The Hillary family

Mountaineer, explorer, author, diplomat, and philanthropist

Sir Edmund Hillary lived one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th century. On 29 May 1953, he and Tenzing Norgay became the first to summit Mt. Everest — the start of a lifetime of adventure that included pioneering a new route across Antarctica and leading numerous Himalayan expeditions. Yet he regarded his greatest achievement as building 42 schools and hospitals for the Everest region, and championing conservation across Nepal, believing true success must lift others up.

Sir Ed was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, awarded the Hubbard Medal, and appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter. He passed away on 11 January 2008, but his legacy climbs on — in every school built, every summit attempted, and every life inspired to find its own Everest.

A lifetime of adventure

Peter grew up climbing mountains and participating in many of his father’s expeditions and projects – travelling to the North Pole, up the Ganges River in India, climbing in the Himalayas, around the United States, and helping the people of the Himalayas. 

Peter’s first summit of Everest in 1990 meant the Hillarys became the “first family” of Himalayan mountaineering with two generations of Everest climbers. They are also the first two generations of one family to have each established new routes across Antarctica to the South Pole. Peter reached the South Pole in 1999, and climbed Mt Everest for the second time in 2002 in celebration of his father’s historic first ascent with Tenzing Norgay. The expedition is the subject of the compelling National Geographic documentary Everest: 50 Years on the Mountain. 

In 2008, Peter completed the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. 

A guardian of art and legacy

Painting conservator and artist, Sarah Hillary brings a practised eye for care and preservation to everything she touches — whether restoring a work of art or safeguarding a family legacy. An endurance runner at heart, she carries the same quiet persistence into her advocacy work as she does onto the trail.

Sarah has served on the board of the Himalayan Trust, continuing the work her father began in Nepal and helping steer its ongoing support for education, healthcare, and community development in the Everest region. Beyond the boardroom, she has spent a lifetime representing and advocating for her father’s legacy — sharing his story, upholding his values, and ensuring the work he started continues to reach the people it was built for.

Through both her profession and her personal commitment, Sarah embodies a throughline in the Hillary family’s approach: that preservation — of art, of place, of memory — is itself a form of care.

Carrying the Ed Hillary Spirit

Adventurer, expedition guide, and General Manager of the Himalayan Trust, Alexander Hillary carries forward his grandfather’s spirit of service into a new generation.

In the Everest region, he leads the Trust’s partnership with local communities, continuing the practical, on-the-ground commitment to education, healthcare, and development that Sir Edmund began decades ago.

Beyond Nepal, Alexander pursues multi-discipline adventures across the globe, bringing the same drive and resourcefulness that defined his grandfather’s expeditions to entirely new terrain. For him, adventure and service aren’t separate pursuits — each sharpens the other, and both are ways of honouring where he comes from while making his own mark.

Supporting the next step in the hillary story

George passionately carries forward the Hillary legacy. Committed to the work his grandfather started decades ago, he shares his time across multiple charity boards supporting work in the Himalayas.

He brings that same discipline into his professional life. A decade in financial services, and now he also applies that commercial accumen to the business side of the Hillary family, working together to grow Ed Hillary Intellectual Property.

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An engaging public speaker, George enjoys sharing the family story and his own adventures on stage — whether it’s business audiences drawing lessons from mountaineering, or tour groups looking for an entertaining, high-energy talk.

An avid climber across every discipline, from Himalayan mountaineering to sport climbing, George brings the same preparation and determination to each pursuit that has defined the Hillary name for generations.

A new generation of adventure

Among the youngest members of the Hillary family, Lily Hillary carries the family’s heritage of adventure, resilience, and commitment to others into a new generation. Her passion is horses — a pursuit that has already taken her from the plains of the American Midwest to the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, seeking out new landscapes and new ways to test herself.

Though her adventures look different from the peaks her great-grandfather climbed, the same spirit runs through them: curiosity for the world, a willingness to go further, and a quiet sense that these journeys are about more than herself. As one of the family’s newest generation, Lily represents where the Hillary legacy is headed next — carried forward not as an obligation, but as a way of seeing the world.

Carrying the story forward

Anna continues the family’s legacy of community responsibility through work that preserves history. She works with historic and documentary heritage, helping ensure that the stories of past adventure — her grandfather’s included — are carried forward accurately and meaningfully for future generations.

Anna’s contribution is one of memory: preserving the record, safeguarding the story, and making sure that what Sir Ed and those around him achieved is never lost to time. It’s a quieter form of stewardship, but no less vital to keeping the family’s history alive.