Intrepid climbers taking on Mt Kilimanjaro for The Humpty Dumpty Foundation in August 2009
The sons of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay – the legendary Everest team that first conquered the world’s highest peak in 1953 – are planning their first joint assault on Mt Kilimanjaro.
Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay will lead a team of climbers to the peak of Tanzania’s highest free-standing mountain in July next year.
And the accomplished mountaineers, who have each twice followed in their famous fathers’ footsteps up Everest, are making the ascent for The Humpty Dumpty children’s charity in Sydney.
“The Hillary-Norgay summit of Everest back in the 1950s is a great story and for the two sons to be climbing Kilimanjaro together is pretty special, particularly as they are doing it for charity,” Humpty’s chairman and founder Paul Francis told me. “Peter Hillary is really excited about it, and so am I. It will take the event to a whole new level and hopefully get more people involved.”
The New Zealand-based Hillary, 55, climbed Everest for the first time in 1990 making him and Sir Edmund the first father-son duo to make the summit. Norgay, 44, has twice scaled the epic peak the Sherpa people call The Mother Goddess of the World – the first time in 1996 during the most disastrous climbing season on the mountain when 15 people died.
Norgay wrote the best-selling book, Touching My Father’s Soul, which gave a compelling account of the disasters from the Sherpas’ points of view. American writer Jon Krakauer was also on the ascent with another adventure team and wrote Into Thin Air about the trek in which five of his fellow mountaineers died.
Norgay, who lives in Nepal, and Hillary recreated their fathers’ journey in 2003 when they took on Everest together to mark the 50th anniversary of that celebrated first summit of Chomolungma as the Tibetans call the mountain.
The 2010 Kilimanjaro trek follows The Humpty Dumpty Foundation’s first successful summit of Kili in August this year, which raised $1.35 million for the charity.
Federal Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and Francis, who was awarded the Order of Australia in the recent Queen’s Birthday honours list, led the inaugural group of 22 trekkers including Paralympian Kelly Cartwright, Sunrise co-host David Koch, and paediatrician Jonny Taitz.
They made the summit under a full moon on August 5 after 12 hours of climbing.
The Humpty Kili Club at the Uhuru Peak 5890mt above sea level
“It was harder than anyone imagined, even after spending the previous five days acclimatising to the altitude,” says Francis. “It was the hardest thing we have ever done. Equally though, it’s also one of the most amazing things we’ve ever done.”
And now the charity, which buys vital life saving medical equipment for more than 60 children’s wards in hospitals around Australia and East Timor, is preparing to do it all again under the guidance of Norgay and Hillary, and possibly Hillary’s daughter Amelia.
“There’s an enormous amount of support for it,” says Francis.
