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To touch the legend...

Yesterday the legendary Everest climber Sir Edmund Hillary with his wife have arrived to Saint Petersburg with brief two-day visit . Hillary couple was accompanied with the ambassador of New Zealand in Russia. Visit was private, there were only about fifteen persons. Among them: the vice- speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Arthur Tchilingarov, vice- president of the Sport Commettee of Petersburg, (the active tourist and climber in the past), Gennady Furmanov, Victor Bojarsky - director of the Museum of Arctic regions and Antarctic Region and some others

The climbing community was represented by the president of Saint Petersburg Mountaineering, rock-climbing and ice-climbing Federation Oleg Kapitanov and Alexander Odintsov - the head of "Big Wall - Russian routes" project. Sir Hillary looked tired, listened much and spoke a little. All have been asked to not stick with long questions as how he felt 50 years ago at the top of the Everest, whether Petersburg is pleasant, whether he wants again to visit Himalaya.

 

There's similarity that 85-years HIllary has not so many desires. What can surprise this person who has tested by World glory, survived death of the close friends and not once entered in World history with the Everest, Antarctic Region and the mission in Nepal?

Oleg Kapitanov, Alexander Odintsov and Sir Edmund Hillariy

Photo: Serguey Shibayev, the editor of the EX-magazine, July 5.

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