New Zealand adventurer, Edmund Hillary, spent his life exploring and climbing the tallest mountain ranges in the world. He was born a mountaineer and was the happiest in the mountains. In 1953, Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa climbing partner, Tenzing Norgay, reached the top of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world! Nobody before them had succeeded in climbing to the top, the two explorers were the only people on Earth to conquer Everest. The climbing of the Himalayan peak brought Edmund and Tenzing world fame and Hillary was knighted by the British crown to become Sir Edmund Hillary. After his adventures he established the Himalayan Trust and generously contributed money to the impoverished country of Nepal to build schools and hospitals.