Tenzing Norgay

It was with much sadness that I read about the passing of my friend, Tenzing Norgay, for I was very privileged to have known this wonderful and world-renowned man. Warm, intelligent, and humorous, Tenzing was an endearing man.

I twice trekked with Tenzing in the Himalayas. Tenzing delighted those of us on the trek with stories of the famous Mt. Everest climb. He even pointed out the site of his boyhood home from where he left for Darjeeling to get work as a high altitude porter. After one of the treks, I was fortunate to be invited by Tenzing and his wife Daku to be their house guest. My stay in their home, the treks, and my visit to the Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering to see the equipment used in Tenzing and Hillary’s ascent of Mt. Everset, remain cherished memories.

My favorite remembrance, though, was of an incident directly related to Los Angeles. Several years ago, before the George C. Page Museum was built in Hancock Park, the Observation Pit at the La Brea tar pits had a small gift shop where I bought a T-shirt with a caricature of Smilodon, the Saber Tooth Cat (now our official state fossil). The caption over Smilodon read, “The Original California Kitty.” I wore this shirt on my trek. Tenzing, who was called “Tiger of the Snows,” admired the feline adorning my shirt. At the end of the trek, I presented the freshly washed shirt to Tenzing, who was delighted to be a California Kitty.

PHYLLIS GORDON

Los Angeles