KEY POINTS:
In the decades after he conquered Mt Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary devoted himself to improving the lives of the Sherpa people, many of whom lived in dire poverty.
Unlike the battle for Everest, which was conducted in the full glare of publicity, this effort took place well out of the spotlight.
Even so, there was no doubt in Hillary's mind which was the more important.
When he first visited Nepal in 1951 the lush forests and picturesque landscape presented an idyllic image, and the Khumbu Sherpas of the Everest region seemed happy.
Over the years Hillary came to respect them for their generosity and warmth. But the warmth of their welcome belied the grim facts of life in the Himalayan high country.
There were no schools, hospitals or doctors, nor was there any electricity in the villages of the Solo-Khumbu district south of Everest where Hillary spent most of his time.
Most of the people survived hand-to-mouth on crops of wheat, rice, potatoes and maize harvested from their terraced fields.
Others made a tenuous living by spending long dangerous weeks on narrow mountain trade routes into Tibet.
While the world changed around them, the Nepalese remained miserably poor in isolation.
Hillary realised that what the Sherpas needed most were schools and medical treatment, and by 1961 he had decided to do whatever he could to provide them.
So much needed to be done that the first question was, where to start?
The answer was provided by a 15-year-old boy who handed Hillary a petition with the names of 60 children asking for a school to be established in their village, a Sherpa settlement at 3490m. Hillary responded quickly.
That year, using money from New Zealand and overseas, he opened the first school in the Khumjung region, a cluster of stone houses perched in the mountains. He then established the non-profit Himalayan Trust which was used to raise money and to plan for a growing number of projects.
Known endearingly as Bara Sahib (Great Lord), Hillary loomed large in the lives of the Sherpas as the work of the Himalayan Trust gathered momentum. Petitions for help poured in from every corner of Khumbu, Pharak and Solu, the three Sherpa regions.
Working alongside family, friends and the Sherpas, he built two hospitals, more than a dozen medical clinics, bridges, drinking water pipelines and several airfields.
The team also rebuilt Buddhist monasteries and planted a million seedlings in the Sagarmatha National Park. And, of course, the schools - 27 of them.
His hard work paid off and many students of the schools he founded went on to reach heights never dreamed of by their parents. One such school is at Mahendrajyoti, near Lukla in the Khumbu Valley.
By 2001 it had 260 students ranging in age from 6 to 20, some of whom had to walk for two hours to get to their lessons.
The school's history is written on a sign above the door of each of the modest buildings. "Sir Admund Hillari, Block A, 1965," notes one. The "Sir Admund Hillari Block C" was built 20 years later.
When a Herald reporter visited the school in 2000 the principal, Biru Man Rai, said it was largely dependent on help from the Himalayan Trust, particularly for books and desks.
"Getting textbooks, stationery, sports equipment and resources such as furniture is our biggest problem."
Many pupils found work in the travel industry, but the school could also count among its graduates doctors, scientists and academics. The importance of Hillary's contribution shone through at a ceremony held in 2001 to mark two important milestones.
The first was the 40th anniversary of Khumjung School and the second was the achievement of Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa in becoming the first Hillary scholar from a Sherpa community to receive a doctorate.
"Today you stand higher than Mt Everest in our hearts," said Ang Rita Sherpa, an ex-student of Khumjung School who became chief administrative officer of the Himalayan Trust.
Ang Rita and Lhakpa Norbu had good reason to be grateful, as it is unlikely they or other Sherpas would have been able to rise above Nepal's desperate poverty without Hillary's help and encouragement.
Hillary's devotion to his beloved Sherpas was clear to see and even in his declining years he visited his projects, often with the aid of walking sticks and bottled oxygen.
"We will keep Khumjung School and all other activities going strong," he said. "After I become incapable, my wife and friends will help the school through the Himalayan Trust."
The work of the Himalayan Trust has contributed to allowing Sherpas a far better standard of education and health than in any other area of the Himalayas.
A hospital opened by the trust helped wipe out the severe incidence of goitre that plagued the Sherpas because of a lack of iodine in their diets and infant mortality rates have dropped drastically.
Isolated communities benefited from improved health and fundraising around the world allows more than 100 Nepalese students to be awarded scholarships each year.
Sherpas trained in New Zealand work as wardens in Nepal's national parks and almost 100,000 seedlings are planted annually.
Elizabeth Hawley, an American journalist who went to live in Kathmandu in 1959, was a longtime friend of Hillary. As New Zealand's honorary consul in Nepal, she was familiar with Hillary's work among the Sherpas and looked forward to his visits.
He had an enormous impact on the people of Nepal, she said, helping them to pull themselves out of the quagmire of poverty.
"They regard him as a wonderful man who's a great benefactor to them and a great friend.
"The main problem when he started his work was extreme poverty, but over the years, with his schools giving people education, they've been able to find better work and learn English to improve their employment skills."
It was not only the Sherpas' physical welfare that concerned Hillary - he worked through the trust to rebuild and maintain the Buddhist monasteries that are the cultural and spiritual backbone of Nepal.
He believed the Sherpas had something unique in their lofty home, a wealth of art, dance, rituals, scripts and customs that deserved to be protected.
Asked why he had been moved to help the Sherpas, Hillary replied: "It is my ambition to help them restore their lost Shangri-La, not to deny them the advantages of modern technology but to allow them the breadth of understanding to make the wisest choices."
And what did Hillary want to be remembered for? His answer provided an insight into the nature of a remarkable man who combined the spirit of one of the last great adventurers with the generosity of a true philanthropist.
"I don't know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I have enjoyed great satisfaction from my climb of Everest and my trips to the poles.
"But there's no doubt, either, that my most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and medical clinics."
Hillary will no longer visit the Himalayan high country each spring, but his legacy remains and his memory lives on in the hearts of the people of Nepal.
Helping build better lives
As I got older, my wife, June, and I travelled around the world, raising funds for new projects for the Himalayan people. At the request of Sherpa residents, we helped establish 27 schools, two hospitals, and a dozen medical clinics - plus quite a few bridges over wild rivers. We constructed several airfields and rebuilt Buddhist monasteries and cultural centres. We planted a million seedlings in Sagarmatha National Park to replace the vast number of trees destroyed for firewood and used to build the small hotels that came with the growth of tourism.
- Sir Edmund in National Geographic, May 2003
