Last updated 22:29, Wednesday, 06 February 2008

IN A COUNTRY where rugby is the god, the nation’s most beloved hero was a mountaineer.

New Zealand loved Sir Edmund Hillary, as did Britain and Nepal and India and any other country which came in contact with a man who was a true hero.

In fact, while he came to prominence as the first man to conquer Mount Everest, it was only after the climb that Sir Edmund Hillary became a true hero in the eyes of the world.

Ed Hillary died of a heart attack last week at the age of 88. Even as I write this column, a state funeral is being planned in New Zealand. And that is no less than this remarkable man deserves.

We use the word “hero” easily these days, often referring to overpaid sportsmen whose antics off the field are nothing to be proud of.

In the case of Ed Hillary, however, it was what he did when he came down from the mountain that made him such a special man.

In the first place, he never, ever let the world know who got to the summit first - himself or Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

It was not until Tenzing wrote his own book that he gave the credit to Hillary. In fact the only photos of the historic ascent are photographs of Sherpa Tenzing taken by Edmund Hillary. He didn’t bother to organise one of himself.

A shy, lonely, bookish child and teenager, Edmund Hillary devoured tales of adventure and especially of mountaineering. He served in the New Zealand Royal Air Force during the war and returned to his father’s beekeeping business after the war, spending all his money and holidays on mountain climbing.

He rose to the top of the world (literally and figuratively) by becoming the first man to climb Mount Everest changed his life forever. He could well have rested on his laurels. He could have made a fortune with speaking engagements, endorsements and books. He could have become famous for being famous and pioneered the route that so many celebrities take today.

Ed Hillary did none of that; he kept exploring and challenging himself, he made several excursions to the Antarctic and was instrumental in the establishment of the Scott Base, where flags were flown at half mast last week. In fact he made his last visit to the Antarctic only last year.

But what made this man truly great was the way he repaid his debts. He remained a close friend of Tenzing Norgay until the man who accompanied him up the mountain died in 1986.

He also became a friend to the Sherpa peoplewho lived at the foot of the great mountain.

Over the years, people have lost count of the number of hospitals and schools he was instrumental in building. He dedicated his life to these people in one of the most remote parts of the world.

I remember when he was the subject of the New Zealand version of This is Your Life. At the end of the programme several Sherpa people came on. They had been flown from Nepal to say their thank-you’s to a man who had devoted his life to their welfare. It was very moving, and what made it so moving was that there was no sense of “them and us”; no sense of the great benevolent “White Father”. Hillary loved the Sherpas as much as they came to love him.

He faced personal tragedy when his wife and daughter were killed in an air crash, but even this he handled with heroic bravery and with dignity.

Edmund Hillary, I am sure, could have had anything he wanted. In a poll in the 1990s he was overwhelmingly voted the country’s favourite son - beating even the most legendary rugby players.

If he’d wanted to, he could have been prime minister. He could certainly have been Governor General (the Queen’s representative in Commonwealth countries).

The only office he ever did take, however, was New Zealand High Commissioner to India - no doubt because it kept him closer to the people that he loved.

When news of his death broke last Friday people all over the world mourned him, not just is native New Zealanders. Gordon Brown was one of the first to pay tribute.

Ed Hillary climbed a mountain, then climbed back down and became a hero. We could all learn from a man who took all the fame and opportunity he was given and used it as a tool to help others.