Peter Hillary
Mountaineer, Philanthropist, Writer & Speaker
Peter Hillary is a mountaineer who has completed more than 50 expeditions worldwide, including five to Mount Everest and ascents of the Seven Summits. The son of Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter combines high-altitude adventure with a lifelong commitment to humanitarian work. He shares powerful insights on leadership, resilience and purpose drawn from the world’s most extreme environments.
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Peter Hillary is a lifelong adventurer, mountaineer and humanitarian, shaped from an early age by a family legacy of exploration and service. He grew up in a household where adventure was inseparable from giving back. His father, Sir Edmund Hillary, made history in 1953 with Tenzing Norgay as the first climbers to summit Mount Everest, an achievement that launched a lifetime of humanitarian work in the Himalayas and instilled in the Hillary family a commitment to travel with purpose.
Peter has gone on to build an extraordinary career in his own right. He has taken part in more than 50 mountaineering expeditions around the world, including five expeditions to Mount Everest and successful ascents of all seven of the world’s highest peaks—the Seven Summits. He became the first second-generation climber to summit Everest and later made a landmark ascent alongside renowned climber Pete Athans and Jamling Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, to mark the 50th anniversary of their fathers’ historic climb.
Beyond Everest, Peter has pursued pioneering adventures across some of the planet’s most extreme environments. He trekked to the South Pole on skis and forged a new route across the remote, sensory-deprived ice plateau of Antarctica, continuing a career defined by endurance, curiosity and exploration.
Central to Peter’s life is his commitment to philanthropy. He is Chair of the Himalayan Trust, the non-profit organisation founded by his father to support the health, education and environmental needs of communities in the Himalayas. The Trust has built 42 schools and hospitals in the Everest region and now supports educational programmes across 80 schools, all developed in partnership with local communities and at their request.
Peter is also an accomplished author and storyteller. He has written seven books about adventure, leadership and humanitarian work, produced numerous documentaries—including two for National Geographic—and leads adventure travel expeditions around the world. Through speaking, writing and hands-on action, Peter Hillary continues to inspire audiences with lessons drawn from the world’s highest mountains and most challenging environments.
Topics
Climb Your Own Everest
This show looks back on an extraordinary life of expeditions, including more than fifty expeditions across the Himalayas, Antarctica, and the Americas and all “Seven Summits”—the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.
With humility and humor, Peter reveals what it takes to summit the world’s highest mountain, to travel to the ends of the earth at the North and South Poles, and to survive a horrific storm on the world’s most savage mountain, K2. He also calls upon our humanity, emphasizing the importance of generosity and making sure we give to the places that give to us.
In these gripping and—at times—hilarious stories about his adventures, he transports audiences to another world, linking his own challenges to goal achievement in everyday life and business, emphasizing the importance of preparation, perseverance, teamwork, caution, and sound judgment—as well as remembering to enjoy the journey.
