Sir Ed's back where it all began

Mt Everest looks more daunting than ever to its conqueror.

"Looking at it now, it looks virtually impossible," was Sir Edmund Hillary's first reaction this week to the mountain he climbed in 1953 in the days before he knew the meaning of the word "impossible".

"But it's an absolutely overwhelming experience," he said from Nepal on Close Up this week. "After all, I've seen the mountain many times before, but not under these circumstances [from the air] and to see those great white peaks towering into the sky, it really was most amazing."

Sir Edmund's return to Nepal and Mt Everest this week was proof that at 86 he is still not inclined to let obstacles get in his way.

Despite riots after an uprising against the Nepalese royal family, and the problems inherent in old age, he was determined to go, according to Close Up presenter Mark Sainsbury.

Sainsbury is documenting what could be Sir Edmund's final goodbye to the Khumbu region.

His Himalayan Trust has supported its villages, building schools, hospitals and bridges since its people helped him to climb their mountain.

"He has been working out for months to try and get fit enough to make the trip," said Sainsbury.

"The big worry was when he got to the mountains the weather could close in, and he would be stuck at high altitude. It was a big risk, but for him it was worth it."

Sir Edmund also told media that Nepal needed tourists to return. Sainsbury said he was delighted when the British Government withdrew its travel warning about Nepal soon after Sir Edmund appeared on the BBC.

Sainsbury said he first flew to Nepal with Sir Edmund 15 years ago and forged a close relationship.

Sir Edmund's 86 years meant some things had changed since he was a sprightly 71.

"The first time I came up with him, we would go to the hills and spend weeks up there, because those are places he has physically built himself - the schools and bridges, he actually got in there and built them.

"Now he paces himself. He'll just shut down when he needs to, rest up and then get back into it.

'When he flew up into the mountains, he was very tired and all these people arrived and his eyes just lit up. He physically changes when he's around them. This time, he could only do it from the air, but he wanted to see them."

Sainsbury said documenting the trip was important. "..if this is his last trip back, we needed to record it for the future. There's new generation coming through who want to learn about him ..."

So when the Hillarys told him they were going, he asked TVNZ if a film crew could go too. "To be honest, I would just about have been prepared to pay my own way."

Sir Edmund and his wife, June, leave Nepal tomorrow.