Top of the world, Looking down on creation: Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919 - 2008

Dude got high. Way high.

Sir Edmund Hillary, the explorer from New Zealand who achieved worldwide fame in 1953 for being the first person (along with his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay) in recorded history to ascend the summit top of Mt. Everest, succumbed to heart failure earlier today. He was 88 years old.

Sir Edmund Hillary was a beekeeper, philanthropist, author, and was way cooler than Hillary Clinton and her (most likely) carefully orchestrated “Oprah moment.”

(This photo was taken by Edmund Hillary at the top of the world, since his companion, Tenzing Norgay did not know how to operate a camera.)