Mountaineering involves hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. It began as attempts to reach high unclimbed mountain peaks but has expanded to include rock climbing, snow climbing, skiing, and maintaining safety. Sir Edmund Hillary was a famous New Zealand mountaineer who in 1953 became the first person confirmed to reach the summit of Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay. He devoted much of his later life to philanthropic work to help the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust that he founded. He died in 2008 at the age of 88.