Sir Ed’s daughter Sarah Hillary on climbing Everest her way: ‘This is for my dad’

Sir Edmund Hillary's daughter Sarah Hillary is setting out to conquer Everest in her own way. Photo / Amalia Osborne

She’s internationally renowned for her work as an art conservator, but since retiring from the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki last August, Sarah Hillary has found a new way of utilising her skills – working with extended family on her famous father Sir Edmund Hillary’s legacy.

This month, Sarah, 68, is walking and running the height of Everest, fundraising for the Summit Challenge. It’s a programme run by The Himalayan Trust, the charity set up by her father and managed by her nephew, Alexander Hillary, which raises money for healthcare and education for Nepalese mountain communities.

“Obviously the area is very important to our family and I’ve been to Nepal many times – although when I was younger, I wasn’t interested in Everest at all,” she tells. “I always asked to be left out of that discussion!

Sir Edmund Hillary, right, with his first wife Louise and children Sarah (left), Peter and Belinda. Photo / Getty Images

“In the books, it sounds wonderful, but then you read how they nearly died or fell … that doesn’t sound nearly as fun. My brother Peter loved it, though. He’s climbed Everest twice, but I’m not a climber. I was the one afraid of heights in our family!”

Only later in life did Sarah decide she wasn’t going to be afraid. “Everyone assumes being part of the Hillary family, I’d be fine with heights, so I pretended I was. And I gradually got better with it.”

After a stellar career that included restoring a stolen James Tissot artwork in 1998 and heading up the team that uncovered a fake Gottfried Lindauer painting in 2015, Sarah officially hung up her art tools after 40 years – but her to-do list is longer than ever.

Sarah Hillary working on Portrait of a Lady with a Dog. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly

“I loved my job and didn’t want to retire,” admits Sarah, whose miniature art is exhibited in Auckland’s Anna Miles Gallery. “But to be a good conservator, there’s a huge requirement to stay abreast of new techniques and it’s time for the younger generation to have their turn. I still help out and see some former colleagues regularly – we do craft together. So I don’t feel like I’ve totally left, but I have moved on to other things.”

Sarah is embracing having more freedom to travel. The keen tramper is walking some of New Zealand’s mountain regions for the Summit Challenge, using them as good training for another hobby – marathon running. Last year, she ran Auckland’s Aotearoa Afghanistan Marathon to support the freedom of Afghani women who left their country since the Taliban takeover, and in 2020, aged 63, she completed an 85 kilometre ultra-marathon.

“I love running, but I had to take time off because of injuries,” she says. “Recovery seemed to take forever, which happens when you get older. I’m coming right now and I’ve signed up for a 45km race this year – but I’ve taken insurance!”

Facing her fears and rising to a challenge is in Sarah’s DNA. She studied art history at the University of Auckland, completed her master’s in art conservation in Canberra and did an Advanced Getty Internship in Williamstown, Massachusetts, despite getting pregnant aged 20 by accident, two years after her mother Louise and sister Belinda died in a plane crash en route to join Sir Ed in Phaphlu, Nepal, where he was helping build a hospital.

“That was a tough time, but getting pregnant made me realise unless I did something, I was going to have a very boring life,” says Sarah, who is mum to Arthur, 47, and Anna, 44. “My father was worried about Peter and me after our mother’s death, and was a strong advocate of me going to university.”

But taking a master’s degree with two young children in the 1970s wasn’t simple.

“At that time, there wasn’t a lot of sympathy for mothers,” she recalls. “I’d go to classes, then run down to the other end of the university to breastfeed Anna. People thought I was slacking off. My father was very supportive, though, and encouraged me to have a good career.”

Sarah is still using her considerable art skills. Two years ago, she helped convert the Nepal schoolhouse Sir Ed built in 1961 into a museum, she’s doing a conservation history project for the art gallery, and is working with Peter and other members of the family to continue honouring her dad’s legacy.

“Apart from the Himalayan Trust, several operations carry our family name, like the Hillary Institute, Hillary Outdoors and the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award,” she explains. “I feel if there’s an opportunity to do something good, why not? You never know when your time for going on adventures and being physically active will end, so I’m enjoying it while I can.”

For more information on the Summit Challenge, visit summitchallenge.org