Remembering Edmund Hillary's links with Capel Curig

Jan 15 2008 By Samantha Castle

Edmund Hillary

THE death of legendary explorer Sir Edmund Hillary has had a special resonance for a family trunning a hotel in the Conwy Valley.

For it was the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel at Capel Curig that British members of the climbing team that conquered Everest in 1953 stayed while they used Snowdonia to train for the quest.

New Zealander Sir Edmund first attended the hotel just five months after the ascent as part of a reunion event, and reunions have been held every five years since.

"However, very few are left now," said landlady Jane Pullee.

Sir Edmund shot to worldwide fame after reaching the summit of the world’s highest mountain with Tenzing Norgay in May 1953, just days before the Queen’s Coronation.

News of the success was broken to the world by James Morris, a young journalist working for The Times who sent the coded message "Snow conditions bad" to signify the summit had been reached.

The Pen-y-Gwryd has been in the same family since 1947. It perches alone, halfway up the Pen-y-Pass between the flanks of Snowdon and Gylders ridge. The story goes that when the news of their success came through at 1am, the landlord woke the guests to drink a toast.

Jane, now 64, was 10 in 1953 and recollects when the news broke.

"We all had a few days off school for the Coronation. The news came in from Everest, and my parents, who owned the hotel at that time, went and told everyone in the hotel.

"I will never forgive them for not waking me up to tell me!"

That glorious moment seems to live on, and in the cosy hotel bar hangs the famous photo of Sir Edmund drinking tea from a battered enamel mug after his climb. Look carefully and you’ll see the very same mug hanging behind the bar.

The New Zealand government has nannounced a state funeral for Sir Edmund, who died of heart disease aged 88 last Friday.

Jane Pullee said: "We have lost an icon. It’s wonderful that they’re giving him a state funeral.

"He was a giant, in his stature and in what he did for the Sherpas, but he was also very modest and unassuming. He always had time for everybody, including the media.

"He always thought his greatest achievement was what he did in Nepal after Everest, the schools and hospitals and planting trees.

"He was one of the world’s great heroes. I’ll always remember him as a quiet chap who was terribly proud. The world will be a sadder place without him."