Photo of Mount Everest Map of the 1953 route to the summit of Mt Everest

Lace up your boots, check your oxygen equipment, grab your ice axe. You're off on the Hillary Challenge!

Sir Edmund Hillary has a lifelong love of adventure. He has pursued challenges and opportunities that resulted in him climbing the world's highest mountain Everest, driving a tractor to the South Pole, jet boating up the Ganges River, and working with the Sherpa people to build schools, hospitals, airfields, bridges and monasteries.

He considers himself a person of modest abilities, but he enjoyed pushing his personal boundaries; stretching himself to the utmost, and working beyond his comfort zones. At times he felt anxious, scared and worried, but his passion for adventure, his thorough planning and preparation, his determination, and his ability to work with a team towards a common goal led him to achieve some amazing feats that sometimes surprised even him!

How will you face the Hillary Challenge?

Will you:

• push your boundaries?
  
• go that extra mile?
  
• contribute willingly and generously to your team's effort?
  
• see challenges as opportunities waiting to be overcome?

Will you:

• use your skills and abilities to help others along the way?
  
• accept and value others' ideas?
  
• plan thoroughly but be prepared to change your plans?

Will you gain a sense of satisfaction from meeting the challenge?

You will be following in the footsteps of New Zealand's greatest living hero...

Let's get going then.

Take your first steps on the Hillary Challenge. It's a long tramp to base camp!