So long, Sir Edmund Hillary

Okay, is it just me? I thought Sir Edmund Hillary was already dead.

I do feel pretty bad about it, though, since he seemed like such a decent guy.

In this morning's Globe, they reported that he'd made easily a hundred trips back to Nepal after his assault on Everest, building schools and helping the country toward economic stability. He was also incredibly vocal following the publication of Into Thin Air, about the blatant disregard for life -- for leaving struggling members on the mountain to die, while continuing a course to the top.

So, goodbye old chap. Here's to the mountains you'll climb in heaven.

And for you, I offer this final verse from Canadian poet Earl Birney's startlingly good epic poem David:

I said that he fell straight to the ice where they found him,
And none but the sun and incurious clouds have lingered
Around the marks of that day on the ledge of the Finger
That day, the last day of my youth, on the last of our mountains.