New Zealand to name mountain ridge in honor of Mount Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary

New Zealand to name ridge for Everest conqueror

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand authorities are proposing renaming a ridge on the nation’s highest mountain to honor Mount Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary,

South Ridge on 12,300-foot (3,754-meter) Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook, would become the only alpine feature in New Zealand named for Hillary, a New Zealand citizen who died in 2008.

Geographic Board Chairman Don Grant said on Thursday that his government agency, which assigns names to geographic features, have considered seven landmarks that might be named after Hillary. South Ridge, which the famous mountaineer scaled in 1948, seems most apt, he said.

The Hillary family supports the renaming, but a three-month period of public consultation is necessary before the change can be made.

Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first mountaineers to conquer Everest in 1953.