KEY POINTS:
The ice axe Sir Ed used to conquer Everest sat on his coffin yesterday, as uncomplicated as the man himself.
He wielded it by its wooden handle to, in his words, give "a few more whacks" to ascend the summit.
But the ice axe was yesterday described by mountaineers of the time as "just an ordinary old workhorse".
However ordinary, its pick gave Sir Ed the required purchase to be the first man up the 12m rock face that would come to be known as the "Hillary step" and the adze on the same end cut out the steps up the mountain.
The ferrule spike on the other end assisted Sir Ed when he used it like a walking stick for balance.
The long ice axe like Sir Ed's and those held by mountaineers in his guard of honour have since been surpassed by shorter versions made from high-tech material.
But there was nothing ordinary about the ice axe for Second Lieutenant Steve Fisher of the New Zealand Army, who was given the task of carrying the ice axe on a cushion in and out of St Mary's Church yesterday.
The 27-year-old from Te Puke said he was "ecstatic" to have been assigned the job.
