Question

‘There is no height, no depth that the spirit of man, guided by higher Spirit cannot attain’. Discuss the above statement in the context of the achievement of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing.

Answer 1

Man is naturally endowed with an indomitable spirit. Guided by powers above man reach any height. The grit and persistence of both Hillary and Tenzing stand testimony to the above maxim. The conditions were really overwhelming. Hillary slipped many times. Once he even t sought the advisability of continuing the climb under such conditions. But Tenzing and Hillary. resolved to persist and conquer the peak. As a reward for 400 feet climbs near the south summit,, they got two bottles of oxygen which in fact kept them alive almost up to their base camp. Both pick up the pieces of hope only when they come into contact with firmer rock-like. ice as they moved up.

Though they had to inch their way up clearing snow with the ice-ax and making a path to haul themselves up ridge after ridge in the elusive terrain, they did not give up. As Hillary’s ice-ax bit into the first steep slope of the ridge, his hopes were realized. The snow was crystalline and firm. With just two or three blows, Hillary could make a step large enough for their oversized high-altitude boots. They could create comfortable belays and trudge forward with confidence. As the humps were continuously seen, their original zest started declining. It was at this point Hillary saw a narrow ridge up to a snowy summit. With a few more whacks of the ice-ax in the form of snow, they reached the top.