Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (born July 20, 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand—died January 11, 2008 in Auckland) was a New Zealand mountaineer and Antarctic explorer who, together with Tibetan mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, was the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest 29,035 feet [8,850 meters]; see... Hillary's life's work included exploring and climbing in many parts of the world, especially Nepal and Tibet. He is best known as one of the first people to reach the top of Mount Everest but he also discovered evidence of ancient humans on the mountain. Before reaching the top of Mount Everest, Hillary and his team member Lhakpa Wangyal had been forced to retreat when weather conditions deteriorated. They retreated down their tent site after discovering that they were not able to re-enter their advanced base camp due to high winds and heavy snowfall. However, they were able to salvage some of their supplies before leaving the area. Despite this setback, Hillary and his team still believed they could make it to the top of Everest during their second attempt. On May 1, 1953, at about 2:30 p.m., Hillary and his team member Lhakpa Wangyal reached the top of Mount Everest without any casualties. After returning home to New Zealand, Hillary started a family while working as a pilot for Air New Zealand.