SA: Everest respect worth more than being first Tenzing

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-1999
SA: Everest respect worth more than being first Tenzing

By Sam Lienert

ADELAIDE, Aug 31 AAP - It doesn't matter if it was Sir Edmund Hillary's foot or that of
Tenzing Norgay that first touched the summit of Everest.

What counts to Tashi Tenzing, grandson of the famous Sherpa, is the reaction of the two men
after conquering the world's highest peak.

Commenting on a passage in Sir Edmund's recently released book, View From The Summit, which
hints the author was the first man to the top, Tenzing says the respect his grandfather paid
to the mountain was more important.

"It's always been a theory that my grandfather and Hillary climbed together to the highest
point; we still strongly believe that," Tenzing told AAP.

"We do know the family tradition, what the story was. For the public and the media it seems
to be that they made it together, but it doesn't matter who gets to the top first, you can't
climb Everest alone.

"I know recently Hillary said he was the first; we believe there's only one picture (on the
summit) and that's of my grandfather.

"But if you read the book very carefully, when my grandfather got to the top he thanked
Chomolungma (the Sherpa name for Everest) for having him there.

"Hillary came down and said he 'knocked the bastard off'. I would like to see what my
grandfather did, done more often."

Tenzing, in Adelaide to give a public lecture on his family's climbing history, said the
Himalayas were important religious sites for the Sherpas and Chomolungma was believed to be
the Mother Goddess of the world.

He followed the tradition of his grandfather and uncle by making his own ascent in 1997,
the first time three generations of one family reached the summit.

On an earlier attempt in 1993, to mark the 40th anniversary of the first successful climb,
Tenzing turned back just 400m from the summit. His uncle and another climber reached the peak
but his uncle died on the way down.

"Fifteen Sherpas helped me bring him down and they cremated him, which is very important
for the Sherpas. I could have made it to the top but I could have died," Tenzing said.

Tenzing strongly believes he was meant to eventually reach the summit.

"More than being in the blood when you're born in the family circle of Tenzing it's a very
special, prestigious thing to be. It's always been in my mind to stand there and carry on my
grandfather's wonderful tradition."

AAP scl/sn/kr

KEYWORD: TENZING

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