REASONS FOR POLE TRIP

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28478, 7 January 1958, Page 8

REASONS FOR POLE TRIP

“Came Because I Wanted To”

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, January 5.

Sir Edmund Hillary yesterday told his reasons for going to the South Pole, the “New York Times” reported today.

In a dispatch from the South Pole, the “New York Times’’ quoted him as saying: “I came to the Pole because I wanted to come to the Pole. Some people must have a scientific reason. Not me.”

The “New York Times” said that Sir Edmund Hillary admitted that he had harboured the idea of a Polar trip for nearly a year, but that he added: “I don’t believe in calling my shots in advance.”

It said that Sir Edmund Hillary’s arrival at the Pole had temporarily ended the New Zealand portion of the British-New Zealand trans-Antarctic expedition. Sir Edmund Hillary had left supplies along the trail for the British party which hoped to reach the Pole itself within a fortnight, and then planned to continue to Scott Base if the weather permitted. The “New York Times” report quoted the explorer as saying: “After we had completed our job of establishing the depot we decided that it would be good to push on. Frankly, we expected that Dr. Fuchs would be here before us.”

The “New York Times” reported that Sir Edmund Hillary said that Dr. Fuchs had wished him good luck when notified of his intention to push on to the South Pole.