Chapter
The Saga Of A Mountaineer and An Explorer
06
4. Answer the following questions:
a) What is the nationality of Sir Edmund Hillary?
Ans: Sir Edmund Hillary is a New Zealander.
b) What is the height of Mt. Everest?
Ans: The height of Mt Everest is 29,035 feet.
c) When and who navigated the first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight?
Ans: The first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight was navigated by Charles A.
Lindbergh in 1927.
d) Why did numerous expeditions to Mt. Everest fail?
Ans: Numerous expeditions had failed as dozens of experienced
mountaineers, including many Sherpas, the Nepalese people famed as
climbers, had been killed – buried in avalanches or lost and frozen in
sudden storms that roared over the dizzying escarpments.
e) Who are the Sherpas?
Ans: The Sherpas are an ethnic group native to the Himlayas, primarily
residing in Nepal and Tibet. They are renowned for their exceptional
mountaineering skills, endurance and knowledge of the high-altitude
terrain. Sherpas have played a crucial role in numerous expeditions to
climb the Himalayas, including Mount Everest, the highest peak in the
world.
f) What did George Leigh Mellory say when he was asked why he wanted to
climb Mt Everest?
Ans: George Leigh Mellory replied that he tried to climb Mt Everest because
it was there.
g) Who was the leader of the group which included Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgay in the 1953 Everest expedition?
Ans: Colonel Henry Cecil John Hunt was the leader of the group which
included Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in the 1953 Everest
expedition.
h) How many climbers, Sherpa guides and porters and how much food were
there for the expedition to Everest?
Ans: The expedition to Everest included a siege group of a dozen climbers,
35 Sherpa guides and 350 porters carrying 18 tonnes of food and
equipment.
i) What is Hillary Step and how did Hillary define it?
Ans: Hillary Step is a sheer face of rock and ice 40 feet high that Sir
Edmund called as the most formidable obstacle on the ridge.
j) What is the date on which Hillary and Tenzing reached the top of Mt
Everest?
Ans: Hillary and Tenzing reached the top of Mt Everest on May 29, 1953.
k) How did Queen Elizabeth II honour Edmund Hillary?
Standard- X Uripok Bachaspati Leikai, Uripok, Imphal, Manipur 795004 1
Ans: Queen Elizabeth II made Edmund Hillary a Knight Commander of the
order of the British Empire.
l) Who received the George Medal of Britain?
Ans: Tenzing Norgay received the George Medal of Britain.
m) How was the controversy of whether it was Hillary or Tenzing who first
got on to the summit?
Ans: When Colonel Hunt’s declared that both Hillary and Tenzing reached
the summit together as a team solved the controversy of whether it was
Hillary or Tenzing who first got on the summit.
n) Write about the adventures of Sir Edmund Hillary after his Mt Everest
Expedition.
Ans: After his Mt Everest expedition, Sir Edmund Hillaey along with a
British Commonwealth team crossed the Antarctic on an overland route
that traversed the South Pole. In 1960, Sir Edmund led a highly published
but unsuccessful search for the Abominable Snowman. In 1977, he led a
jetboat expedition titled, “Ocean to Sky” from the mouth of the Ganges River
to its source. In 1985, accompanied by Neil Armstrong, flew a twin-engine
ski plane over the Arctic and landed at the North Pole.
o) Who is Neil Armstrong?
Ans: Neil Armstrong is the first man to set foot on the moon.
p) What is the name of the book written or co-authored by Sir Edmund
Hillary about the Antarctic experience?
Ans: ‘No Latitude for Error’ published in 1961 was the book written or co-
authored by Sir Edmund Hillary about the Antarctic experience.
q) What is the name of Edmund Hillary’s father and what is his profession?
Ans: Percival Augustus Hillary was the name of Edmund Hillary’s father
and he was a commercial beekeeper.
r) Why did John Hunt choose Hillary as a member of the 1953 expedition
that conquered Everest?
Ans: John Hunt chose Hillary as a member of the 1953 expedition that
conquered Everest because Hillary was a specialist in ice- climbing
techniques. He climbed the Swiss Alps and got to know British
Mountaineers with Himalayan experience. He began climbing peaks of more
than 20,000 feet in Nepal.
s) What is the remark made by Sir Edmund Hillary on recalling his 1953
experience of standing on the top of Mt Everest?
Ans: The remark made by Sir Edmund Hillary was, “The whole world
around us lay spread out like a giant relief map, I am a lucky man. I have
had a dream and it has come true and that is not a thing that happens
often to men”.
Uripok Bachaspati Leikai, Uripok, Imphal, Manipur 795004 Standard X
