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As a child growing up in Nepal, Giri Kattel listened to his father telling him stories about a man called Sir Edmund Hillary.
"Fathers would tell stories about Sir Edmund to inspire their children to climb life's mountains and aim for greater heights," Mr Kattel said.
"I really enjoyed listening to the stories and reading books in school of the first man who went beyond horizon."
Mr Kattel, 40, who moved to Auckland in 2006, now shares these stories to inspire his daughter.
"Sir Edmund is regarded almost like a man-god with the power to go above the horizons, and is a big legend for the Nepali people," he said.
Mt Everest is known as Sagarmantha to the Nepalese, meaning beyond horizon. Until that day in May 1953, it was thought to be impossible for any human to scale its peak.
In Nepal at the weekend, Sherpa friends of Sir Edmund lit butter lamps and offered special Buddhist prayers in monasteries for the mountaineer, calling him a great philanthropist and friend of Nepal.
Commemorations also took place across India, where mountaineers from the Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation lit candles to pay their respect in front of his portrait in the northeastern city of Siliguri.
In New Zealand, the president of the New Zealand Nepal Society, Manohar Shreftha, said the local Nepalese community was still in shock at the news of the death of the man whom some regarded as the father of Nepal.
The society, with the NZ Nepal Association and the non-resident Nepali Association, will meet at Ferndale House, Mt Albert, this evening to finalise plans for a fitting tribute for a man who has helped to build hospitals, health clinics, airfields and schools, and devoted time, energy and resources to give Sherpa and Nepalese families a better life and education.
It is likely to include a memorial service on January 23 at the Mt Albert War Memorial Hall, presentation of a condolence book signed by members of the local Nepalese community to Lady June Hillary, and publishing a book containing memories they have of Sir Edmund.
There are about 200 Nepalese families living in New Zealand.
Sherpas who are involved with the Himalayan Trust, an organisation Sir Edmund founded in 1982 to help with his work in the mountain kingdom, will be arriving here over the next few days to be part of this tribute.
Sir Edmund was the patron of the NZ Nepal Society and was instrumental in forming a special bond between Nepal and New Zealand. Mr Manohar said Sir Edmund would be "irreplaceable".
Mr Kattel, who is the secretary of the NZ Nepal Association, said his biggest concern was that this special relationship would be affected without Sir Edmund.
"'He has put New Zealand into a special place in our hearts. His death really makes us feel like we have lost a family member. Some of us even feel like we have lost everything."
