WHEN WAS THE last time you felt truly alive, or appreciated the small things in life - like having a hot shower or clean bed sheets?
For Peter Hillary it was in May last year, on his way to conquer Everest again, retracing the footsteps of his father Sir Edmund Hillary. who reached the summit 50 years ago next month. 'It's amazing,' says the 48-year-old New Zealander, 'how much you find yourself thinking about what is important, like your family and what it means to be part of a family. I know there are people who don't need to go on expeditions to Everest to realise these things, but for some of us, it's a great help.'
Having already graced the world's highest point in 1990, Hillary says he had no intention of returning to Everest. 'There are lots of mountains in the world ? why do the same thing again?' But when National Geographic Channel approached him to make Surviving Everest, a programme to mark the 50th anniversary of his father's ascent on May 29, 1953, Hillary jumped at the chance.
Apart from praising the adventure channel's ability to make quality programmes, Hillary says he supports the station's pledge to highlight the Sherpas' role in Surviving Everest - something most programmes have largely ignored. Yet the local ethnic people are 'the engines of the expeditions', says Hillary, who is in Taiwan as part of a global promotional tour, having sidestepped Hong Kong because of the atypical pneumonia outbreak.
What inspired him most to challenge Everest again was the team of people involved. It is the atmosphere - the infectious feeling of energy, camaraderie and trust - created by the people on the expeditions that are special to Hillary. And one team member the mountaineer is particularly fond of is Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, his father's climbing partner on the historic 1953 ascent. 'The connection with our families, the way it's transformed our lives, has been profound,' he says.
But unlike Hillary, Norgay declined to go all the way to the summit on last year's climb and only went as far as base camp at 5,400 metres, having promised his family he would not go back after his ascent in 1996. Hillary respects his decision. 'Jamling climbed Everest during a catastrophic season in 1996, when 11 people died. He made a promise to his wife and family and he stuck by it,' Hillary says.