Local peak climbed by Sir Edmund Hillary 		     

 

I love pleasant surprises and sometimes that’s what I get when I’m out delivering the Bruce Trail’s thank you calendar to our landowners every fall.  I’ve gotten to know a few of them quite well now and an hour visit or more flies by as they tell me their memories of the trail’s history on and around their property.  One such surprise happened this fall when visiting a landowner who lives near the Alton Pinnacle, a steep and large hill overlooking the village of Alton.  The Pinnacle is located at the very north end of the Alton Side Trail on the Millcroft Inn Property.  While looking at the big hill and talking about trail business, the landowner remarked, “You know, Sir Edmund Hillary, first man to summit Mount Everest in 1953, climbed that hill”.  I’ve heard that story but never met anyone who could tell me whether it happened for sure or not.  “It happened”, they replied, “I was there”.  That would make a great story for the Caledon Comment I thought so I enlisted their help in finding more people who where there.  I started at the Alton Library with Nancy Early.  She was there as well as parent volunteer at the Alton School, Betty Starr and teacher Ann Robinson.

It was November or December in the year 1985.  Teacher Ann remembers getting a quick phone call, Sir Edmund Hillary will be in town in a day or two, the children should meet him and be part of this event.  The event was a promotion for the Mill Run then owned by Douglas Wheler who envisioned the Mill to be the cultural centre of Alton.  His dreams saw Alton being on par with villages such as Unionville, St. Jacobs and Elora.
His dream came to a halt because there wasn’t enough area required for an adequate sewage system.

 
Participants gathered at the makeshift base camp in the school parking lot.  School children, boy scouts, teachers, parents and neighbours came out, all excited to be among those who have met Sir Edmund Hillary.  The group, lead by Hillary, wound their way through the streets of Alton to the Mill Run and up the side of the Pinnacle.  At the top, they planted the Canadian and Ontario flag then returned back down to the Mill Run.  The Mill was in its first stages of renovation and everyone gathered in the huge open first floor space.  Hillary was presented with a plaque and was given a piece of local pottery. Someone had made a chocolate Mount Everest complete with white chocolate for snow on the peak.  As well as promoting the Mill Run for Wheler, Hillary talked to the group about his efforts to help the people of Nepal, where Mount Everest is located,  by raising funds to build clinics, hospitals and schools. He signed autographs and had many pictures taken with everyone who came.  The chocolate mountain was given to the children to take back to the school.  Ann remembers giving out pieces as treats for good work and good behaviour for weeks afterward. 
Participants gathered at the makeshift base camp in the school parking lot.  School children, boy scouts, teachers, parents and neighbours came out, all excited to be among those who have met Sir Edmund Hillary.  The group, lead by Hillary, wound their way through the streets of Alton to the Mill Run and up the side of the Pinnacle.  At the top, they planted the Canadian and Ontario flag then returned back down to the Mill Run.  The Mill was in its first stages of renovation and everyone gathered in the huge open first floor space.  Hillary was presented with a plaque and was given a piece of local pottery. Someone had made a chocolate Mount Everest complete with white chocolate for snow on the peak.  As well as promoting the Mill Run for Wheler, Hillary talked to the group about his efforts to help the people of Nepal, where Mount Everest is located,  by raising funds to build clinics, hospitals and schools. He signed autographs and had many pictures taken with everyone who came.  The chocolate mountain was given to the children to take back to the school.  Ann remembers giving out pieces as treats for good work and good behaviour for weeks afterward. 

There are 2 unanswered questions in this story and someone out there must be able to help with the details.  Who did Douglas Wheler know that had a connection to getting Hillary there that day.  I have tried to find Wheler but to no avail.  Current Alton Mill owner Jeremy Grant was kind enough to help by providing me with Wheler’s last know address and number but that led to a dead end as well.  The second mystery is who made the chocolate mountain?  If you can help solve these mysteries please email me at: 4sheppard@rogers.com and if possible I’ll do part 2 of this story in the next Caledon Comment.

Local peak climbed by Sir Edmund Hillary – Part 2

“Call me as soon as you get home, I have information for you”.  This intriguing phone message was left for me one Friday afternoon two weeks after the last Caledon Comment came out. Lee Nicholls, a member of our club in Aurora who had read the Sir Edmund Hillary article in that previous newsletter, left the message.  Her explanation of why she could answer my questions, took me back many years to her home in Calcutta, India.  Her Czechoslovakian father, who came to Indian with the Batta Shoe Company could afford to send Lee to a good British run boarding school in Darjeeling.  She remembers hearing the exciting news that Mount Everest had been conquered while at school there.

Darjeeling, located high in the Himalayas, was the meeting place for many mountaineering expeditions so the village was immersed in climbing, trekking and the adventurous people that came with such a culture.  Lee became acquainted with Zeke O’Connor, co-founding member of the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation.  The Hillary article in the CC took Lee on a pleasant trip down memory lane. She decided to look Zeke up, gave him a call to say hello and see if he could help answer my questions.  He vaguely remembered Hillary’s side trip to Alton, Ontario but suggested another person who would know much more about the visit.  Nancy O’Connor, the other founding member of the Hillary Foundation who now lives in Belfountain, Ontario.  Lee’s effort of tracking down these people and phoning them to help me with my search for answers was heart warming.

Nancy was expecting my call thanks to Lee’s introduction.  She also had fond memories of the Himalayas – it’s people and it’s stunning scenery.  Nancy’s involvement with the foundation dwindled over the years as it’s focus changed but she has never stopped fundraising for the cause near to her heart – the children of Nepal.  In Canada, Nancy and her daughter Catherine Coles opened a little boutique in the old Carriage House in Alton owned by Douglas Wheler.  They sold Nepali items and rugs alongside other artisans who sold antiques, art and chocolate. Although Nancy couldn’t remember the name of the chocolate boutique owner, she believes they were the creators of the huge chocolate Mount Everest. 

Sir Edmund Hillary, whom Nancy refers to as Ed, became a close family friend because of her involvement with the Foundation.  In the fall of 1985, on one of Hillary’s numerous Nepali fundraising trips to Toronto, Catherine asked him if he would come up to Brisbane Public School, where her children attended, to talk about Mount Everest and Nepal.  As a personal favour to the family, he did so and one better.  Knowing that Douglas Wheler, owner of the Alton Mill, was planning a promotional event for the Mill at the same time, the ladies asked while in Brisbane, could he come just a little farther north and make an appearance at the Alton Mill Run.  Now we know who was responsible for getting world renown mountain climber, Sir Edmund Hillary to Alton in 1985.

Many thanks to Lee for her inquisitive phone calls and to Nancy for filling in the details.