Sir Ed's ice axe to go on show

The ice axe which helped Sir Edmund Hillary scale Mt Everest will be displayed at Auckland Museum on the anniversary of his death. The axe will be part of an installation displayed for a month from January 9. "I understand that Hillary once said his mountaineering career began with the Alpine Journal route guide in one hand and his ice axe in the other," museum director Dr Vanda Vitali said. "This axe took an Auckland boy from Tuakau to the top of Everest. And the steps he carved on the ice seem to still remain, beckoning others on to their own extraordinary journeys."