The Ascent of Everest

[PrinceMyshkin]

No one had climbed Mt Everest
until Tenzing Sherpa and Hillary did it.
Now, it’s a stroll in the park!

My Aunt Edith, the other day,
on her way to Bloomingdale’s,
took the long way around

and with her recyclable shopping bag,
her knitting, the book she was reading
for her book club, she climbed it

without breaking a sweat.

[Virgil]

A great little poem, Prince. I love the line "Now, it’s a stroll in the park!" And the following part nicely connects ironically. Definetely enjoyable. :)

Oh and yes, a commaration to poor Hillary's passing.

[Pendragon]

A nice poem, Jer. I am afraid that Hillary does not quite hold the same heroic pose in my own analytical mind that others hold. You see, Mallory, who had came so close before and had been seen with his Serpha just a couple 100 feet from the summit, his body was found, perfectly preserved. All gear was carefully packed in place, but his camera was missing. I know explorers. If he fell before he got there, he would have had that camera. He would have protected it with his life even if he fell afterward, because someone might find him and the pictures would speak for themselves. But if another explorer found the body and the camera, he would be at an impasse. He himself was going to make it. If he takes the dead man's camera back and the pictures prove that the other guy got there first, his fame goes down. He cannot leave the camera, someone else is gonna find that body latter. So he takes it, but doesn't turn it in.

Did Mallory make it? I'm inclined to think probably. But we'll never really know. No camera, no proof.

Pen

[PrinceMyshkin]

A nice poem, Jer. I am afraid that Hillary does not quite hold the same heroic pose in my own analytical mind that others hold. You see, Mallory, who had came so close before and had been seen with his Serpha just a couple 100 feet from the summit, his body was found, perfectly preserved. All gear was carefully packed in place, but his camera was missing. I know explorers. If he fell before he got there, he would have had that camera. He would have protected it with his life even if he fell afterward, because someone might find him and the pictures would speak for themselves. But if another explorer found the body and the camera, he would be at an impasse. He himself was going to make it. If he takes the dead man's camera back and the pictures prove that the other guy got there first, his fame goes down. He cannot leave the camera, someone else is gonna find that body latter. So he takes it, but doesn't turn it in.

Did Mallory make it? I'm inclined to think probably. But we'll never really know. No camera, no proof.

Pen

Fascinating details, Scout - which I see as the raw material of your next or some future poem by you!

[AuntShecky]

Last night I heard two interesting facts about the late Sir
Edmund: (1) Bestowing knighthood upon Edmund was The Queen's first official act upon her cornonation (1953? If I got the year wrong, forgive me, I'm a Yank.)
(2) For most of his life, Sir Edmund thought that his fame as the first to climb Mt. Everest was less important than the humanitarian work he tried to do for and with the Sherpas. We should all aspire to such altruism!

Still, after reading Prince's poem, I would rather have met Aunt Edith in real life than Sir Edmund Hillary!

[firefangled]

I loved this. It has such a wonderful tone of facetiousness to it, knowing what is involved, especially when Hillary did it.