NEPAL: EDMUND HILLARY RIDES THROUGH KATHMANDU IN A HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE TO CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOUNT EVEREST CONQUEST

Record ID: 647264

  • Title: NEPAL: EDMUND HILLARY RIDES THROUGH KATHMANDU IN A HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE TO CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOUNT EVEREST CONQUEST
  • Date: 27th May 2003
  • Summary: (W3) KATHMANDU, NEPAL (MAY 27, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV EDMUND HILLARY GETTING INTO HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE FOR PARADE AS PART OF CELEBRATIONS MARKING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST ASCENT OF MOUNT EVEREST ON MAY 29, 1953 0.09 2. LAS OF WHITE HORSES PULLING CARRIAGE 0.15 3. SV NEPALESE MILITARY BAND PLAYING IN FRONT OF HORSE CARRIAGE, PAN TO EDMUND HILLARY AND WIFE JUNE HILLARY RIDING IN CARRIAGE, WAVING TO CROWD 0.36 4. TV OF PARADE, EDMUND HILLARY WAVING TO CROWD 1.03 5. SV OF BAND PLAYING, SOLDIER BANGING DRUM 1.13 6. LAS OF BAND PLAYING, SOLDIERS MARCHING, SOLDIER PLAYING TRUMPET 1.25 7. CU BOY WAVING PLACARD WITH PAINTING OF SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAIN 1.32 8. LV LARGE CROWD IN PARADE 1.35 9. SV/CU SCHOOL CHILDREN APPLAUDING (2 SHOTS) 1.39 10. SV HILLARY AND WIFE ON HORSE CARRIAGE 1.50 11. SV MAN IN WHEELCHAIR FOLLOWING PARADE 2.00 12. TV OF PARADE GOING THROUGH CITY CENTRE 2.03 13. SV CHILDREN WATCHING PARADE FROM WOOD-CARVED WINDOWS 2.08 14. SV SCULPTURES IN CITY CENTRE 2.12 15. TV HILLARY GETTING OFF CARRIAGE 2.19 16. SLV BANNER SAYING: "CELEBRATION CEREMONY ORGANISED IN HONOUR OF SIR EDMUND HILLARY" 2.23 17. SLV HILLARY WALKING TOWARD SEAT, OFFICIAL PLACING SILK SCARF ON HIS SHOULDERS 2.43 18. SV PRESS 2.46 19. MCU HILLARY AND WIFE SEATED, WITH FLOWER NECKLACES 2.49 20. SV CHUCK DEMORIS, AMERICAN CLIMBER WHO REACHED EVEREST SUMMIT IN 1998 2.51 21. MCU (English) SIR EDMUND HILLARY, FIRST CLIMBER OF EVEREST, SAYING: "It's a wonderful morning. We say thanks to Nepal for its warmth and generosity." 3.11 22. SV HILLARY SHAKES HANDS WITH JUNKO TABEI, FIRST WOMAN TO CLIMB MOUNT EVEREST 3.20 23. SV CROWD WATCHING 3.22 24. SLV HILLARY WITH WIFE AND JUNKO TABEI STANDING IN FRONT OF THE CROWD 3.28 25. PAN FROM MOUNTAINS OVERLOOKING KATHMANDU TO HIGH VIEW OF CITY 3.39 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • Country: Nepal
  • Reuters ID: LVA3HUVZIOY2AJGD8XJWKTTD0YF3
  • Story Text: Just as he did 50 years ago, Edmund Hillary rode
    through the centuries-old lanes of Kathmandu in a horse-drawn
    carriage cheered by thousands of Nepalis crowding footpaths
    and clinging to temple steps.



    Just as he did 50 years ago, Edmund Hillary rode on
    Tuesday (May 27) through the centuries-old lanes of Kathmandu
    in a horse-drawn carriage, cheered by thousands of Nepalis
    crowding footpaths and clinging to temple steps.

    The tiny Himalayan kingdom is feting the 83-year-old
    former beekeeper from New Zealand, now Sir Edmund, to mark
    Thursday's (May 29) 50th anniversary of the first ascent of
    Mount Everest, a feat that kicked off a tourism boom in the
    impoverished nation.

    Bemused Hindu holy men looked on and school children in
    grey and white uniforms lined parts of the route for the
    parade, some holding small signs in Nepali and English with
    slogans such as: "May God give us the strength to be like you"
    and "Summiteers are the pride of us".

    Camera-wielding tourists mobbed the streets and local
    residents watched from rooftops and balconies.

    Garlanded with marigolds, bougainvillaea and a yellow
    Buddhist prayer scarf, Hillary drew loud cheers and claps when
    he spoke at Hanuman Dhoka ("the gate of the monkey god") as a
    band played wedding music and curious monkeys hung from temple
    roofs.

    "It's a wonderful morning. We say thanks to Nepal for its
    warmth and generosity," Hillary told a large crowd packing the
    300-year-old square lined with Hindu and Buddhist temples.

    About 450 summiteers are in Nepal for the anniversary,
    including the first woman to scale Everest, Japan's Junko
    Tabei, and the first man to climb alone, and without bottled
    oxygen, Reinhold Messner, who accompanied Hillary in Tuesday's
    parade.

    Although organisers are trying to recreate the nationwide
    celebrations that swept Nepal in 1953, just a few years after
    it was opened to the outside world, one crucial ingredient was
    missing: Tenzing Norgay, the Nepali who climbed with Hillary
    to the 8,850 metre (20,035 feet) summit.

    Tenzing died in 1986, but his son and grandson, who have
    both reached the top of Everest themselves, are part of the
    celebrations.

    Also missing are the nationalistic posters of 1953 showing
    Tenzing hauling a limp Hillary to the summit. Hillary insists
    he reached the top a few metres ahead of Tenzing.

    Tall and lanky when he reached the roof of the world half
    a century ago, Hillary is now grey and stooped, walking with
    the help of a hiking stick.

    But he is setting a gruelling pace of speeches, media
    events and official functions as he jets around the world for
    the anniversary.




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