Everest conquerer Edmund Hillary returns to Antarctica

　　Renowned New Zealand adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest (news - web sites), returns to Antarctica Thursday for the inauguration of the new Hillary Field Centre half a century after he led the New Zealand expedition that established create Scott Base.

　　The 85-year-old explorer will also take part in memorials marking the 25th anniversary of the November 28, 1979 crash of an Air New Zealand DC10 which hit Mount Erebus, near Scott Base, killing all aboard.

　　Among the 257 dead was fellow explorer Peter Mulgrew. Hillary, who lost his first wife in a plane crash in Nepal in 1975, married Mulgrew's widow June in 1990.

　　Before boarding a plane in Christchurch, Hillary recalled his days supervising the building of Scott Base in 1957, and said he was looking forward to the trip.

　　"Staying at Scott Base is more like staying at a hotel in Christchurch these days," he joked.

　　While on the ice, Hillary will attend a wreath-laying ceremony near the crash site and will dedicate the Hillary Field Centre, a heated, all-weather storage facility named in recognition of his Antarctic achievements.

　　The field centre, which is under construction, is the largest single project undertaken at Scott Base.

　　Hillary said he had never felt homesick or isolated at the Antarctic.

　　"I always found my time there very comfortable. We could talk to our families, and that was comforting," he said.

　　Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tensing Norgay were the first to reach the summit of Everest on May 29, 1953.