God Toppler Edmund

Of course, to all right thinking people, the 'conquest' of Everest was the most appalling impiety. A mountain that is impossible to climb is much more edifying than one that is merely difficult. I could worship an impossible mountain.  Sir Edmund Hillary demoted Everest to difficult. 'Well, George, we've knocked the bastard off,' he said when he returned to base camp. Exactly. But, I suppose, he was a hero of a time when the 'conquest' of the planet seemed like a good thing and when the old colonial idea of toppling 'false' gods was still alive and well. Mountains made good gods. William Empson wrote a great poem about the emptiness left after the toppling of the gods - 'Let us stand here and admit that we have no road.' Hillary was an alpha male, but it's betas like Empson who have the last word.