Yield to Life: not everyone does

The most appalling story I have read this week surely has to be the Spanish case involving a motorist who hit and killed a 17 year-old cyclist and is now suing the cyclist's family for the damage to his car. Amazingly, no criminal charges were laid: it was held that the cyclist and the motorist were equally at fault as the cyclist went through a "Give Way" sign and was not wearing a helmet or reflective tape. On the other hand, the motorist was driving his A8 at 100 mph in a 55 mph zone!

The driver's insurance company gave the family a payment after admitting that the speed he was going probably contributed to the accident.

Yield to Life: A Great Initiative from the Pro Peleton

Dave Zabriskie at the 2006 US Pro time trial championship in Greensville, SC

(Photo by Frank Steele)

Whenever I go ride a time trial I spend a lot of time trying to get as aerodynamic as possible. I really really really want to look as smooth as Dave Zabriskie, an American formerly with Team CSC. In 2005 he won the initial time trial at the Tour de France at an average speed of over 54 km/h. I believe that this is the fastest individual time trial ever clocked at the Tour.

Since then Dave has had a bit of an up-and-down career and is now with Team Slipstream Chipotle and everyone is hoping for big things in Europe this year. But I just wanted to point out that Dave is unusual for a pro cyclist in that he has set up an organization promoting traffic safety in the United States, Yield to Life.

He has apparently been hit by cars three times and this alone is probably a good reason to promote better driving--and cycling. This small non-profit organization has as its aims:

Yield to Life’s Mission

Yield to Life will engage in a vigorous awareness campaign to promote positive attitudes toward cyclists and replace any hostility that exists between motorists and cyclists with understanding, respect, and appreciation for all life on the road. Safety for every cyclist is the top priority of Yield to Life.

Cycling is a healthy, life-affirming, environmentally-sound activity that adds value to anyone’s life. Since cyclists' lives are often in motorists’ hands, motorists must understand the vital role they play in a cyclist's safety.

Yield to Life will concentrate on road-rule education programs for motorists and cyclists alike through driver's education programs, public awareness movements and media campaigns in order to ensure a safer and more harmonious environment for all those on the road.

Yield to Life will engage in a hands-on educational program with target audiences that range from school assemblies to corporate conventions. Workshops will be created to arm cyclists with tips for navigating through traffic and tools for riding in a safe and responsible manner. Yield to Life will work on a database for cyclists to find the best, the safest and the most accommodating roads for commuting and for recreation.

On the website, Dave mentions that although he has ridden his bike all over the world, it is only in the United States where he has been hit by cars. The regrettable trend towards increasingly poor driving skills was featured in a recent issue of Bicycling magazine: disturbing.

I think Dave's initiative is excellent and let us hope that it will mean fewer death and injury on the road in the years ahead.

And for those of you not buried in swow: ride safely!

Sheldon Brown page

For those of you who would like to leave a message, a memorial site for Sheldon Brown has been set up here.

The Press Discovers Cycling: "I like cleaning it."

Cannondale Scalpel

This week's announcement that Canada's Dorel Industries has purchased Cannondale has not gone unnoticed in the mainstream press. The Globe & Mail in Toronto did a piece today which I have copied below. Of course, it makes those of us who ride high-end bikes look a bit, uh, crazy. Of course, these are mountain bikers being interviewed in the article so they are already a bit strange. Mountain bikers that actually clean their bikes!

Why buy a Chevette when you can have a Ferrari?

PATRICK WHITE
From Friday's Globe and Mail
February 8, 2008 at 9:14 AM EST

Sandro doesn't want you to know where he lives, where he works or even what his last name is. He has a secret - a lie, some might call it - that mustn't get out.

But here it is anyway: Sandro paid $7,000 for a bicycle. Why the cloak-and-dagger act?
"My wife would probably kill me if she knew," he says discreetly from work. "I told her I bought it with my sister."

Like many big-spending weekend warriors, he fell for Cannondale Bicycle, a company whose bikes have been ridden to stage victories at the Tour de France and world championships in mountain biking.

"Why have a Chevette when you can have a Ferrari?" says Sandro, who rides a few hours a week during the warmer months to keep in shape.

On Monday, Montreal-based Dorel Industries announced a deal to buy Cannondale for about $200-million (U.S.).

Dorel already sells low-priced bikes to discount retailers such as Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart. The purchase was as much about acquiring a bike line as adopting thousands of Cannondale disciples who spare no expense on buying and maintaining their wheels.

"We see strong growth in this area, with the bike enthusiast who wants to buy his brand in a smaller store as opposed to a big-box outlet," says Dorel president and chief executive officer Martin Schwartz.

Sandro picked up his prized Cannondale Team Scalpel mountain bike ("the exact same model the pros ride") in December and carefully rolled it into the furnace room of his west Toronto home.

And there it remains, away from the cold and salt that might corrode the bike's $1,400 (Canadian) handmade French wheels or $1,500 front suspension.

"It pains me not to ride, but I go down to take a look at it now and then," he says. "It's aesthetically quite pleasing. I like cleaning it."

Michael Cranwell, general manager at Duke's Cycle in Toronto, calls himself a weekend warrior even though he rides a backup bike four or five times a week during the winter and races his Team Scalpel all summer long.

Last year, Cannondale invited him to its Bethel, Conn., plant to test its newest models. Since then, the Scalpel has become "near and dear to my heart," says Mr. Cranwell, who's as fastidious as a NASA engineer when it comes to maintaining his beloved wheels. After each race he disassembles the bike to clean and inspect each part. "I tend to be a little more anal than most," he says.

Aside from Cannondale, well-heeled bike nuts pay up to $10,000 for models from Specialized, Merlin, Litespeed, Serotta and GT. What about these high-priced bikes inspires such devotion?
Like most top-drawer manufacturers, Cannondale outfits its stock with premium components and lightweight frames. Unlike others, it has a reputation for experimental engineering. The Scalpel, for instance, features a front suspension that uses a single telescoping fork with 88 bearings. The Scalpel's whole assemblage of space age metals and carbon fibre weighs as much as two large laptops.

"They define cutting edge," says Duke's Cycle manager Mark Newman, lifting the sole 23-pound (10.5 kilogram) Team Scalpel left in the store. "Riders respect that."

A precision instrument on the racetrack, these pricey bikes don't necessarily make great commuter vehicles. For one, the lightweight parts won't endure a regular grind as well as heavier, less-expensive components.

And second, the Scalpel is worth as much as a decent used car, making it a prime target for thieves. "You do not lock this bike up outside," Mr. Newman says. "If you're dumb enough to do that, I would even consider stealing it."

It's possible to buy bike insurance, but it isn't cheap. Insurers demand about 10 cents of premium for every dollar of bike, putting the cost of insuring a high-end Cannondale at about $700. And when you own four bikes, as Mr. Cranwell does, the insurance costs become prohibitive. That's why he has a foolproof security system. "My bike can only be one of three places," he says. "At the shop, at home or underneath me."

When Sandro mentions to friends and co-workers how much he paid for the bike, he gets strange looks. "People are always asking what the difference is between my bike and a $200 Canadian Tire special," he says. "It's like night and day. Buying a bike is an art. If you buy garbage, you end up with garbage."

The dollars are in the details
The cranks are constructed from a rare, high-grade aluminum.
The wheels are handmade in France. Replacements run about $1,300.
The swing arms rely on the natural give of carbon fibre rather than heavy metal pivots.

Coasting Bikes: The Road Ahead or a Dead End?

Giant Suede (top), Trek Lime (centre), Raleigh Coasting (below)

Coasting: Cycling for Everyone?

To the surprise of many of us who are obsessed by–oops, sorry: I meant to say "enjoy"–cycling, the bicycle industry in the United States is apparently in a decline. Bike sales have been flat for a decade at between $5.5 and 5.9 billion but as more high-end bicycles are being sold, cyclists are leaving at the other end of the market or never even getting in. The National Sporting Goods Association calculated that in 2006 35.6 million Americans over age 7 rode a bike at least six times in the year, down from 43.1 million the year before and 53.3 million in 1996. So as the expensive carbon bikes hit the market, revenues were stable but unit sales declined.

Shimano, the Big Daddy of the bike components business, was alarmed and retained a California innovation/design firm, IDEO, to create a better biking experience and, of course, sell more Shimano parts. IDEO went to the homes of non-cyclists across America and met with people to learn about their leisure activities.

In the end, Shimano/IDEO decided that what they were hearing was that cycling had become too intimidating and had lost its child-like fun. The choice available to cyclists had become overwhelming, and over-priced. They did not want to go into a bike shop and talk about technology and performance but wanted to reclaim their memories of just riding around as a kid. Nothing about being too lazy to ride or fear of Spandex!

Working with IDEO, Shimano came up with Coasting, a concept that called for new bikes that looked familiar and were easy to ride and affordable. In fact, the bikes require so little from the rider that they shift themselves, using a Shimano automatic transmission. Shimano also has made an effort to improve the bike purchasing experience so that Coasting buyers are comfortable in bike shops. Shimano then took its concept to several big manufacturers and to date Trek, Giant and Raleigh have Coasting bikes on the market and apparently sales are good. Even Business Week had a story about it.

From the reviews I have read, the Coasting bikes–the Trek Lime, Giant Suede and Raleigh Coasting–are pretty heavy and not very responsive. They are a lot cheaper than a decent Mavic wheelset at around $450 each and they look unthreatening with their rounded lines, covered chains and simple brakes. They do not have lights or even racks so it is unlikely they will be used for even short errands but probably for just riding around subdivisions.

Raleigh One Way

If the Coasting idea brings people into cycling, it is all for the better but it seems to me that perhaps the concept is a dead end rather than the smooth Highway of the Future. The bikes are not designed to be maintained by their owners–just looking at changing a tire conjures up nightmares–and their appeal will be primarily to people who will probably not move to more capable bicycles, either for commuting or sport. There are nice alternatives that are much better bicycles: for example, the Raleigh One Way is a steel classic-looking singlespeed bike (ie. no shifting), with fenders, good brakes, eyelets for a rack and a price tag of only $600.

To me the reason that people drop out of cycling or never get much into it is the perception that it is dangerous to go out and ride a bicycle on the street. I have ridden in heavy city traffic on three continents and there are skills that have to be developed. But there also has to be an environment that is welcoming to bicycles as transportation, whether through traffic-calming, market bike lanes or paths. If this element of the cycling equation were to be improved, I think that more people, across all age groups, would be more interested in cycling in the United States. Selling automatic transmissions to big manufacturers might be easier for Shimano than effective bike advocacy but in the long run–to reduce traffic fatalities, to improve your health, and to just have fun–the industry has to get behind advocacy in a much bigger way.

Cool-looking bikes, though. The first prototype presented by IDEO to Raleigh made the managers liken it to something that was a cross between Audi and Dr. Seuss.

Book Review: Ten Points

Ten Points: A Memoir
by Bill Strickland

There are not a lot of books that try to get into a cyclist's head and describe his emotional state. The rare exceptions which probably qualify as literature are Tim Krabbe's The Rider and Matt Seaton's The Escape Artist but another book surely must be considered in this small number.

“Ten Points” is the story of Bill Strickland, Executive Editor of Bicycling magazine, and how one summer he promised his daughter Natalie that he would earn ten points racing in the Thursday criterium bike race near their home in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. Bill is in his late 30s, by his own account a racer of impressively modest accomplishment, and his competitors are a motley assemblage of some of the top racing talent in the United States. His odds of getting ten points are pretty poor as he starts his quest but he wants to keep the promise to his daughter. But the challenge extends far beyond the ten points as Bill Strickland turns what on the surface appears to be a middle-aged man’s quixotic quest into his need to use the bicycle to bring meaning into his life. He wants to use the discipline, the pain and even the anger of bike racing to overcome his past and build something stronger and more meaningful with his family.

This book is not really about bike racing, but the accounts of the Thursday night races are wonderful in their detail and drama. The other racers–with nicknames like the Animal, Speed, Bird, Steak and Purple Jersey, are talented and dedicated but they seem to operate at a totally different level than even well-trained hobby athletes. The author learns with each session out on the road, but all too often he lacks the physical ability to keep pace. The description of amateur bike racing, and what goes on in your mind as you try to work the pack, is exceptional.

Bicycle road racing is unlike other amateur pursuits, such as softball or bowling or even running 5Ks, where you can be mediocre or even lousy but still participate. In a bike race, once you have dropped from the pack, you get pulled out of the event by officials–humiliated as well as depleted. And most beginners are left behind within minutes, if not seconds.

As well-told as the racing sequences are, what makes the book rivetting is the author’s juxtaposition of his life with his wife and daughter, with their domestic vignettes and his loving details of his little girl growing,, with his own childhood where the accounts of the abuse inflicted on him by his father are so appalling they come at you from the page with the quality of a nightmare, as if you are not actually reading what is on the page. It has taken courage to write this and skill to make the reader stay with the story in spite of all natural inclinations. But going for the ten points is part of Bill’s therapy, the way he comes to terms with what he is and how, as a loving father and husband, he must act to protect his family from the self-destructive monster inside of himself.

As time passes, Bill learns not to try to win each race but to merely stay at the front and fit into the rhythm of the pack. He reads the other riders and discovers that he has an exceptional talent for riding in the rain but he can only use this as long as the officials do not end the race prematurely. He discovers that if he allows the anger inside himself to speak uncontrolled, it will cause accidents and not gain him points.

The season moves inexorably towards the end and Bill has become a better rider but is still not up to ten points. It will take a small miracle to get there but Bill’s realization towards the end is that there are small miracles around him that speak more importantly to who he is. Throughout the book one can sense his sense of wonder at fatherhood and his recognition of the sometimes painful compromises needed to make a marriage work, and the bright rewards of love.

Ten Points is beautifully written. Holding up the mirror is often painful to those who must gaze upon it but Bill Strickland looks back as a real bike racer and, more importantly, an honest man. This is worth much more than ten points.


Ten Points
by Bill Strickland
241 pp., hardcover
2007, Hyperion Press, New York
$24.00

Sheldon Brown: 1944-2008

In a hobby not lacking in them, one of cycling's more eccentric and interesting personalities has taken his last ride. Sheldon Brown, of Newtonville, Massachusetts, America's Fixed Gear Guru, suffered a major heart attack and died yesterday.

He was celebrated far and wide for his encouragement of fixed gear cycling, owning no less than eleven of them, including an off-road tandem! His articles on fixed gear cycling, to be found on the Harris Cycling website, where he was the Webmaster and general tech guy, are exceptionally clear and concise. He was a goldmine of information not only about fixes but also about bike lore in general. His articles on the Golden Age of Cycling are invaluable to restorers and mechanics everywhere who are trying to figure out how to fit that cottered crank onto the French-threaded part. But in addition to cycling Mr. Brown had diverse interests, as you can see from him own homepage, including family history, photography and music. He enjoyed cycletouring in Quebec and was fluent in French. And he wrote an excellent explanation about the causes of the US Civil War!

Having been diagnosed with MS, Mr. Brown had not ridden a bicycle since September 2006, and he had been keeping a journal of the effects of the illness. Although I never met him, the power of his personality--passionate, helpful, open-minded, humorous, self-reliant--came across strongly in his writing. He was proud of his family and appears to have passed his inquiring mind genetics to his children, both of whom are mathematicians.

There was an interview with Mr. Brown on "the Bike Show, " where he talked about fixed gear touring in 2006 and another where he sang the praises of the English three speed a few months earlier.

So let us wish Sheldon eternal smooth roads ahead on the Great Tour, and our sympathies to his family and friends.

Beer and Bicycling Go Together

But is this what the world needs? A recent news item from Bloomberg:

Carlsberg Will Sell $400 Beer, World's Most Expensive
By Christian Wienberg

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Carlsberg A/S ads say it's "probably the best beer in the world.'' At $400 a bottle, it's now the most expensive.

The brewer, Scandinavia's biggest, introduced a beer today that costs 2,008 Danish kroner ($396.47), the price being based on the year of its introduction. The Vintage No. 1 brew will be sold at three Copenhagen restaurants, including Noma, a holder of two Michelin stars and the world's 15th-best restaurant in 2007, according to S.Pellegrino.

The product, costing 357 times more than Carlsberg's main Danish lager brand, has been developed to challenge luxury wines in the gourmet restaurant market and capitalize on rising individual wealth. Denmark, a country of 5.4 million, has 16 dollar billionaires, according to a list published this month by Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin magazine. The number of billionaires worldwide rose 21 percent last year to 946, Forbes magazine said.

"We can feel that there's an increasing market for this type of product, as some of our customers order extremely expensive wines without blinking an eye,'' Lau Richter, restaurant chief at the Noma restaurant, said today by phone. "Ten years ago, it was a rare event selling a 1,000 kroner bottle of wine at a Danish restaurant, now we do it every day.''

Carlsberg has produced 600 bottles of the 10.5 percent proof beer, each of 37.5 centiliters (0.8 pint). Another version costing 2,009 kroner will be introduced next year and one for 2,010 kroner the year after, the company said today in an e-mail.

Prune, Caramel

The number of Danish breweries has increased ten-fold since 2000 with the opening of about 90 microbreweries and brewpubs specializing in gourmet beer. Carlsberg, whose Danish market share has declined from a peak 81 percent in 1971 to 63 percent last year, in 2005 opened the Jacobsen microbrewery in Copenhagen to tap increasing demand for specialty brews.
"We're trying to raise the bar for what a beer can be,'' Jens Eiken, the brew master at Jacobsen who developed the product, said today by phone. The beverage is "cheap'' considering the amount of time the brewery spent developing it, he said.

Eiken wouldn't disclose how long Vintage No. 1 took to develop, saying only that the amount of time spent on it was such that the company doesn't expect the project to be profitable.
The beer contains hints of prune, caramel, vanilla and oak tree from the French and Swedish wooden casks in which it is stored, Eiken said. It has a chestnut brown color, little foam and goes well with cheeses and desserts, he said.

"Exceptional Quality"

Noma will have "no problem'' selling the "small amount'' of Vintage No. 1 it ordered, Richter said. "We expect they will all move,'' he said, declining to specify the restaurant's order.
Carlsberg, which sells more than 150 different beer brands in as many countries around the world, has no plans yet to export Vintage No. 1. Some bottles will be offered for sale next week on the brewer's Web site.

"There are people at restaurants paying 20,000 kroner for a bottle of wine or port, and why wouldn't they pay the same for a beer of exceptional quality,'' Eiken said.

Vintage No. 1 will be the world's most expensive beer, according to Eiken. That title is currently held by Boston Beer Co.'s Utopia, which costs about $100 for a 72 centiliter bottle, according to the Web site Most-expensive.net.

Bierodrome, a London bar, sells Belgian beer Vielle Bon Secours for 635 pounds ($1,260) per 15 liter bottle, which is 12 times less than the liter price of Vintage No. 1.

300 Cols in 30 Days: One Tough Ride

Just to show you that there are really no limits to what you can do if you set your mind to it, I came across an interesting story recently from the UK. In order to raise money for a charity dedicated to anti-personnel mine removal, MAG (Mines Advisory Group), Phil Deeker of Salisbury, celebrating his 50th birthday on August 1, went for a big bike ride. In the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Cevennes. Altogether his 29 day trip, with 26 of actual riding, covered 4600 km and, get this, 82 vertical kilometers! The 319 cols that he climbed appear to include all the great rides of the Tour de France. He began the ride with another rider who lasted only as long as the first stage (a mere 7 cols!). On one of the toughest days he climbed 22 passes. I think to date the most I have done in one day is, uh, four.

Phil was assisted by his wife, driving the team support vehicle, and he was occasionally joined by other cyclists but it is very impressive that in addition to having the physical stamina necessary he had the motivation to keep going in some rather poor weather conditions. But at the end he persevered and raised £6,600 for MAG. Epic indeed--well done, Phil!

You can read the story here and check out lots of fog in the slideshow here.

If I am going to look half as good on the cols this summer as Phil did, I may have to push up the training a bit more...

The Passing of A Giant: Sir Edmund Hillary

This is not a posting about cycling but about the death yesterday of an extraordinary person whom I admired deeply. Sir Edmund Hillary is most famous for the conquest of Everest with Tenzing Norgay as part of the Hunt Expedition of 1953, but in fact his accomplishments are far greater.

In 2003, when I was living in Washington, DC, I visited Explorer's Hall at the National Geographic Society. There was a wonderful exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the climbing of Mt. Everest, with models of the landscape showing the route the expedition took, and including the equipment, primitive to our eyes, that the climbers used. The history of the expedition is fascinating, but what was also interesting was the part of the exhibition showing how the Sherpas live. There was even a cut-away house and videos showing how they cooked and worked the land. Sir Edmund was deeply involved in efforts to assist the people of Nepal and the small charity he founded built schools and carried out other worthwhile projects there. He also was a keen conservationist and spearheaded a movement to clean up Nepal, littered as it was with all the equipment from climbing expeditions.

He was apparently an extremely modest person but reading the obituary prepared by the Associated Press below it is clear that his achievements were anything but modest. In a world where almost anyone can be described as a "hero" and where "role models" often have feet of clay, here is an example of a life well-lived by a man who did the Right Thing.

He deserves the State Funeral he will receive in New Zealand. Rest in peace, Sir Ed!


Sir Edmund Hillary, 88
RAY LILLEY
Associated Press
January 10, 2008 at 7:10 PM EST
WELLINGTON — Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88.

The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called “Ed” and considering himself just an ordinary beekeeper.

“Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity,” Ms. Clark said in a statement. “The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived,” she said.

Sir Edmond's life was marked by grand achievements, high adventure, discovery, excitement — and by his personal humility. Humble to the point that he only admitted being the first man atop Everest long after the death of climbing companion Tenzing Norgay.
He had pride in his feats. Returning to base camp as the man who took the first step onto the top of the world's highest peak, he declared: “We knocked the bastard off.”

The accomplishment as part of a British climbing expedition even added lustre to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth four days later, and she knighted Sir Edmond as one of her first acts.
But he was more proud of his decades-long campaign to set up schools and health clinics in Nepal, the homeland of Tenzing Norgay, the mountain guide with whom he stood arm in arm on the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953.

He wrote of the pair's final steps to the top of the world: “Another few weary steps and there was nothing above us but the sky. There was no false cornice, no final pinnacle. We were standing together on the summit. There was enough space for about six people. We had conquered Everest.

“Awe, wonder, humility, pride, exaltation — these surely ought to be the confused emotions of the first men to stand on the highest peak on Earth, after so many others had failed,” Sir Edmond noted.

“But my dominant reactions were relief and surprise. Relief because the long grind was over and the unattainable had been attained. And surprise, because it had happened to me, old Ed, the beekeeper, once the star pupil of the Tuakau District School, but no great shakes at Auckland Grammar (high school) and a no-hoper at university, first to the top of Everest. I just didn't believe it.

He said: “I removed my oxygen mask to take some pictures. It wasn't enough just to get to the top. We had to get back with the evidence. Fifteen minutes later we began the descent.”
His philosophy of life was simple: “Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself,” he said in a 1975 interview after writing his autobiography, “Nothing Venture, Nothing Win.”

Close friends described him as having unbounded enthusiasm for both life and adventure.
“We all have dreams — but Ed has dreams, then he's got this incredible drive, and goes ahead and does it,” long-time friend Jim Wilson said in 1993.

Sir Edmond summarized it for schoolchildren in 1998, when he said one didn't have to be a genius to do well in life.

“I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it,” he said before planting some endangered Himalayan oaks in the school grounds.
The planting was part of his program to reforest upland areas of Nepal.
Sir Edmond remains the only non-political person outside Britain honoured as a member of the Britain's Order of the Garter, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth on just 24 knights and ladies living worldwide at any time.

Throughout his 88 years, he was always the atypical “typical New Zealander” who spoke his mind.

He recalled his surprise at the huge international interest in their feat. “I was a bit taken aback to tell you the truth. I was absolutely astonished that everyone should be so interested in us just climbing a mountain.”

Sir Edmond never forgot the small mountainous country that propelled him to worldwide fame. He revisited Nepal constantly over the next 54 years.

Without fanfare and without compensation, Sir Edmond spent decades pouring energy and resources from his own fund-raising efforts into Nepal through the Himalayan Trust he founded in 1962.

Known as “burra sahib” — “big man,” for his 6 feet 2 inches — by the Nepalese, Sir Edmond funded and helped build hospitals, health clinics, airfields and schools.
He raised funds for higher education for Sherpa families, and helped set up reforestation programs in the impoverished country. About $250,000 a year was raised by the charity for projects in Nepal.

A strong conservationist, he demanded that international mountaineers clean up thousands of tons of discarded oxygen bottles, food containers and other climbing debris that litter the lower slopes of Everest.

His commitment to Nepal took him back more than 120 times. His adventurer son Peter has described his father's humanitarian work there as “his duty” to those who had helped him.
It was on a visit to Nepal that his first wife, Louise, 43, and 16-year-old daughter Belinda died in a light plane crash March 31, 1975.

Sir Edmond remarried in 1990, to June Mulgrew, former wife of adventurer colleague and close friend Peter Mulgrew, who died in a passenger plane crash in the Antarctic. He is survived by his wife and children Peter and Sarah.

His passport described Sir Edmond as an “author-lecturer,” and by age 40 his schedule of lecturing and writing meant he had to give up beekeeping “because I was too busy.”
By that time he was touring, lecturing and fund-raising for the Himalayan Trust in the United States and Europe for three months at a time, speaking at more than 100 venues during a tour.
He was known as ready to take risks to achieve his goals, but always had control so that nobody ever died on a Sir Edmond-led expedition.

He was at times controversial. He decried what he considered a lack of “honest-to-God morality” in New Zealand politics in the 1960s, and he refused to backtrack when the prime minister demanded he withdraw the comments. Ordinary New Zealanders applauded his integrity.

He got into hot water over what became known as his “dash to the Pole” in the 1957-58 Antarctic summer season aboard modified farm tractors while part of a joint British-New Zealand expedition.

Sir Edmond disregarded instructions from the Briton leading the expedition and guided his tractor team up the then-untraversed Shelton Glacier, pioneering a new route to the polar plateau and the South Pole.

In 2006 he climbed into a row over the death of Everest climber David Sharp, stating it was “horrifying” that climbers could leave a dying man after an expedition left the Briton to die high on the upper slopes.

Sir Edmond said he would have abandoned his own pioneering 1953 climb to save another life.
“It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say 'good morning' and pass on by,” he said. “Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain.”

Named New Zealand's ambassador to India in the mid-1980s, Sir Edmond was the celebrity of the New Delhi cocktail circuit. He later said he found the job confining.
He introduced jetboats to many Ganges River dwellers a decade earlier, in 1977, when his “Ocean to the Sky” expedition travelled the Ganges by jetboat to within 200 kilometres of its source.

The last segment was by foot, and two mountain peaks near Badranath, where the Ganges rises, were also climbed.

Sir Edmond didn't place himself among top mountaineers. “I don't regard myself as a cracking good climber. I'm just strong in the back. I have a lot of enthusiasm and I'm good on ice,” he said.

Despite his fame, he spoke of being “really embarrassed” even when introduced at a lecture.
“I really am an ordinary person with a few abilities which I've tried to use in the best way I can,” he said.

Honoured by the United Nations as one of its Global 500 conservationists in 1987, he was also awarded numerous honorary doctorates from universities in several parts of the world.
Throughout his life Sir Edmond remembered his first mountain he climbed, the 2,930-metre Mount Tapuaenuku — “Tappy” as he called it — in Marlborough on New Zealand's South Island. He scaled it solo over three days in 1944, while in training camp with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War. “Tapuaenuku” in Maori means “footsteps of the Rainbow God”.

“I'd climbed a decent mountain at last,” he said later.

Like all good mountaineers before him, Sir Edmond had no special insight into that quintessential question: Why climb?

“I can't give you any fresh answers to why a man climbs mountains. The majority still go just to climb them.”