would be like discovering a new world populated by lots of people already there.

 

Then why do we celebrate Columbus Day?