| FEATURES - fun stuff from the band for friends & fans |
| WHAT IS THE HILLARY STEP? |
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| No,
it's not a new Hip-Hop move created by the First Lady turned Senator!... Did you really think that? With apologies to all you mountain climbers, here's a brief explanation of Sir Edmund Hillary & "his" Step. Sir Edmund, Tenzing Norgay & The Hillary Step by Jon, and (sick guitarist & climber) Marshall Goff The Hillary Step is the last difficult move on the South Col route of Mt. Everest. It is not just any forty feet, it is forty feet of sheer rock and ice, practically vertical in its incline. It is hairy, to say the least, for those who would seek to traverse it on their quest to the top of the world. After the Hillary Step, only a few hundred feet of (relatively) easy walking gets you to the top. The first recorded Westerner to climb it was Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953. After a nearly impossible climb, he and his Sherpa guide,Tenzing Norgay, made it past the treacherous pass and entered history as the first people ever to conquer Mt. Everest. After overcoming this very difficult leg of the climb and achieving glory, Sir Edmund coined that forty feet of rock and ice that no one had ever before defeated as The Hillary Step. The climb and the Hillary Step are featured in the book Into Thin Air, as well as the IMAX movie Everest, and, not surprisingly, in every book about climbing Everest on the South Col route. Update January 4th, 2008; Sir Edmund Hillary, The HIllary Step's namesake has passed away. We bid a sad farewell to the legendary and inspirational explorer...Read the New York Times OBITUARY |
INDEX "Biography" of the Band Hell with Van Morrison What is The Hillary Step? |
