WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 Imagine standing on the literal roof of the world. 00:00:03.540 --> 00:00:06.059 You are the highest human being on the planet. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:09.439 The air is so thin, your brain is barely functioning, 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:11.919 the wind is just trying to peel you off the ridge, 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:14.720 and you have just done something that for centuries 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:19.660 was considered physiologically impossible. Something 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:22.039 people thought your body just couldn't do. Exactly. 00:00:22.059 --> 00:00:24.600 You look down at the clouds, you look at your 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.690 partner, and you realize... in that freezing 00:00:27.690 --> 00:00:30.870 oxygen -deprived moment that your life has fundamentally 00:00:30.870 --> 00:00:34.700 split into two distinct epochs. Everything before 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:36.920 this and everything that comes after. It's the 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:39.320 ultimate before and after scenario, isn't it? 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:41.679 And for the vast majority of people, the story 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:44.560 of Sir Edmund Hillary begins and ends right there 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:48.460 at 29 ,028 feet on the summit of Mount Everest, 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:51.939 May 29th, 1953. Exactly. We all know the photo 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:53.659 of the climber in the mask raising the ice axe, 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:55.780 which, spoiler alert, isn't even him, but we 00:00:55.780 --> 00:00:57.399 will absolutely get to that. Oh, we will. We 00:00:57.399 --> 00:00:59.530 know the name from the history test. But here's 00:00:59.530 --> 00:01:01.350 the thing that really blew my mind when we started 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:05.109 digging into this. This massive stack of biographies, 00:01:05.109 --> 00:01:07.769 expedition logs and personal letters for this 00:01:07.769 --> 00:01:11.469 deep dive. The man behind that mask is so much 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:13.489 more complex than just the guy who climbed the 00:01:13.489 --> 00:01:16.480 hill. It really is a case where the icon. You 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:20.000 know, the statue in the park has completely overshadowed 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.239 the human being. Because when you strip away 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:25.040 the down suit and the oxygen tanks, you don't 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.620 find some superhero born with ice in his veins. 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:31.019 You find a painfully shy kind of awkward beekeeper 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:34.459 from rural New Zealand who failed his math exams, 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:37.280 was too terrified to propose to his girlfriend, 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:40.359 and spent a significant amount of his post -Everest 00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:43.019 life hunting for the Yeti. We are absolutely 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:45.239 going to get to the Yeti. That is a non -negotiable 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:47.379 part of this. conversation. It has to be. But 00:01:47.379 --> 00:01:49.579 you're right. The mission of this deep dive isn't 00:01:49.579 --> 00:01:51.659 just to retell the story of the climb, though 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:53.519 we are going to get into the gritty details of, 00:01:53.579 --> 00:01:55.920 you know, frozen boots and near -death moments. 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:58.879 The mission is to unpack the life of Edmund Hillary 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.219 as this towering figure of the 20th century. 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:05.459 A man who stood at both poles and the highest 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:08.020 point on Earth, but who considered building wooden 00:02:08.020 --> 00:02:10.520 schoolhouses in Nepal his greatest achievement. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:13.719 And that trajectory from a bee -stung face in 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.860 Auckland to a night of the garter is what we 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:18.580 need to trace. Because it raises a fascinating 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:20.360 question for us, you know, for the listener. 00:02:21.129 --> 00:02:23.289 What is the nature of resilience? Is it something 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:25.469 you're born with? Or is it something you build 00:02:25.469 --> 00:02:28.530 day by agonizing day, carrying heavy boxes and 00:02:28.530 --> 00:02:30.689 staring down your own insecurities? So let's 00:02:30.689 --> 00:02:32.310 unpack this. Let's go back to the very beginning. 00:02:32.509 --> 00:02:34.770 Because if you met the young Ed Hillary, say 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:37.030 at age 12, you probably wouldn't have bet money 00:02:37.030 --> 00:02:39.210 on him becoming a world -famous physical adventurer. 00:02:39.349 --> 00:02:41.590 Probably not, no. He was born in Auckland, New 00:02:41.590 --> 00:02:44.990 Zealand in 1919. And to understand Ed, you really 00:02:44.990 --> 00:02:47.849 have to understand his father, Percy. Percy Hillary 00:02:47.849 --> 00:02:50.479 was a veteran of Gallipoli. And for anyone who 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.620 might not be deep into World War I history, Gallipoli 00:02:53.620 --> 00:02:56.159 was. I mean, it was a horror show. An absolute 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.900 meat grinder. Percy came back from that campaign 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:02.639 medically unfit. He was physically broken, nerve 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:05.000 shattered, and he eventually became a journalist 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.960 and an apiarist, a beekeeper. Okay. But the trauma 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:11.979 of the war made him a very strict, very, very 00:03:11.979 --> 00:03:14.479 disciplined father. And this beekeeping background, 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:16.919 it's not just a footnote, right? It's central 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.840 to his physical development. But before the bees, 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:22.340 there was the grind of school. And when I say 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:24.060 grind, I mean it was a logistical nightmare. 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:26.219 Oh, it was intense. The family lived in Twakaw, 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.219 which is, you know, rural south of Auckland. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.139 But his mother, Gertrude, had these high aspirations. 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:34.479 She wanted him to go to a good school, so she 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.819 enrolled him in Auckland Grammar. Now that sounds 00:03:36.819 --> 00:03:38.800 like a great opportunity. Yeah, until you look 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.319 at the map. Exactly. The commute was just brutal. 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:43.419 How long are we talking here? For three and a 00:03:43.419 --> 00:03:46.659 half years, starting at age 13, he had to travel 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:49.199 by train and cycle. He was leaving the house 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:53.099 before 7 a .m. and not getting back until after 00:03:53.099 --> 00:03:57.219 6 .00 p .m. That is a one hour and 40 minute 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:00.740 journey each way. Each way. I mean, think about 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:02.699 that for a second. You're a teenager. You're 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:05.580 spending nearly four hours a day just getting 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:07.560 to and from school. Right. That doesn't leave 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:09.699 much time for hanging out with friends, playing 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:13.169 rugby, or just... Being a kid. And it had a profound 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:16.029 effect on his personality. It effectively barred 00:04:16.029 --> 00:04:18.769 him from any after -school activities. He was 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:21.769 socially isolated. He was initially smaller than 00:04:21.769 --> 00:04:25.209 his peers, very shy. And he didn't enjoy school 00:04:25.209 --> 00:04:27.490 at all. He described himself as having average 00:04:27.490 --> 00:04:30.189 marks. So he wasn't the star pupil. Not at all. 00:04:30.269 --> 00:04:32.230 He was the kid reading books on the train because 00:04:32.230 --> 00:04:34.509 he had no one to talk to. It really fostered 00:04:34.509 --> 00:04:36.970 this kind of internal life. But physically, something 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:39.730 was happening. He eventually shot up to 6 '2", 00:04:39.730 --> 00:04:42.259 and he started boxing. And that's where the confidence 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:44.019 started to trickle in, right? A little bit, yeah. 00:04:44.139 --> 00:04:46.319 But the real spark, the moment the pilot light 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:48.560 really went on, happened when he was 16. The 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:50.759 school trip to Mount Ruapehu. That's the one. 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:52.860 He sees snow for the very first time. He does 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:55.240 a bit of climbing. And suddenly, the textbooks, 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:58.040 the long commute, none of it matters anymore. 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:01.519 He realized in his own words, I want to see the 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.779 world. And it just shifted his focus entirely. 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:07.379 From studying to tramping, which is what New 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:09.360 Zealanders call hiking. But there's another layer 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:11.279 to his mental development that I find absolutely 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.620 fascinating, and it's something often left out 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:15.980 of the popular narrative. It's the influence 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:18.560 of a philosophy called radiant living. Okay, 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:21.399 yes. This stood out to me in the notes. To a 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:24.879 modern ear, this sounds a bit, well, is it a 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:28.139 cult? Or just a very intense self -help group? 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.139 It was a movement led by a man named Herbert 00:05:30.139 --> 00:05:33.250 Sutcliffe in the 1930s. The Hillary family were 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:35.470 foundation members, and it preached physical 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:38.490 health, Christian pacifism, and a specific kind 00:05:38.490 --> 00:05:40.750 of psychological self -improvement. And Hillary 00:05:40.750 --> 00:05:43.069 didn't just attend casually? No, he went all 00:05:43.069 --> 00:05:45.149 in. He actually trained to be a teacher of this 00:05:45.149 --> 00:05:48.389 philosophy. And get this. He scored 100 % on 00:05:48.389 --> 00:05:50.829 his exam to become a teacher. And the topic of 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:54.350 his test lecture, Inferiority, Cause, and Cure. 00:05:54.670 --> 00:05:57.050 Which is incredibly revealing isn't it? Here's 00:05:57.050 --> 00:05:59.550 this young man battling deep shyness and feelings 00:05:59.550 --> 00:06:03.009 of inadequacy literally lecturing a roomful of 00:06:03.009 --> 00:06:05.769 people on how to cure inferiority. He was teaching 00:06:05.769 --> 00:06:08.750 what he needed to learn. Exactly. He later credited 00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:11.189 this period with teaching him how to speak confidently 00:06:11.189 --> 00:06:13.870 and think freely. It was the mental training 00:06:13.870 --> 00:06:15.470 ground that prepared him for the international 00:06:15.470 --> 00:06:19.290 stage. He was in a way hacking his own psychology. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:21.720 So you've got the mental training with radiant 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:23.199 living, and then you have the physical training 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.680 with the bees. Because beekeeping sounds pastoral 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.519 and gentle, but commercial beekeeping is basically 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:33.379 weightlifting in a hazmat suit. It was grueling 00:06:33.379 --> 00:06:35.620 work. He joined his brother Rex and his father 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:39.000 in the business. They were handling 1 ,600 hives. 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:41.720 1 ,600. And during the honey flow, they were 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:44.319 lifting thousands of 90 -pound boxes of honeycomb. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.100 And getting stung, the source mentions he was 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:49.759 getting stung anywhere from 12 to 100 times a 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:53.259 day. 100 stings a day. I would quit after one. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.740 I would be done. It builds a certain tolerance 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:58.139 to discomfort, doesn't it? If you can handle 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:01.399 100 bee stings and keep working, a blizzard maybe 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:03.839 seems a bit more manageable. That's a good point. 00:07:04.060 --> 00:07:06.779 But strategically, it was the perfect job for 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:09.839 a climber. Beekeeping is intense summer work. 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.029 But in the winter, the bees hibernate. which 00:07:13.029 --> 00:07:15.230 meant Hillary was physically fit from lifting 00:07:15.230 --> 00:07:17.470 boxes all summer, and then he had the entire 00:07:17.470 --> 00:07:20.029 winter free to climb. It's the perfect alpinist 00:07:20.029 --> 00:07:22.290 lifestyle. So he's climbing, he's working the 00:07:22.290 --> 00:07:25.810 hives, but then history intervenes. World War 00:07:25.810 --> 00:07:27.550 II breaks out. And this is where his radiant 00:07:27.550 --> 00:07:29.750 living background, specifically that pacifist 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:32.009 element, caused some real internal conflict for 00:07:32.009 --> 00:07:34.389 him. Right. He initially applied to join the 00:07:34.389 --> 00:07:37.100 Royal New Zealand Air Force, but then... withdrew 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:39.360 his application because of his religious conscience. 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:41.600 He didn't want to kill anyone. But as the war 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:43.959 went on and the threat of Japan and the Pacific 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.240 grew, he couldn't just sit on the sidelines. 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:50.060 Right. In 1943, with conscription arriving, he 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:52.620 joined the Air Force as a navigator on Catalina 00:07:52.620 --> 00:07:55.300 flying boats. He served in Fiji and the Solomon 00:07:55.300 --> 00:07:57.899 Islands. These were big, lumbering aircraft doing 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:00.779 reconnaissance. And he faced a major setback 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.500 there. Not in combat, but in an accident. The 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:05.459 boat accident. Yes, he was in a motorboat that 00:08:05.459 --> 00:08:07.939 caught fire and he was badly burnt. He had to 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:11.000 swim to shore with severe burns. It was a long, 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.319 painful recovery. Which again, just speaks to 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:15.720 that resilience we were talking about. He recovers, 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:19.060 he comes home, and now the climbing resume starts 00:08:19.060 --> 00:08:22.959 to build and build seriously. He climbs Mount 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:26.779 Olivier, his first major peak. He climbs a Rocky 00:08:26.779 --> 00:08:29.740 Mount Cook. And then he gets the call for the 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:32.940 big leagues. The 1951 reconnaissance expedition 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:35.679 to Everest. This was led by the legendary Eric 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.600 Shipton. Now, Shipton had a very high opinion 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:40.860 of New Zealand climbers. He called them rough 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.059 diamonds. He liked that they could fix a stove 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:45.340 as well as they could climb a rock face. Exactly. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:47.480 He liked their toughness, their practicality. 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:49.840 He saw something in Hillary. And Hillary proved 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:53.029 him right. In 1952, they tried to climb Chouyou, 00:08:53.250 --> 00:08:55.789 another massive 8 ,000 -meter peak. And they 00:08:55.789 --> 00:08:57.690 failed, right? They failed to find a route to 00:08:57.690 --> 00:08:59.690 the summit, but this is where we see that rebellious 00:08:59.690 --> 00:09:02.250 streak in Hillary again. He and his friend George 00:09:02.250 --> 00:09:04.730 Lowe just decided, hey, let's cross the Nupal 00:09:04.730 --> 00:09:07.090 Pass into Tibet. Which was basically an international 00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:09.669 incident waiting to happen. Incredibly risky. 00:09:09.789 --> 00:09:12.070 Tibet was Chinese controlled and technically 00:09:12.070 --> 00:09:14.450 closed to foreigners, but they just wanted to 00:09:14.450 --> 00:09:16.909 see the north side of Everest. So they sneaked 00:09:16.909 --> 00:09:19.269 across the border, effectively invading China 00:09:19.269 --> 00:09:21.350 for an afternoon. Just for a look. Just for a 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:23.649 look. But it showed Shipton and the British climbing 00:09:23.649 --> 00:09:27.470 establishment that Hillary had this drive to 00:09:27.470 --> 00:09:29.669 push boundaries to go where he wasn't supposed 00:09:29.669 --> 00:09:32.710 to go. And that drive is exactly what they needed 00:09:32.710 --> 00:09:36.330 for 1953. Because 1953 wasn't just another climbing 00:09:36.330 --> 00:09:39.789 trip. It was the main event. The 1953 British 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:42.470 Mount Everest expedition. And we have to set 00:09:42.470 --> 00:09:44.370 the stage here. This was not just a climbing 00:09:44.370 --> 00:09:47.230 trip. It was a siege. It was seen as the last 00:09:47.230 --> 00:09:49.610 great prize for the British Empire, which was 00:09:49.610 --> 00:09:52.230 slowly fading. The scale is just bonkers. We're 00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:55.850 talking about over 400 people. 362 porters, 20 00:09:55.850 --> 00:09:58.549 Sherpa guides, 10 ,000 pounds of baggage. It's 00:09:58.549 --> 00:10:01.009 basically a small army moving up the Khumbu Valley. 00:10:01.169 --> 00:10:03.889 And the pressure was immense. Oh, unbelievable. 00:10:03.990 --> 00:10:06.690 You have to remember, Tibet was closed. So the 00:10:06.690 --> 00:10:09.440 only way up Everest. was from Nepal and Nepal 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.700 only allowed one, maybe two expeditions a year. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:16.519 The Swiss had tried in 1952 the year before and 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:19.240 Tenzing Norgay was with them. And they got so 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:21.639 close. They made it to within 800 feet of the 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:24.600 top before turning back. 800 feet. That is just 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:27.720 heartbreakingly close. It is. So the British 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.240 knew. If we don't do it this year, the French 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:32.299 are booked for next year and the Swiss are booked 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:34.740 for the year after that. It was now or never 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:37.259 for the British Empire to conquer the third pole. 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:39.220 And there was a bit of drama at the top, too, 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:42.220 wasn't there? A leadership shakeup. Eric Shipton, 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:44.500 the guy who discovered Hillary, was replaced 00:10:44.500 --> 00:10:47.480 as leader by John Hunt. Hillary was furious about 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:49.299 that. He actually considered pulling out of the 00:10:49.299 --> 00:10:52.100 expedition. He felt a deep loyalty to Shipton. 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:55.850 But John Hunt was a military man. Super organized, 00:10:56.070 --> 00:10:58.289 incredible energy. He eventually won Hillary 00:10:58.289 --> 00:11:01.409 over. And Hunt made a crucial decision. He created 00:11:01.409 --> 00:11:03.629 two summit teams. This is the part of the story 00:11:03.629 --> 00:11:05.990 that always gets me. Hillary and Tenzing weren't 00:11:05.990 --> 00:11:08.009 the only ones with a shot. In fact, they were 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:10.669 kind of the backup plan initially. Well, sort 00:11:10.669 --> 00:11:14.370 of. Hunt planned a one -two punch. The first 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:17.429 team, the beta team, if you will, was Tom Bordeon 00:11:17.429 --> 00:11:19.779 and Charles Evans, and they won first. On May 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:22.740 26th, they launched their assault. Imagine sitting 00:11:22.740 --> 00:11:25.039 in a tent at high camp, watching your friends 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:28.279 go up, knowing that if they succeed, you don't 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.120 get to go. Your job is done. You just go home. 00:11:31.580 --> 00:11:33.259 And there was a technical difference, too, which 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:35.740 is fascinating. Bordeon and Evans were using 00:11:35.740 --> 00:11:38.600 closed -circuit oxygen systems. It was experimental 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:41.860 tech lighter, but notoriously finicky. Hillary 00:11:41.860 --> 00:11:44.419 and Tenzing were using the heavier but more reliable 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:47.299 open -circuit system. So the experimental team 00:11:47.299 --> 00:11:49.620 goes up. How close did they get? Incredibly close. 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:51.820 They reached the south summit. They were within 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:54.700 300 vertical feet of the top. They could see 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:57.389 the final ridge laid out before them. But their 00:11:57.389 --> 00:11:59.690 oxygen systems were malfunctioning, freezing 00:11:59.690 --> 00:12:02.789 up. They were utterly exhausted. Evans was stumbling. 00:12:02.990 --> 00:12:05.929 They had to make the decision to turn back. They 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:08.250 literally looked at the summit ridge and had 00:12:08.250 --> 00:12:10.610 to walk away to save their own lives. Which left 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:13.509 the door wide open for team two, Edmund Hillary 00:12:13.509 --> 00:12:15.830 and Tenzing Norgay. And let's talk about that 00:12:15.830 --> 00:12:18.090 partnership for a second. It wasn't necessarily 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:20.309 a friendship born of long nights at the pub. 00:12:20.370 --> 00:12:22.889 It was a partnership of necessity and mutual 00:12:22.889 --> 00:12:26.620 respect. Hillary noted that Tenzing had substantially 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:29.480 greater personal ambition than any Sherpa I had 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:31.080 met. They were both hungry for it. Yeah. They 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.320 were both the best at what they did. And they 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.299 knew it. Exactly. They respected each other's 00:12:35.299 --> 00:12:38.820 confidence above all else. So May 28th, they 00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:42.240 move up. They pitch a tiny tent at Kambai X at 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:46.559 27 ,900 feet. It's freezing. The wind is howling. 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.340 The tent floor is on a 30 -degree slope, so they're 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:51.820 sliding around all night. And on the morning 00:12:51.820 --> 00:12:54.700 of May 29th, the day of the final ascent, Hillary 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:57.120 wakes up to a complete disaster. His boots are 00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:59.879 frozen solid. Rock hard blocks of ice. This is 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:02.179 before modern plastic boots, remember? These 00:13:02.179 --> 00:13:04.139 were leather. If he puts them on frozen, the 00:13:04.139 --> 00:13:05.879 leather won't flex. It cuts off circulation. 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:09.500 He gets frostbite. Loses his feet. At best. Yeah. 00:13:09.580 --> 00:13:12.980 At worst, they both die. So while time is ticking 00:13:12.980 --> 00:13:15.240 away and their precious oxygen is running low, 00:13:15.419 --> 00:13:18.440 he spends two full hours holding his boots over 00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:22.559 a priming stove, trying to thaw them out. I love 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.750 that detail. The history of the world hung in 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:27.590 the balance while a guy from Auckland cooked 00:13:27.590 --> 00:13:29.529 his shoes. It grounds the whole achievement, 00:13:29.629 --> 00:13:31.389 doesn't it? It's not just about glory, it's about 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:33.210 the smell of burning leather. So they get the 00:13:33.210 --> 00:13:35.590 boots on, they strap on the 30 -pound oxygen 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:38.389 packs, and they start climbing. They pass the 00:13:38.389 --> 00:13:40.029 south summit, the point where the first team 00:13:40.029 --> 00:13:42.809 turned back, and then they hit the final major 00:13:42.809 --> 00:13:46.330 obstacle, a 40 -foot rock face that is now famous 00:13:46.330 --> 00:13:48.620 as the Hillary Step. This is the boss battle 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:50.980 at the end of the video game. It is. On one side, 00:13:51.059 --> 00:13:53.259 you have a sheer drop down the rock face thousands 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:56.419 of feet into Nepal. On the other side, a massive 00:13:56.419 --> 00:13:59.179 unstable cornice of snow hanging over open air 00:13:59.179 --> 00:14:02.779 into Tibet. No room for air. None. Hillary found 00:14:02.779 --> 00:14:05.179 a crack between the rock and the snow. He jammed 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:06.980 himself in there back against the rock, feet 00:14:06.980 --> 00:14:09.279 clicking into the ice, and literally wriggled 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.700 his way up backwards using every ounce of strength 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:14.259 he had left. He drags himself up, then he belays 00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:17.740 tensing up, and then... The ridges is off. Hillary 00:14:17.740 --> 00:14:20.440 top steps over bump after bump, wondering where 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.759 the top was. He was hacking away with his ice 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:25.559 axe, just completely tired, hypoxic. And then 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:28.750 suddenly there was nowhere left to go up. 11 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:32.570 .30 a .m., May 29, 1953. Top of the world. 29 00:14:32.570 --> 00:14:35.590 ,028 feet. They stood there. He said they shook 00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:37.889 hands in a sort of formal British way. And then 00:14:37.889 --> 00:14:39.769 Tenzing threw his arms around Hillary in this 00:14:39.769 --> 00:14:42.129 huge, joyful hug. And how long were they up there? 00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:44.429 Only about 15 minutes. And this brings us to 00:14:44.429 --> 00:14:47.049 the famous photo mystery. Right. The photo everyone 00:14:47.049 --> 00:14:49.529 knows is of Tenzing Norgay. He's holding his 00:14:49.529 --> 00:14:52.029 ice axe, flags fluttering the U .N., Britain, 00:14:52.190 --> 00:14:55.389 Nepal, India. But there is no photo of Edmund 00:14:55.389 --> 00:14:58.389 Hillary on the summit. None. Tenzing says in 00:14:58.389 --> 00:15:00.490 his autobiography that he offered to take a picture 00:15:00.490 --> 00:15:03.230 of Hillary, but Hillary declined. Why? I mean, 00:15:03.250 --> 00:15:05.149 was he just shy? Was he worried Tenzing didn't 00:15:05.149 --> 00:15:06.870 know how to use the camera? We can only speculate. 00:15:07.309 --> 00:15:10.210 Hillary later said, pretty pragmatically, I didn't 00:15:10.210 --> 00:15:12.049 think it was a good time to start teaching Tenzing 00:15:12.049 --> 00:15:14.549 how to use a camera. But maybe it was just that. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.539 Let's get the proof and get down. Or maybe it 00:15:17.539 --> 00:15:20.259 was a kind of humility. But the result is that 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:22.679 the first man to stand on Everest is invisible 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:25.600 in the documentation of that moment. So they 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:27.519 leave some offerings. Tenzing leaves chocolates 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:29.600 in the snow. Hillary leaves a cross given to 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:32.220 him by John Hunt. They head down. Yeah. And then 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:34.639 we get the quote, the line that is just so perfectly 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:37.279 New Zealand. They meet George Lowe on the descent 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.159 at the South Call. Hillary lifts his oxygen mask, 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:42.100 looks at his old friend and says, well, George, 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:45.039 we knocked the bastard off. We knock the bastard 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:48.200 off. Not we have conquered the peak or glory 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:50.879 to the queen and empire. Just we knock the bastard 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.840 off. It's rough. It's understated. It's completely 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:56.759 irreverent. It treats the mountain not as some 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:59.460 sacred temple, but as a formidable opponent in 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:02.200 a boxing match that they just won. It perfectly 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:05.679 captures that Kiwi spirit of practical, no -nonsense 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.039 achievement. You don't brag. You just get the 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:11.649 job done. So they get down. And the world goes 00:16:11.649 --> 00:16:14.929 absolutely crazy. It was the perfect storm of 00:16:14.929 --> 00:16:18.289 timing. The news reached Britain on the very 00:16:18.289 --> 00:16:21.549 morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. The 00:16:21.549 --> 00:16:23.809 press immediately called it a coronation gift. 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:27.230 It was viewed as this final glorious jewel in 00:16:27.230 --> 00:16:30.009 the crown of the fading British Empire. People 00:16:30.009 --> 00:16:32.370 in London were literally dancing in the streets. 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:34.950 And the honors started raining down before they 00:16:34.950 --> 00:16:37.669 even got home. Oh, immediately. Hillary and John 00:16:37.669 --> 00:16:40.159 Hunt were knighted. Tenzing received the George 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.700 Medal. Interestingly, and this is a point of 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:45.240 historical contention, Tenzing wasn't eligible 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:47.580 for a knighthood because he was a Nepalese citizen, 00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:50.320 which is a distinction that reflects the politics 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:52.820 of the time. But in the eyes of the world, they 00:16:52.820 --> 00:16:54.860 were equals. So Ed Hillary goes up the mountain, 00:16:54.899 --> 00:16:57.980 a beekeeper from Tuakau, and he comes down a 00:16:57.980 --> 00:16:59.740 knight commander of the Order of the British 00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:02.960 Empire, Sir Edmund. That has to change a person. 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.480 It did. He was suddenly a global celebrity. He 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:06.940 couldn't walk down the street. But what's so 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:08.900 fascinating is that he didn't just retire to 00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:10.980 a comfortable life of giving speeches and signing 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:13.660 autographs. He kept venturing. He became obsessed 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:16.220 with the polls. This is the three polls challenge 00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:18.619 part of the story. I feel like this gets forgotten. 00:17:18.819 --> 00:17:20.819 People think he did Everest and then just quit. 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:24.220 Far from it. In 1958, he led the New Zealand 00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:27.279 section of the Commonwealth Transantarctic Expedition. 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:30.940 Now, the main goal was for a British team led 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:34.660 by Vivian Futes to cross Antarctica. Hillary 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:36.779 was just supposed to be the support crew setting 00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:39.079 up supply depots for them. But Hillary doesn't 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:41.980 really do support crew, does he? No, he had these 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:44.839 modified Ferguson tractors. Wait, let's pause 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.059 on the tractors. These aren't like high -tech 00:17:47.059 --> 00:17:49.440 snow cats. These are... Farm tractors. Basically, 00:17:49.579 --> 00:17:52.460 yes. Little red farm tractors with tracks put 00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:54.619 over the wheels and a canvas cab to keep the 00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:57.200 wind off. He was driving farm equipment across 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:59.660 the coldest, most hostile continent on Earth. 00:17:59.859 --> 00:18:02.299 And once he had laid the final supply depot, 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:04.140 he realized the tractors were performing really 00:18:04.140 --> 00:18:07.039 well. So ignoring his original instructions to 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:10.240 stop and wait. He went rogue again, just like 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.349 the Nupla Pass. He just kept going. He saw the 00:18:13.349 --> 00:18:16.029 goal and went for it. He pushed forward, navigating 00:18:16.029 --> 00:18:18.809 treacherous crevasse fields and reached the South 00:18:18.809 --> 00:18:22.819 Pole overland on January 4th, 1958. He was the 00:18:22.819 --> 00:18:24.900 first person to do so since Captain Scott in 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:28.140 1912. And unlike Scott, he made it back alive. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.500 And he did it on a tractor. That is just incredible. 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.220 And then later he completes the set. In 1985, 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:35.720 he flew to the North Pole with Neil Armstrong. 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:37.859 I mean, can you imagine that conversation? The 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:39.799 first man on the moon and the first man on Everest 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:43.019 just hanging out together on the ice. This made 00:18:43.019 --> 00:18:45.200 Hillary the first person in history to stand 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:48.119 at both poles and on the summit of Everest. But 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:52.059 in between all that serious exploring. There 00:18:52.059 --> 00:18:54.259 is the Yeti hunt. We promised the listener we'd 00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:56.740 talk about the Yeti. We did, and we must. In 00:18:56.740 --> 00:18:59.980 1960, he organized the Silver Hut expedition. 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:03.240 Now, it had a serious scientific purpose, studying 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:05.519 how the human body adapts to high altitude over 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.160 a long winter. But to get the funding, he partnered 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.019 with World Book Encyclopedia, and they wanted 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.299 a scoop. They wanted the abominable snowman. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:14.420 Was he a believer? I mean, did Sir Edmund Hillary 00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:16.339 actually think there was a monster in the mountains? 00:19:16.579 --> 00:19:18.849 He was open -minded. He had heard the stories 00:19:18.849 --> 00:19:21.470 from the Sherpas his whole climbing career, and 00:19:21.470 --> 00:19:23.670 he respected their knowledge of the land. But 00:19:23.670 --> 00:19:25.769 he approached it like a scientist. He didn't 00:19:25.769 --> 00:19:27.940 just wander around with a net. They gathered 00:19:27.940 --> 00:19:31.220 evidence. They found these so -called Yeti scalps 00:19:31.220 --> 00:19:34.160 in remote monasteries. They found mysterious 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:36.720 footprints. What did they find? He brought the 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:39.140 evidence back to the lab. The scalps turned out 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:41.559 to be made from the hide of the blue bear or 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:44.500 the sero, which is a type of goat antelope, and 00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:47.380 the footprints. He actually demonstrated that 00:19:47.380 --> 00:19:49.900 if a small animal like a fox walks in the snow 00:19:49.900 --> 00:19:52.299 and then the sun melts the edges of the print, 00:19:52.500 --> 00:19:55.200 it expands and distorts into a shape that looks 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:58.000 exactly like a giant human. footprint so he debunked 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.759 it he did he concluded the yeti was not a supernatural 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:02.839 creature but he did it with a lot of respect 00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:05.019 for the local legends he didn't mock it he just 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:07.579 explained it he was just restless he took a jet 00:20:07.579 --> 00:20:11.579 boat up the ganges in 1977 the ocean to sky expedition 00:20:11.579 --> 00:20:14.759 the man just could not sit still no but while 00:20:14.759 --> 00:20:17.079 his public life was full of these triumphs and 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:19.319 these wild adventures his personal life had a 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:22.500 mix of profound joy and just devastating tragedy 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:25.200 let's talk about the personal side We mentioned 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.819 he was shy. How shy are we talking? Well, he 00:20:27.819 --> 00:20:30.079 married Louise Mary Rose shortly after the Everest 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:32.740 expedition. But despite being a knight of the 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:36.180 realm, a global hero, he was too terrified to 00:20:36.180 --> 00:20:39.099 propose to her himself. No way. The man who conquered 00:20:39.099 --> 00:20:41.299 the Hillary step couldn't pop the question. He 00:20:41.299 --> 00:20:43.220 asked his future mother -in -law to propose on 00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:46.400 his behalf. He essentially said, could you? Could 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:48.380 you please ask Louise if she'd marry me? That 00:20:48.380 --> 00:20:51.220 is actually very sweet in a completely terrified 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:53.319 sort of way. It worked. They had a wonderful 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:56.019 marriage and three children, Peter, Sarah, and 00:20:56.019 --> 00:20:58.180 Belinda. They were a very tight -knit family. 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:01.880 But in 1975, tragedy struck. Louise and their 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:04.319 youngest daughter, Belinda, were flying into 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.319 the mountains to visit Ed, who was building a 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.779 hospital in Phiflu. And the plane went down. 00:21:08.900 --> 00:21:11.680 It crashed near Kathmandu shortly after takeoff. 00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:14.319 Louise and 16 -year -old Belinda were killed 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:17.339 instantly. That is just unimaginable. To be waiting 00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:19.279 for your family at a small mountain airstrip, 00:21:19.339 --> 00:21:23.519 scanning the sky, and then just silence. It was 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.819 a turning point in his life. It marked a really 00:21:25.819 --> 00:21:29.000 somber shift. He blamed himself for a long time 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:30.900 because they were coming to visit him, you know. 00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:33.519 He threw himself even deeper into his work to 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:35.640 cope. And when we say work here, we don't mean 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:38.619 climbing. We mean the Himalayan Trust. This is 00:21:38.619 --> 00:21:40.660 what he always said was his true legacy, right? 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:43.460 More than Everest. Absolutely. He founded the 00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:48.039 Himalayan Trust in 1960. He felt this deep, profound 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:50.950 debt to the Sherpa people. He didn't just want 00:21:50.950 --> 00:21:53.349 to be the guy who used their labor to get famous. 00:21:53.549 --> 00:21:56.730 He wanted to give back. He built schools, hospitals, 00:21:56.890 --> 00:21:59.730 bridges, airstrips. The Lukla Airport, which 00:21:59.730 --> 00:22:02.369 is now the gateway to Everest, was largely his 00:22:02.369 --> 00:22:04.549 project. He was out there marching up and down 00:22:04.549 --> 00:22:06.190 the runway with the Sherpas to pack the dirt 00:22:06.190 --> 00:22:08.470 because they didn't have steamrollers. But it 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:10.490 was the schools and the hospitals that mattered 00:22:10.490 --> 00:22:13.869 most to him. He spent decades fundraising and 00:22:13.869 --> 00:22:15.789 physically helping to build these structures. 00:22:16.250 --> 00:22:18.390 So it's not just writing a check. Not at all. 00:22:18.430 --> 00:22:21.009 He was there with a hammer. If you ask the people 00:22:21.009 --> 00:22:24.009 of the Khumbu region, Hillary isn't a hero because 00:22:24.009 --> 00:22:26.769 he climbed a hill. He's a hero. They call him 00:22:26.769 --> 00:22:29.289 Burra Sahib, the big man, because he brought 00:22:29.289 --> 00:22:31.049 education and health care to their children. 00:22:31.329 --> 00:22:33.950 It's such a powerful shift from conquering nature 00:22:33.950 --> 00:22:37.609 to nurturing a community, from taking glory to 00:22:37.609 --> 00:22:39.710 giving service. And it connects right back to 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:42.150 that radiant living philosophy of service we 00:22:42.150 --> 00:22:43.710 talked about at the very start, doesn't it? The 00:22:43.710 --> 00:22:46.269 idea that a full life involves lifting others 00:22:46.269 --> 00:22:49.250 up. As we move toward the end of his life, the 00:22:49.250 --> 00:22:52.250 honors just keep piling up. But there's one specific 00:22:52.250 --> 00:22:55.150 honor that tells you everything you need to know 00:22:55.150 --> 00:22:58.130 about his character. The New Zealand $5 note. 00:22:58.390 --> 00:23:02.109 Yes. Since 1992, his face has been on the $5 00:23:02.109 --> 00:23:04.789 bill. He was the only living person who wasn't 00:23:04.789 --> 00:23:06.690 a head of state to appear on a New Zealand bank 00:23:06.690 --> 00:23:09.130 note. But when the Reserve Bank asked him about 00:23:09.130 --> 00:23:11.549 the design, he had a very specific request. They 00:23:11.549 --> 00:23:13.069 wanted to put Everest in the background, right? 00:23:13.210 --> 00:23:15.809 The scene of his great triumph. Yes. And he said 00:23:15.809 --> 00:23:18.700 no. He insisted the backdrop be Ayoraki Mount 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.779 Cook. His home mountain. Exactly. The place where 00:23:21.779 --> 00:23:24.380 he cut his teep as a young man. The place where 00:23:24.380 --> 00:23:27.559 he learned to climb. It shows that despite being 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:31.539 a global icon, he remains so deeply rooted in 00:23:31.539 --> 00:23:34.559 his identity as a New Zealander. He didn't want 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:37.539 to be defined solely by the foreign peak. He 00:23:37.539 --> 00:23:39.599 wanted to honor his roots. Sir Edmund Hillary 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:42.839 passed away in 2008 of heart failure. He was 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:45.799 88 years old. He was given a state funeral, which 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:49.380 is incredibly rare for a private citizen. Thousands 00:23:49.380 --> 00:23:52.019 of people lined the streets of Auckland, and 00:23:52.019 --> 00:23:54.299 his ashes were mostly scattered in Auckland's 00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:56.740 Hauraki Gulf. But there is a poignant footnote 00:23:56.740 --> 00:23:59.160 to that. A portion of his ashes was sent to a 00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:01.720 Nepalese monastery. There was actually a plan 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:03.859 to have a Sherpa friend carry them to the summit 00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:06.160 of Everest for a final scattering. To finally 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:09.039 leave him on top for good. Yes. But the plan 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:11.559 was canceled. The llamas and the climbing community 00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:13.759 decided that the mountain was becoming too commercial, 00:24:13.900 --> 00:24:16.579 too crowded, and it just wasn't right to use 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:18.619 the sacred summit as a scattering ground. Probably 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:20.539 for the best, really. He respected the mountain 00:24:20.539 --> 00:24:22.720 too much to want to clutter it up. I think so. 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:26.180 But his name is everywhere. The Tenzing Hillary 00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:28.990 Airport. The Hillary step, though, that feature 00:24:28.990 --> 00:24:31.150 has actually collapsed geologically since the 00:24:31.150 --> 00:24:34.049 2015 earthquake. There are even mountains on 00:24:34.049 --> 00:24:37.150 Pluto named Hillary Montez. From the honeycomb 00:24:37.150 --> 00:24:39.849 to the edge of the solar system, it's an unbelievable 00:24:39.849 --> 00:24:42.690 journey. It really is an incredible arc. So what 00:24:42.690 --> 00:24:44.569 does this all mean for us? We've unpacked the 00:24:44.569 --> 00:24:46.829 beekeeping, the frozen boots, the tragedy, and 00:24:46.829 --> 00:24:49.920 the triumph. What's the big takeaway here? I 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:51.380 think it comes back to the motto on his coat 00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:53.859 of arms. When he was knighted, he had to choose 00:24:53.859 --> 00:24:56.940 a motto for his family crest. He chose, nothing 00:24:56.940 --> 00:25:00.119 venture, nothing win. Simple, to the point. Simple, 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:03.000 but... Profound. This was a man who failed his 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:06.000 math exams. A man who failed his first attempt 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.940 at shouyou. A man who was too shy to speak to 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:11.720 girls, let alone propose to one. A man who was 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:14.440 physically unfit after the war, but he kept venturing. 00:25:14.539 --> 00:25:16.539 He kept putting one frozen boot in front of the 00:25:16.539 --> 00:25:18.599 other. It reminds us that extraordinary people 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:21.200 are usually just ordinary people who refuse to 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:23.940 stop moving forward. Precisely. He wasn't born 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:26.240 a knight. He wasn't born a summit conqueror. 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:28.779 He was just a boy on a train with a long commute 00:25:28.779 --> 00:25:31.160 who decided he wanted to see the world and then 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:33.140 worked harder than anyone else to make that happen. 00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:35.799 So here is the question for you listening right 00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:39.160 now. What is the venture you are hesitating on? 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:41.980 What is the mountain, whether it's a project, 00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:45.559 a conversation, or a literal hill that you're 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:47.420 staring at thinking, I'm not the kind of person 00:25:47.420 --> 00:25:50.960 who does that? Because if a shy, bee -stung apiarist 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:53.640 from New Zealand can knock the bastard off, maybe 00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:55.660 you can too. Thanks for diving deep with us. 00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:56.440 Keep venturing.