Ninety

Once enthroned as the first man to ever set foot on the summit of Everest, Edmund Hillary becomes a professional adventurer. With a certain phlegmatic desperation, he sets out to climb ten more Himalayan peaks; he succeeds. It’s not enough. He joins an overland expedition to the South Pole; he reaches the meeting point of the meridians. It’s not enough. He gets married, he has three children. His wife and one of the girls are killed in a plane crash in Kathmandu, in the foothills of the mountain range. He marries the widow of a friend. It’s not enough. He sets up a complex charitable enterprise for the benefit of the Sherpa population. He founds schools and hospitals in remote villages of Nepal. It’s not enough. He receives eleven decorations: from the British, the New Zealanders, the Nepalis, the Indians, the Poles… It’s not enough. He dies of a heart attack. They name an airport after him.