Seven New Zealand locations short-listed for Sir Edmund’s honour

WELLINGTON - Seven New Zealand mountains or ranges have been chosen to be named after Mt Everest mountaineer and explorer Sir Edmund Percival Hillary.

‘Ten proposals for the naming of peaks after Sir Ed were put forward to the New Zealand Geographic Board, which was expected to present a favoured option for public comment in the coming months, before a decision late this year or early 2011,’ the Weekend Herald reported.

Sir Edmund’s daughter Sarah Hillary had said the chosen landmark must have public approval, as a result of which three possibilities were declined or withdrawn from contention.

The selected mountains are as follows:

1. Mount Ed Hillary: Two Thumb Range, MacKenzie Country, currently not named.

2. Hillary Peak: The Remarkables, Otago, currently not named.

3. Hillary Hill: Hauraki Plains, currently not named.

4. Hillary: Main Divide near Mount Tasman, currently Magellan.

5. Hillary Ridge: Aoraki/Mount Cook, currently South Ridge. 6. Tapuaenuku-Mount Edmund Hillary: Inland Kaikoura Range, currently Tapuae-o-Uenuku.

7. Hillary Peak: Inland Kaikoura Range, currently Mitre Peak.

On May 29 1953 at the age of 33, Sir Edmund Percival Hillary along with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Sir Hillary, who breathed his last in January 2008 at the age of 88, was named as the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time Magazine. (ANI)