Two great pioneer climbers

Post 118 One can be what one wants to be

In 1962 which is almost fifty years ago, I sat for a national examination. In the English language paper was a passage on two pioneer climbers, of which candidates were required to do a summary of it. I liked what I was reading and was impressed by these extraordinary nature lovers: Sir Edmund Hillary, a mountain climber from New Zealand and his Nepalese Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

They were the first humans to reach the highest point on Earth: the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas on 29 May 1953. Indeed they are classic examples of people with intra-personal intelligence. They knew what they wanted in life and strived to achieve their goals regardless of obstacles.

I was to be pleasantly surprised many years later to read of another feat by the sons of the great climbers. The son of Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter, also successfully scaled the summit for the first time in 1990. In April 2003, Peter and Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing, climbed Everest as part of a 50th anniversary celebration. Undoubtedly both of them, together with their fathers, belong to the same category of people who are self-smart.

I took part in the Annual Penang Hill Climb Competition of my former school, Chung Ling High School in 1959 when I was in Form One. The school doctor examined me after I had completed a 400-metre run together with potential participants, and said I could give it a try. I reached the top of the hill just before the prize giving ceremony was to be held.

15 November 2011