A fundraiser marking the 70th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's ascent of Mount Everest has just begun at Auckland War memorial museum.
Put on by the Himalayan Trust, it hopes to shine a light on the damage being done to the mountain by excessive tourism - as well as raising money for the people of Nepal.
It's a friendship that transcends generations.
Norbu Tenzing Norgay and Peter Hillary are the sons of Nepal's and Aotearoa's most famous adventurers.
"It basically put both New Zealand and Nepal on the map, I mean before 1953 you'd go 'I come from New Zealand' and they'd go 'say that again?'" Hillary said.
Beyond that, they say the feat has inspired the globe.
"They were both from very humble backgrounds, one was the son of a beekeeper the other the son of a yak herder that went on to do something absolutely remarkable," Norbu Tenzing Norgay said.
"I mean it was the closest man had been to the moon".
But the triumph has also led to tragedy, with this year's climbing season seeing one of the highest death tolls in the mountain's history.
"I think it was 19 fatalities, that makes you pause and worry about it. It's a terrible cost," Peter Hillary said.
And it's a cost Norbu knows, more than most.
"The devastation it leaves on the families this last two months ago, it was my first cousin who died and then his nephew so it will be my cousin's son, first time on Everest died on this mountain," Norgay said.
Mountains in Nepal are sacred places, like Aotearoa's maunga, and the sheer number of climbers is leaving its mark.
"To see this kind of desecration, whether it's the trash, the dead bodies, climate change, the melting ice, all kinds of different issues popping up in the mountains".
Wednesday night's event hopes to raise awareness of that damage and raise money for ongoing projects.
"Building of schools and hospitals, my father's teams - those sorts of things - we have an incredible legacy of the place and I think we want that to continue," Hillary said.
A mountain of work ahead for a pair working to maintain a hard-fought legacy.
